Jenna Park tells Urban Agenda NYC how she and her husband are spicing up the NYC baking scene with their innovative baking business.

By Sarah Emily Gilbert

Sugar and spice really does make everything nice for the inventive husband-and-wife team, Mark Sopchak and Jenna Park. Co-founders of the Brooklyn-based baking brand, Whimsy and Spice, they have made a living off of their outrageously delicious handmade treats that combine traditional flavored confections with a kick of unexpected spice. However, it’s another unusual mixture that has helped reap sweet success for Whimsy and Spice: Mark’s culinary arts background and Jenna’s work as a photographer and graphic designer.

As the former executive pastry chef at the Central Park Boat House, Mark is no stranger to the flour-dusted world of artfully designed desserts. A California native, Mark’s baking is heavily influenced by his world travels. After living in Yemen for a few years as a child, he developed an appreciation for international spices and a penchant for food experimentation. The result: Massaman Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies, Mango Lassi Popsicles, and Cardamom Marshmallows, just to name a few. Making his spices by hand, Mark’s delectable creations have a matchless taste that jolts people out of their sugar-induced stupor and into a colorful world of zesty desserts.

Now, add in Jenna. One of the first product review bloggers, Jenna saw how brands started to expand with the use of social media in the marketing of their products as early as 2000. Throw in a dash of her professional photography skills, and you have a bustling baking brand. With nearly 30 retailers carrying their products and an active online shop, there’s no doubt that much of Whimsy and Spice’s popularity comes from Jenna’s strong social media presence. Her personal blog, Sweet Fine Day acts as “a visual journal of two entrepreneurs juggling parenting, business, and family life in New York City,” while her Instagram boasts a following of over 11k users. One of the pioneers of the small food movement in Brooklyn, Whimsy and Spice has been growing their business organically without the use of traditional advertising or PR since its advent in 2008.

“[Social media] gave us an audience that was rooting for us, and they were ready to buy our products. The way I blog is kind of really honest and transparent; it invited the readers into our process, and certainly our struggles trying to balance being parents, entrepreneurs, and living in New York. We’ve gotten feedback from people over the years saying they bought our cookies to support us. It’s like they know who they’re buying from; they know it’s me and my husband packaging and baking the cookies. It’s a wonderful one on one connection we have with our customers.”

While customers have responded positively to their unique branding strategies, it was their fling with Fort Greene’s Brooklyn Flea that seemed to secure their spot as one of New York City’s premiere food brands - and flea market staples.

“We knew there was something called the Brooklyn Flea opening, and we saw it as a great place to sort of launch our business. It gave us the opportunity to kind of ride on the coattails of the [Brooklyn Flea’s] press, and it worked out really well for us.”

With growing popularity in New York City, particularly in Jenna and Mark’s home base of Brooklyn, flea markets are a low-stakes testing ground to experiment with new recipes and products from budding entrepreneurs.

“At that time [Whimsy & Spice] was still an experiment for us, and the flea became a place to see how viable our company was and see customers face to face, without a storefront and a lot of capital.”

In part, it’s Whimsy and Spice’s rented kitchen in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn that makes them a leader in the borough-wide artisanal food industry. Purely a producer of desserts with no actual storefront, Whimsy and Spice is the ultimate symbol of the fiercely independent and innovative trend of small businesses that are rejecting the industrial status quo.  While each Brooklyn food entrepreneur has his or her own reason for joining the movement, Jenna and Mark opted out of a storefront location in order to preserve their time with their two daughters and to avoid the unforgiving hours of running a bakery. While a brick and mortar business isn’t completely out of the question, for now, the couple is looking more towards expanding their brand in other ways, like introducing a new line of spices.

Unquestionably, Jenna and Mark’s vision of cookie modernity has come to full fruition in their unmatched brand. Their loyal attendance at the Brooklyn Flea in conjunction with their frequent posts to social media give Whimsy and Spice an on and offline presence that allows people an insider look at the human side of their business, while solidifying the fact that they are, in fact, living, breathing, and sometimes struggling entrepreneurs. Whether your interaction with Jenna and Mark is virtual or physical, it’s always a pleasure, and that’s the way the cookie crumbles.