Crowds overwhelmed a bakery in East Texas after a Facebook post celebrating Pride Month angered some customers.
Confections in Lufkin regularly makes seasonal treats so they shared a photo on Facebook of heart-shaped cookies with rainbow frosting to recognize their LGBT+ customers.
"More LOVE. Less hate.Happy Pride to all our LGBTQ friends! All lovers of cookies and happiness are welcome here," the bakery wrote on Facebook on June 2.
Backlash was swift. Confections lost a handful of followers on Facebook and received hateful messages, but more concerning was the lost business. Owners Miranda Dolder, Dawn Cooley, and Felicia Tetu said they had a customer cancel an order of five dozen cookies that were already prepared for pick up.
"My heart is heavy. Honestly I never thought a post that literally said more love less hate would result in this kind of backlash to a very small business that is struggling to stay afloat and spread a little cheer through baked goods. So. If you love our cookies we will have an over abundance of them tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow will be better," they shared on Facebook the following day.
The backlash ended up being good for business. By Friday, June 4, Confections had a line out their door as people turned out to support the small business. The bakery sold all of its rainbow cookies and everything else by the weekend.
Confections even had people outside of Texas the country asking them about placing orders.
"All this attention on our small business is very humbling. Makes me nervous! Those who know me know how shy I am. In the 11 years we’ve been open we’ve never seen anything quite like this," the owner Dawn wrote.
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