Hello! What’s your name and what do you do?

I am Sarah Lee, a Singaporean based in Hong Kong. I founded Sweet Secrets in 1999 out of my love for sweets and my passion for entrepreneurship. I have a natural flair for taste and the creativity to develop all the recipes, alongside my professional baking team. 

 

It was in 2012 that marked a turning point for my business. We became the first commercial bakery in Hong Kong to offer gluten-free cupcakes. This was the result of my curiosity to understand why a 5 year-old girl could not eat her (conventional/regular/normal) birthday cake.  This development process took us about 18 months during which I became even more aware of gut health, inflammation and clean eating. I went on to develop recipes catering to clients who have food sensitivity to eggs, nuts, dairy, soy, (white) sugar and more. Now 70% of Sweet Secrets’ online products which includes birthday cakes, cupcakes, cookies and brownies, are gluten-free and one will find plant-based/vegan, keto, paleo, sugar-free, diabetic-friendly options as well.

 

 

Won the “Best Plant-Based Dessert” in 2021  in a Wellness and Lifestyle award. This signifies a forward progress for our community to consider that desserts too, can be healthy.

 

 

One of our missions is bringing people together for life’s celebration and that no one is left out despite their health or dietary needs.  I am proud that Sweet Secrets has won various meaningful awards which includes ‘Best Plant-based Dessert, ‘Best Healthy Dessert’, Best Gluten-free Vegan Bakery Hong Kong, Best Cake Design Company for Children with Alternative Health Needs etc. in recognition of our work.

 

 

 

Here’s our award winning plant-based dessert – Cardamom Chocolate Ganache Tart, which has won many hearts of those who are not on a plant-based diet.

Recently we received a testimonial from a client who has Type I diabetes and said her blood sugar remain flat after eating our sugar-free diabetic-friendly Crazy Berries cake and that it was the most delicious cake she has had! This is the experience we want to bring to our client – healthy and delicious indulgence, health empowerment without deprivation!

 

 

An interview with Hong Kong TVB sharing about gluten-free and health trends in Hong Kong where the host was invited to a blind tasting on the spot and she picked the gluten-free vegan chocolate cake!

Where does your passion for sweet treats come from?

In my family, we all have sweet tooth. My mom who was a homemaker, would take baking classes and be test-baking at home all the time. I grew up as her little kitchen assistant. My fondest childhood memories are those in the kitchen, spending time with my mom, watching the cake rise in the oven and taking in the heavenly aroma. Sheer joy and connection with mom.

 

When did you decide to turn it into a business?

When I was pregnant with my daughter back in 1998 in Hong Kong, I decided I would not return to my corporate career and that I would start my own business. Naturally, I turned to my passion for sweets. 

 

Back in those days, we didn’t google to find everything yet I was resourceful enough to find all that was needed and it only took me about 6 months from concept to the grand opening of my first store.  The biggest investment, besides shop renovation, was my semi-automatic coffee machine. It was a La Marzocco which I was told was the ‘Porsche of coffee machine’! The eve of my grand opening, my team and I got our first training on how to make a perfect shot of espresso. We “graduated” at 10pm, ready to serve our first client at 7am the next morning! It was stressful yet really fun, it felt like the best adventure ever!

 

So, in the summer of 1999, Sweet Secrets was opened as a take-away cafe, serving coffee, fresh made sandwiches, salads, soups and of course, cakes, a lot of cheesecakes back then.

 

Located in Central, though not the busiest side street of the business district, we quickly built up our client base where our clientele was predominantly expats and Hong Kong returnees from overseas. We became the neighborhood attraction, where clients became friends. We were dubbed the ‘gem’ by some local media.

 

Do you have a team or are you planning to have a team?

Besides my production team, most tasks are outsourced which includes delivery, bookkeeping and IT support. This makes managing my “team” easier and more cost-efficient.

 

We are looking to grow our production team and to collaborate with other licensed kitchen operators, to support our upcoming growth plans to expand our market reach. This includes strategic partnerships with other businesses that are aligned with our target audience and business values, such as online/offline health stores, gyms, coffee shops, restaurants and private clubs.

Who are your customers?

Our customers are a good mix of expatriates and local as well as international. We serve both private and corporate clients. With a track record of 24 years history and a good SEO ranking, most customers find us through Google. Most are very happy to read about our 5-star reviews, over 160 of them at this point and they feel confident of our product and service. 

 

 

We are accessible via Whatsapp chat and clients can always reach out when they have any questions, unlike many e-commerce websites when you are talking mostly to chatbots. Time is of the essence and we believe that this makes a huge difference in servicing our clients.

 

One of our long-time client is a grandfather from Italy.  He would have his assistant organize with us to send bespoke birthday cakes and biscuits to his grandchildren in Hong Kong each year. The trust was built up over the years and we love that we are a part of this tradition that bonds the family across continent.

 

Last year, a lady client from America had us create a bespoke wedding for his son as she could not make the trip to attend her son’s wedding due to the Covid travel restrictions. I know just how much this means to them.

 

And this is really what Sweet Secrets does, connecting friends and families. We get requests from all parts of the world, from US to Middle East, China to Australia, connecting them with their family in Hong Kong as this is such an international city.

How long did it take you to breakeven?

When I started back in 1999, we broke even within 6 months and was highly profitable, it was a really robust market then. 

 

In 2019, when I made the transition to e-commerce during the pandemic, it was more challenging. I had to watch all expenses and manage cash-flow very closely to stay afloat. I would cautiously stock enough inventory without tying up cash-flow, yet battling sometimes unpredictable shipping schedules.

 

The only investment I made was on the enhancement of our e-commerce platform and recruiting the support needed to provide better user experience for our shoppers. Luckily I didn’t have to inject any capital and I stayed very optimistic that money would always come in time for any disbursements.

 

Let’s talk about the digital side of your business. When did you establish your online presence and what made you do that?

We launched our first website in 2009 which served as a digital gallery where we showcased all our bespoke creations for children’s birthdays, weddings, anniversary and corporate events. This has helped rank our SEO really well as our images were very searchable and it brought us a lot of new clients.

 

In 2016 we launched our first online shop using a platform called Oddle which was a subdomain on my website. This served our standard birthday cakes as we planned to scale up the production in this market segment.

 

In September 2019, I ceased my retail business temporarily due to family matters. When I returned to Hong Kong, with the support of my head chef, I started operating online, where new clients would find us through online search.

Today, how much of your business is traditional and how much of it is digital?

 

A percentage of my business is from existing customers, referral marketing and channel partners. I will say at the moment, over 70% of sales turnover is digital, via website and online shop for bespoke and standard products respectively.

As mentioned, my business website was first built in 2009 and has top ranking for most keywords relevant to my business. When we transitioned to a wholly online business, we continued to have an influx of new customers who would find us through organic Google search.

 

In August 2020, I commissioned a company to rebuilt my website on WordPress with WooCommerce. It went live in April 2021. By June 2021, I realized something went really wrong as the number of online orders and enquiries was dropping drastically. I subsequently realized the developer did not redirect all the links from my previous website and the ranking for my new website plummeted and was no longer on page one for all 20 keywords we ranked top page for. The worst nightmare!

 

Below you can see the drastic change in traffic.

 

Below, you will see how the traffic was high from the ranking of the previous website before it started to plummet. With partial recovery of SEO through redirect old links, the SEO starting to pick up and hence traffic to our site started to increase over time.

 

Through my years working with different vendors I have learned a lot, including the last catastrophic experience. Eventually, I had to decide that I will learn and manage the website myself, at least to be educated enough so I am not wholly dependent on external party. I have been doing that since I joined the First 100 community headed by its founder Giulia Cian Seren. This is such a blessing! Giulia, being an entrepreneur herself having run various businesses, understands the pain I go through and she is so passionate about empowering people to educate themselves to manage their own e-commerce businesses.

 

I am also supported by a technical expert who maintains my website and is available when I have issues. It is important to have that reliable expert.

Do you have a chief marketing officer or a dedicated digital marketing/tech team?

For now, I will be learning and managing my own digital marketing. I will continue to be supported by my digital mentor Giulia and the First 100 community (now the Traditional Business Club) where we learn together weekly.

What digital marketing activities do you do to grow your business?

The digital marketing activities that I use to grow my business include social media (Instagram and Facebook), google maps,  google reviews, email marketing, WhatsApp group broadcast (for existing customers) and the one that brings the best results is SEO where many of our keywords rank page one.

 

What learning resources would you recommend to someone in your industry to get more digital?

There are a lot of resources out there. I find podcasts helpful for trending topics and I like to learn from fellow business owners, both their successes and failures to cut short my learning curve. Mostly, being a digital community where we can learn from one another and having a mentor is most helpful for me

What tools do you use in your business?

My website is WordPress based with WooCommerce for my online shop. I use Stripe for my payment gateway with integration to cloud-based accounting software Xero to my online shop.

 

Mailchimp is my preferred email marketing platform and is integrated with my online platform.

 

Keep up to date with change in general consumer behavior but importantly that of your target audience. Social media may work for some businesses in your industry but whether it is the best for your target audience, that is the key. 

 

Cover your ground but invest the bulk of your resources where you get the highest ROI.

 

 

Where can we learn more about you?

 

• https://instagram.com/sweetsecretscakes
• https://facebook.com/sweetsecretscakes
• https://sweetsecrets.com.hk/
• https://www.youtube.com/user/SweetSecretsCakes