Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jason Hisley, owner of Cake By Jason, located in Lutherville Timonium, MD, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Hello! I am one of the owners of Cake By Jason in Timonium, MD. Walking in our shop, you can pick up cupcakes, cake jars, daily cakes, and holiday specials. While we are known for our 15 flavors of cupcakes daily, our specialty is custom cake creations for all events. From weddings to birthdays and more, one of our team members would be happy to help make your next event just a little bit sweeter! As a pastry chef, I have been featured on over a dozen Food Network specials and shows! We constantly rotate in winning flavors for our guests to experience and try.
Tell us about yourself
I fell in love with baking from lessons my Grandmother taught me when I was a kid. Lessons that helped me graduate from Johnson & Wales University with an undergrad in Baking & Pastry Arts. Later, I received a coveted pastry certification from the famous Restaurant School in Vitznau, Switzerland. I returned home to Baltimore, worked my way up the ladder in bakeries and patisseries, won a few Food Network championships, and decided to launch my own company.
I launched Cake™ to celebrate the sweet life with neighbors and members of my community who played a huge role in my professional journey. I chose to surround myself with experts, superstars, and friends and work side by side with professionals I proudly call family. I launched Cake™ to bake and deliver a top-tier experience without pricing out the very people who helped make this dream come true.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My biggest accomplishment as a business owner, particularly pertaining to recent events, has been making it through COVID. Unfortunately, we were forced to close for months and reopened with restrictions, limitations, and struggle, to say the least. We went from a staff of 16 to 0 overnight and reopened with a core of 8 (everyone working overtime just to keep up). In 2020, we were set to do 250 weddings over the summer months, but with mandates, all but 25 had to postpone or cancel. We're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars of projected revenue to help during our busy summer months. However, through all this struggle came light and hope. We worked with our core team, rebuilt from the ground up, and have adapted to work in the new world we live in today. Luckily, we have thrived, and our team is stronger than ever and has grown beyond even where we started.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
The fact that everything ends with you. There is no hiding in the back, walking out, or disappearing when something goes wrong or if something needs to be addressed. And there's always something! Haha!!
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Always make the hire - it was a tough lesson for me to learn. Bringing on new employees involves a huge expense hurdle. However, if you find the right person, bring them on! Pay them what they deserve. It will ALWAYS payout in the end.
- Lose the ego - What you do and sell on day one will change dramatically! Adapt to your community. When we started, we had coffee, donuts, pastries, retail items, etc...but our niche was custom events and parties. Now we offer only those items that bring in the highest revenue but also the items that our community demands.
- Good bookkeeping - Maintain your books, take the time to organize your expenses - and if you can't do it yourself, hire someone! We are currently looking to bring on someone to help us internally with this. The goals of understanding the money are truly exciting. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what you sell...the numbers are the same from one business to another, and they certainly don't lie.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.cakebyjason.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cakebyjason/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cakebyjason/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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