One sharp cookie: QuickBooks levels up Fleurs et Sel’s accounting data for smarter invoicing and forecasting

In April 2020, Lara Adekoya found herself at home with nothing but time on her hands. A global pandemic was in full swing, she’d just been rejected from dental school, and she’d been furloughed from her 9 to 5. “I wasn't sure if I was going to apply to school again or if I was going to apply for other jobs. But in the meantime, I started baking—just as a way to cope with everything,” she explains. 

First was a batch of chocolate chip cookies. “I gave them to some of my friends and my neighbors,” Adekoya says. “They loved them.” 

In fact, it turned out the people around Adekoya needed her treats as much as she needed to make them. “Through baking, I was able to connect with my community and the people around me. I didn't know that was the beginning of this amazing business that I’m standing on.”

Like many entrepreneurs, Adekoya’s operations started out as DIY as her cookies. She took payments through her personal payment apps and with QR codes, and didn’t bother with invoices. She baked everything in her apartment kitchen and met her customers outside the grocery store or downstairs in her building.

It wasn’t until she got her first order for 800 cookies, for a company that requested a professional invoice and payment platform, that Adekoya realized she had outgrown her modest beginnings. 

“The first proper invoice I sent was with QuickBooks,” explains Adekoya. “That was my introduction to invoicing and the formality of doing business.” 

At the time, Adekoya didn’t know how big her business would become; that in just four years, she’d be opening a storefront in Los Angeles, California; or that her client base would soon include some of the biggest brand names in the country. “And I'm sending them QuickBooks invoices, the same way I did that very first time back in August of 2020,” she says. It turns out that for Adekoya and her business, Fleurs et Sel, QuickBooks is a necessary ingredient for success.

QuickBooks adds a dash of professionalism to Adekoya’s burgeoning bakery

“Before QuickBooks, I was taking payments though [apps] or cash—whatever was easy and convenient for the customer,” says Adekoya. “I had no storefront, so it felt okay.” Then her business took off. Thousand-dollar orders. Big-name clients. A reputation at stake. 

“There's no way I [was going to say], ‘Yeah, here's my Venmo,’ right? Using QuickBooks not only made me look and feel professional, but it was really great for my accounting as well, and being able to track orders.”

Now, Adekoya uses QuickBooks to keep track of every detail – from client info to payment history to order packaging to taxes. She relies on its record of past orders to jog her memory when repeat customers reference a cookie they enjoyed before. “It's made it so easy to build my business, because I have a history,” she says. "QuickBooks saves my life. It’s allowed me to stay organized. It helps me with my accounting, customer information, and past orders. I can see all the details."

For Adekoya, getting started in QuickBooks was easy. “Getting started was pretty simple.

Figuring out how to use QuickBooks just by sending a simple invoice was pretty straightforward.” 

Of course, like any new tool, some elements took more time to learn. “Diving into all the functionalities of QuickBooks has been a learning curve for me,” says Adekoya. But when she needed help, the QuickBooks customer service team was there to lend a hand.

“There was this time when a lot of my invoices were showing paid but not deposited, and I was like, ‘What's going on?’” she recalls. “I sent them a message saying, ‘Hey, I need help.’ Within 2 to 3 minutes, someone called me—a human called me. We shared the screen, and they totally walked me through.”

These days, Adekoya uses a variety of QuickBooks features, editing invoices on the go through the QuickBooks app, running reports, and tracking expenses. But two features, in particular, have made a hefty impact on Fleurs et Sel’s past and future.

Fleurs et Sel leans on QuickBooks to forecast the future

The first feature to influence Fleurs et Sel in a big way was simple record keeping—in the form of customer data. Without it, Adekoya might not have opened her brick and mortar location at its current spot on Adams Boulevard.

“[QuickBooks] shows me who my customers are. It even gives me geographical info that tells me where they're coming from. Like L.A. versus Long Beach versus Orange County,” she explains. “All of that info is really important. When I was looking at where I should open my storefront, I looked at that info from QuickBooks to see where my customers were coming from and if it made sense to open somewhere like Manhattan Beach, when a lot of my customers actually come from more south. I had nowhere else to find that data. So that was really helpful.”

The second QuickBooks feature Adekoya uses that’s made an important impact on her business is forecasting and reports. “QuickBooks has definitely helped me monitor my cash flow,” she says. She relies on the dashboards and reports to keep track of trends, and compare business performance across years and quarter-by-quarter. “I'm a visual person, so that’s been really helpful.”

For Adekoya, having all that information at hand has helped with understanding what’s in the future for Fleurs et Sel—and how far the business has come. 

“When I started, I didn't have a lot of money.” Adekoya explains. “I had to learn how to be responsible when it came to buying ingredients and then making cookies and selling them at a certain price. I had to ask myself, ‘How much am I making?’ and then decide how much to save; how much to use for buying more ingredients; how much to spend on packaging.” 

These days, Adekoya can be sure where her business stands financially. And with QuickBooks providing the information she needs to make confident cash flow decisions, Adekoya can spend more time and energy on heading up the parts of Fleurs et Sel that are truly unique.

Tips from Fleurs et Sel’s founder—L.A.’s ‘favorite cookie baker’

For a fairly new-on-the-scene bakery, Fleurs et Sel has made a big splash. Adekoya’s business has made headlines across news outlets ranging from the Los Angeles Times to The TODAY Show. 

And while much of that is due to her delicious cookies—with flavors like J'adore S'mores™, Espresso Dulcey, and Raspberry Pistachio Amour™—it’s also a testament to her skills as a marketer and entrepreneur. For those looking to open their own business someday, here are a few tips from Adekoya, L.A.’s ‘favorite cookie baker’:

1. Be original. “A customer once told me, ‘You may not be the first person to do something, but you can be the best, and you can certainly be different.’ And that's advice that I've kept at my center as I grow my business; advice I’d give to anyone who wants to start a business. Try to be different, or at least be yourself.”
2. Don’t emulate the final product. “People sometimes think, ‘Oh, I can open a bakery,’ or ’I can have a brick and mortar,’ without knowing what it takes to get there. But if you rush to the finish line, you're going to realize that you missed 30 steps along the way. And if you don't learn to enjoy the journey, you’ll never find satisfaction in being a business owner. Embrace the beginning.”
3. Find your community. “Figure out who you're trying to serve and how you can positively impact them through your business, because without a community I don't think anyone can have a successful business.”

Don’t start from scratch—QuickBooks simplifies business, all in one place

Homemade chocolate chip cookies are delicious. Home-cooked invoices and accounting? Those are far less satisfying. Find out why millions of business owners like Adekoya are using QuickBooks to do business better. From easy-to-use invoicing to fast and simple reporting, QuickBooks offers the tools and features you need to grow and thrive, all in one place.

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