Winnipeg baker blooming with excitement as baked creations land in Grammy Award swag bags
'I don't think it's just really sunk right in yet': Flour and Flower owner Rachel Nedelec
International recording stars attending the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles this weekend will find a treat from a Winnipeg-based baker in their swag bags.
On Sunday, Rachel Nedelec's edible flower-adorned "petal pops" will be in the gift bags going out to winners, performers and presenters at the 65th annual music awards show.
Nedelec, owner of Flour and Flower, says the thought of internationally known artists including Lizzo and Adele eating her pastries is incredible.
"Completely surreal," Nedelec told CBC Up to Speed guest host Cory Funk on Friday. "I don't think it's just really sunk right in yet."
Nedelec got the big break by Googling the awards show to figure out how to get a spot in the swag bags. She pitched her products in an email thinking not much would come of it.
The following day she got a response saying her product was perfect for the Grammys. They asked her to ship off a batch the following week.
"We worked pretty long days … and got them shipped off as fast we could," Nedelec said.
She and staff baked 525 white chocolate petal pops, each with an edible flower in it. Each of the 175 goodie bags will have a box containing three of her creations.
"How difficult was it emotionally speaking? It was not the best," Nedelec said with a laugh.
Flour and Flower isn't the first Winnipeg-based business to end up with its products lighting up the loot bags at big award shows.
Coal and Canary Candle Company had its candles added to gift bags at the Academy Awards and Grammy Awards in 2015, just three months after forming the company.
"It was zero to 100," said Amanda Buhse, the company's CEO.
"The amount of brand awareness, the customers that you're going to grow … having these A-list celebrities that have your product that you handmade in their hands — it's pretty special."
One of the stories that stuck with Buhse happened a few months after the award shows in 2015. She got a call from an unknown number with a New York area code.
"It was Beyoncé's hair dresser and he owns a salon in New York City and he was like, 'Hey, I would love to look at potentially wholesaling these, I saw them in her house and I love them,'" Buhse recalled.
"Even to this day, just saying that out loud is crazy."
Buhse says she is excited that her friend Nedelec is going to experience a similar whirlwind opportunity.
She had a couple words of advice: "Savour it."
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