Finding Her Sweet Spot with Cupcake Success
MOTHER OF A MULTITUDE
Mignon Francois always excelled in academics, and she was never short on business ideas. After graduating high school a year early and attending Xavier University on scholarship, her goal was to become a doctor. God had other plans.
During college, Mignon joined the party scene and met a smooth-talking DJ. At the age of 17, she became pregnant with her first child and had her son, Dillon, in 1993. Refusing to quit college, she continued studying as the responsibilities of life proved challenging. It took her longer than expected but Mignon eventually graduated with a degree in mass media, psychology, and photography.
Then she married and moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2004 searching for a better life. Her husband got a job offer but when they arrived, it fell through leaving them with no money. Mignon focused on caring for their family.
MAKING SOMETHING WITH NOTHING
While facing debt and down to her last $5, Mignon Francois needed money to pay for her kid’s field trips and school dues. As she was listening to the radio, popular financial personality Dave Ramsey suggested having a bake sale as a way of earning income. Mignon was all in but there was one problem: she didn’t know how to bake. Over the years, she was always good at starting businesses but didn’t follow through. Mignon explains, “After years of drowning in debt and brokenness, I heard God say, “I feed birds. How much more will I give you who looks like me?” That’s when I decided to do something different. Calling her grandma, an amazing baker, seemed like a good place to start. Since her grandma didn’t go by recipes, she told Mignon to use a pinch of this and a handful of that. Practice, practice, and more practice produced some amazing results.
As Mignon shared her cupcakes, word got around, and people wanted more. One day, Mignon’s neighbor, Joanie, knocked on her door and wanted to order 600 cupcakes from Mignon for all of her clients for the season. All Mignon had was $5 left to her name. But her neighbor assured her that she would pay her $1 per cupcake and give her the money as she made them. Lacing up her shoes and heading to the grocery store, Mignon gathered all the ingredients she could buy for $5. By the end of the day, her $5 turned into $60. By the end of the week, it multiplied to $600. After that, Mignon hung a sign on her front porch that read: “Bakery Coming Soon.”
Two years later, “On November 9, 2008, I opened The Cupcake Collection with a dorm-sized refrigerator, and a KitchenAid mixer out of my former living room because that’s what would pass code with the health inspector.” What started as a small business run by a family who just wanted to make ends meet, evolved into a destination bakery in Nashville, TN, and in Mignon’s hometown of New Orleans, LA. Today her award-winning recipes have earned a top 10 ranking in the country, #1 cupcake in Tennessee, #1 cupcake in Louisiana, and a host of other national awards, recognitions, and honors.
Read more of Mignon Francois' inspirational story by purchasing her book, Made from Scratch, and discover Mignon's delicious cupcakes here: The Cupcake Collection.
