Last week, Sheila Bryant posted a video to her personal TikTok account of her new “Raspberry Biz” whoopie pies and a few other confections for sale at her Clifton bakery, Sheila’s Maine Treats.
The video, starting with handheld shot of Bryant outside the shop and cutting away to whoopie pies in various stages of assembly, was her 17th post in five years on the social media platform and the first promoting her three-year-old business — previous posts were almost exclusively of her capering Boston terriers, Lily bear and Shelby.
“I put it up on Friday, and then somebody called me Monday and said it went viral. And I’m like, I don’t know what that means,” Bryant said.
A week later, the whoopie pie video has been viewed more than 176,000 times, and Sheila’s Maine Treats is seeing a “very big increase” in business.
“My table’s wiped every day,” Bryant said. “I can make them every single day in four batches, and every day that can be gone.”
On Thursday, a couple told her they’d driven three hours from near the New Hampshire border to the Bangor-area shop because they saw her TikTok video.
In addition to whoopie pies, pastries and cookies, Bryant sells chicken and beef pot pies, shepherd’s pie and lasagna. Among new customers, her peanut butter and jelly whoopie pies, featured briefly at the end of the viral video, have been the most popular item, she said.
“I’m telling you, you’ve got to come out and try one. They’re phenomenal,” she said. “The first bite, you’ll go, mmm, that’s yummy. But the second bite, it gets you.”
She has yet to make another TikTok video, in part because she doesn’t know why the first one, which she described as “just saying plain Jane and trying to show off what I created,” did so well. One person critiqued her performance in the viral video as “dry,” leading her to wonder if she should act more excited. Another person suggested she do a cooking show.
“My husband really wanted me to do one for my maple bacon whoopie pies, but I just haven’t done it yet,” she said. “I’m just seeing where this one goes, I guess.”
Sheila’s Maine Treats is located at 149 Scotts Point Road in Clifton. It is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.
