The Wages of Sin

The monthly dessert would be made by a Washington area pastry chef who would sell it to Harman at for the cost of materials, about $6. The chef and his or her establishment would get free promotion from Harman's company, including a brochure delivered with the dessert and a photo feature on the Sin Web site.

But the chefs were a problem. "Here is what we didn't anticipate: Pastry chefs are very, very, very busy, and getting their attention and getting them to commit on being a Sin of the Month was a lot harder than I thought. We had one chef who said it was a great idea and he backed out at the eleventh hour and I had no sin. It was panic time. That month we showcased wonderful desserts from a small food artisan shop in Atlanta."

In retrospect, Harman said she should have done more research.

"If I had taken more time to talk to the pastry chefs and really get a feel for what the pastry chefs were interested in, it would have helped," she said. "When it came down to the chefs being committed, it wasn't enough to maintain inventory."

Starting in October 2007, Harman and her helpers picked up the desserts from the chefs every Tuesday and stored them in a rented refrigerated space. She packaged them herself and two unpaid assistants helped her ship the desserts to customers, usually at their offices. They only shipped on the East Coast or couriered the delicacies locally because of shipping costs. She promised the helpers a cut of the profits if the company eventually took off. The customers came from Google advertising ($200 a month), friends, networking and word of mouth.

They even had magnetic signs slapped on their vehicles: "We could be delivering your sin next," said the signs, which included photos of a dessert and the name of the company's Web site. But there was one glitch: the signs kept getting stolen.

She quickly learned that she was spending more time on the dessert business, packaging and delivering the goods, and not enough time on her marketing company, Zephyr Strategy.

"It was very labor-intensive," she said. "I couldn't afford to hire anyone else to do the packing until I could get more subscribers."

And costs kept accruing. There was $5,000 for the trademark rights to the name Spoonful of Sin. A booth at a food show in the District cost $3,000. A launch party in July 2007 in downtown Washington ran nearly $5,000. There was insurance, a trip to a show in New York, promotional brochures, packaging and payment to writers for advertising copy.

Her advice to would-be entrepreneurs: "Have more than three times the amount of money than you think you need."

Sin peaked at around 175 customers, which brought revenue of about $4,000 a month. But that wasn't enough to cover costs, so Harman subsidized the business with $500 a month from her pocket.

"We were breaking even only because I worked for free," Harman said.

When the economy slowed last summer, cancellations started pouring in. Subscribers dropped to around 90 a month.

The final dessert -- which was a small cake and truffles -- went out in August.

But don't feel sorry for Harman. She still owns the catchy trademark Spoonful of Sin. And the Web site is still up and running. She wants to resurrect the brand with another product.

How about hot dogs from Syracuse?