Community Highlights: Meet Mike Skyring of Men Bake Cookies

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Skyring.  

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
First, let me start off by saying, it is such a privilege to have the chance to share my story with Voyage Magazine! 

I was never a baker but always loved being in the kitchen. I graduated high school, entered college, and quickly found myself joining the military for 5 years. I came back to Michigan after 5 years, continued my education, and entered the working field. Along with working a full-time job, I found a new inspiration I needed to pursue. 

Men Bake Cookies was inspired by mostly my love for amazingly good cookies! The idea came into my head after I made some decorated sugar cookies for my daughter’s 6th birthday (my first time ever decorating a cookie). I thought to myself, “Hey… maybe I am onto something here, there could be a market here for this”. 

I started to bake, decorate and test methods, mostly for friends and family at first. It wasn’t long until I was coming up with a name for my own business, Men Bake Cookies. I started quick, I knew what I wanted from my business and how I wanted it to grow, so I dove right in. Decorating, promoting my business, reaching out to local groups and pages in the beginning, and showing what I could offer. It quickly grew from there, and now I am doing Farmers Markets weekly, developing a new line of Gourmet Cookie flavors, from flavors such as Peanut Butter Blast, Gourmet Chocolate Chip, or even Choco Funfetti (which has an amazing birthday cake flavor). 

I have a wonderful group of followers, email subscribers, and Farmers Market weekly visitors who show up each week just to try their favorite cookie, or maybe a newly released flavor. The feedback I get from my clients who say the cookies were so great, or they really made their event extra special, keeps me motivated and keeps me going, even on those days when sleep is lacking. I have no plans to slow down! 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has had its rough moments for sure. I started this business during the beginning days of Covid. Trying to figure out how to juggle my corporate job, my family life, and my cookie life was tough. After trial and error, I saw places to cut corners, save time, and be able to fit all of that into my work-life balance. It does have its struggles and is by no means an easy path. I do have a busy calendar, and I ask all clients that if they are looking for custom cookies, to at least submit a month or 2 ahead of their event date to ensure I can make time for them and their order. I love the feedback from people in regards to my offerings and am super happy my business is going strong. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
You should know my cookies are not like normal cookies! They are AMAZING! I specialize in Decorated Sugar cookies, with my cookies offering a softer bite and texture than the normal decorated sugar cookies that many people are used to. I myself do not like a crunchy sugar cookies, so my goal was to make something that appealed to my tastes as well as my future clients. 

I am now branching out into Gourmet Cookies. Most of my Gourmet Cookies are big, between 5 and 6 ounces, and the flavor profiles are perfect! 

They are flavors people in my hometown are new to and not used to seeing. I love seeing them read the flavor board at the farmers market and the reactions “OH wow…It has such and such, that sounds amazing”. I think that my flavors and my perfect taste of homemade dough and cookie crunch on the outside, with the sensationally moist inside, is what sets my business apart from others. 

I am proud of my brand, my business name, and the care I take into making each other. Each order is hand packed by me. I am a single-person run business, I bake, decorate, package, and run all my social media by myself. Each order is treated as you the client are the most important person in the world, from the time you request a quote until you pick up your cookies in my “Men Bake Cookies” known brown packaging style.

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
People can support many small businesses such as mine by following their social media and reaching out that way to show their support. It means so much when I see other local/small business in my community reaching out to me and supporting. Easiest way to reach me is by email or by following along with my business on Instagram and Facebook. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.MenBakeCookies.com
• Instagram: www.Instagram.com/MenBakeCookies
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/MenBakeCookies