Flying Muffin takes off

A Numurkah business owner has gone from selling muffins at farmers markets to opening her own cafe nad possibly franchising interstate.

There is not too many people who get to turn something they love doing into a business but Wendy Eva-Scott has. Her love of baking and in particular muffin making has seen this one time flight attendant go from bringing muffins into work for smoko, to opening her own cafe and possibly franchising her business in the future.
"It has been a 12 year process but I am a big believer, if you have a dream and want it badly enough you can work to make it happen," Wendy said.
Wendy moved to the country from the city and with the drought biting hard, she decided to sell a few muffins at farmers markets to make a bit of extra income and so the Flying Muffin was born.
"My love of food and baking developed into a passion to source local produce and ingredients which along the way, turned into a business.
Wendy was running her business from home but soon out grew her premises. She opened a shop front in the main street of Numurkah three and a half years ago where she was wholesaling her muffins, in September 2009 she decided to branch into coffee as well.
"I had customers all over northern Victoria but I was still only selling muffins, tea and coffee, my big dream was to focus on retail and open a Flying Muffin retail store."
This winter that dream became a reality when opened her own Flying Muffin store at the Billabong Garden Centre in Shepparton.
"We moved everything from Numurkah to Shepparton for the cafe. We now have a commercial kitchen and are open seven days a week serving breakfast, lunch, morning and afternoon teas and of course muffins. We have a cafe in this beautiful garden complex and we are now in discussions to expand even further into Melbourne and possibly interstate.
Wendy said the support of Moria council and their economic development department was what gave her the confidence to chase her dreams.
"The biggest concern for me moving my business to Shepparton was the thought of moving out of Moira Shire, they are just so proactive in helping small business grow. The opportunity for country people to expand their businesses through courses and subsidies is so good and a lot of people out there just don't take the opportunities that are presented to them."
Wendy said the mentoring programs the shire held with successful city business people were extremely helpful as were the other workshops she attended including customer service and website courses.
"Travelling to South Korea for the food expo and the establishment of the food and wine group were another couple of imitative the shire had, that were invaluable experiences for me."
With a list of yummy muffins a mile long, Wendy said the Flying Muffin signature muffin is the yummy raspberry and white chocolate variety, but her own personal favourite is blackberry and milk chocolate.