Selling an Experience (Not Just a Cake) and The Power of Pivoting w/ Andrea Reed - Ep. 54

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Today we're joined by Andrea Reed. Andrea is the owner and creative force behind Sweet Cakes, a luxury wedding cake studio, known for cakes that taste as incredible as they look. She started decorating at the age of ten, but later decided she wanted to go the pre-mid route and worked in hospitals. Her love for baking and her desire to be present for a growing family led her to open sweetcakes more than two decades ago. Andrea's philosophy is that food is science blended with nature. She combines chemistry, artistry, and exceptional ingredients. Andrea's competed on the Food Network's Halloween wars and Sugar Dome, and she's featured in multiple national magazines and blogs. She believes a wedding cake should create a lasting memory, not just make a statement. Andrea, thank you, and welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Hey, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

So where did where did the uh the infection come with wedding cakes? Is there uh I I'm a I'm a lover of baking, uh, and sweets and cakes and ice cream and all sorts of things that I know aren't great for me, but um how do you how did you get into the the cake world?

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Well, you and my husband would get along really great because he loves being my taster.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Sounds like the world's best job.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Yeah, and he's very good at it. His palate's very good, so I depend on him a lot. But um, but yeah, I got into weddings mostly because as I was doing the cakes, I think that just the aesthetics of weddings is attractive to me because I love how everything is beautiful and everything, it's all happiness, right? It's that one of the happiest days of your life, and it's one of the biggest parties you'll ever throw in your life, and it's full of flowers and pretty colors, and you look your best, and everyone that shows up looks their best, and you know, it's kind of the best of the best.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Yeah, no, I mean that's uh I'm a sucker for weddings too. Um, I love going to weddings. I cry at strangers' weddings when we're uh I go to strangers' weddings, and um and I also take an interest in looking at you know each wedding uh and how each is unique and different and um like just the different things that uh are lasting memories uh for not just the bride and the groom, but for everyone there and uh you know celebrating their moment with them. Um and my uh and uh a lot of uh you know like a lot of my most fond memories uh in my life are from uh from uh my wife and I's wedding. Uh we did it in Cancun. But I remember um I remember seeing someone talking about champagne as like a uh once about champagne being like a um a representation of just celebration. And that's uh and how champagne has evolved, and um, and there's a lot of champagnes that are just for cracking it open and spraying everywhere and not even really for drinking, just because of what it represents. And I feel like wedding cakes are a representation of a celebration like that, but even in a more intimate way, and so how what when you are creating a wedding cake, what goes into the process to make that unique for each person so that it is more than just something that looks pretty and tastes good?

SPEAKER_01 4:20

So much goes into it. That's a big question, and I could talk on it for a really long time because that is kind of the part that uh I take the most pride in. Um, first of all, I have a long questionnaire that they fill out, everything about their wedding and what they're trying to say with their wedding, their colors, the florals, the decor, maybe something uh unique about their relationship, like bees are really important, or this location has been kind of our spot, like on the beach, or uh, you know, anything like that. And I can sense their personality and I get an idea of who they are and how they respond to the questions, um, as well as get an idea of the whole aesthetic and what they're going for and what they're trying to get across with their wedding brand. Um, and so I take that and I start to design something for them. Um, and then we have their cake tasting, which is a custom tasting consultation, and we they get to pick a couple of the flavors from my flavor profiles that they would like to try, and I make individual little cakes for them. Um, and we sit down and do like china and real linens, and we talk about their relationship and we taste the cakes, and then I um present to them their custom sketch, and that's pretty much how we start that, and then once they pick their flavors and I go to actual create the cake, then they've got their custom flavor profile that they wanted, and I bring out in that sketch, you know, those little details from their relationship or from their wedding that's important to them.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Well, so I've I would I feel like that is a lot more in depth of a process than most like that's that's more more planning and thought goes into this than the average, uh at least for your industry. Okay, so how much of that is to do with you wanting to try and perfect this one piece that is a centerpiece of uh you know the one of the most important days in a person's life? Yeah. Because I I feel like there I feel like there's uh there's a lot of uh pressure and weight kind of that you would carry because of the significance of the event, you know, and it's that is you know one of the it's the centerpiece in a lot of some of the most memorable wedding photos, and you know, something that's shared like right after it happens, and it's like it's not something that's just like uh off to the side that you you don't see. It's like it is front and center. And so how much how much of your personality is really like to try and perfect that uh is uh is this uh on the way that you do it.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Well, I think you hit that exactly, is that it is my personality. My kids, my grown kids uh call me extra, and it's just kind of been the way I do things. Like I if I have if we entertain, we go all out, you know, and I love to set the table beautifully, and I love to have all the little things and use real china and things like that. And I think that it's part of hospitality is making people feel special, right? And I don't expect that if I go to someone else's, I don't care, we can do paper plates and pizza, but for me, I feel like that's part of my personality is to go that extra mile and to try to make people feel special. And I think that doing that even with the cakes, I like I call it like the father of the bride type of tasting experience. So when they come, I want them to have an experience that they feel like this is a special part of the whole planning process because you know you've been through it when you're planning a wedding, it's really exciting and it's uh one of the best years, you know, that you have planning your wedding and going through all the little special things that you do. Um, but it's also extremely expensive, right? And sometimes very stressful, and making a lot of decisions can be very stressful. So I try to make the experience of the cake one of the funnest parts, you know, and that I do often hear that because they get to come and feel extra special and get treated extra specially, and they get a custom cake design just for them, and then their cake is extra special when they go to share it, and it's just everything's a little extra.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Well, there's something in there that you uh uh that you said that that is um something that I think about a lot, I talk about a lot, I place a lot of importance on, and it's the you know, the the customer, the client, uh, the consumer experience. Um I I was watching a video, uh I saw a video uh online last night of like uh a 1997 Steve Jobs uh not sure what what it was, but he was he was fielding questions from an audience of people uh you know all those years ago when he just had returned to Apple and someone fielded him with a pretty passive aggressive question, and um he talked about a few things, but then uh he talked a lot about uh the customer experience and starting with that and working your way back uh you know, in Apple's case, into the software or the application or the device, um, because the reality is when you do it the other way around, with engineers and coming up with uh you know this this amazing technology that does all these things that is next level, you know, groundbreaking, amazing technology, and then trying to figure out how it fits in or where to sell it or who to sell it to or the means on which to distribute it, it often doesn't work. Um because it's built in the eyes of the engineer, not the end consumer. And so when he talks about the customer experience, um, and Jeff Bezos talks about this a lot as well with how Amazon was built, and I think everyone in the world uses Amazon, and you know how easy it is to use Amazon and to buy something, and that's b because of an intentional focus, yeah, way too easy, right? But that's an intentional focus on the customer experience, and so our wedding wasn't very stressful because we did a destination wedding. Um, and well, it wasn't it at least wasn't stressful for me. I didn't really do a a whole lot, I just kind of uh I just kind of had to show up. Um but I you know Bridezilla is a something that people say, and that's a something very like uh to the stress of planning a wedding, like it can become a full-time job. Uh someone on my team, uh, she's engaged and she's going through the planning of her wedding next year, and she's uh she was telling me about how there's just all these meetings, you gotta meet with all the vendors and do all this uh, you know, the tests and the samples and the blah and the blah. And she's like, it's exhausting. Um and so having a part of that process for them that is fun, where they are important, you know, they feel important and where you make it easy for them, fun for them, and make it a real experience, uh, is I mean that can change the whole outlook on how the planning of their wedding was overall. Because I can't imagine many parts of the wedding planning process would have that kind of experience uh as part of it. So uh I think that's huge. Um but it really does show your uh how much you focus on that experience for people, and I think that's one of the biggest things that you can do to uh to create something successful because it's built in in their eyes and with their journey at top of mind.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Yeah, I enjoy watching like when they first come in for the consultation, you can kind of read all over them. You know, they're a little bit nervous, they're a little bit stressed out, maybe they just drove an hour to get here, you know, through traffic. Um, and and then as we just talk and they get to experience everything by the end, it's like we've become friends and they're laughing and their body language has changed and they're super relaxed and they're excited about their wedding cake, and that is exciting for me.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

It's really and it's that's I think that's the the I think that's like the key part is that when that fills your cup up, that part of it, then it makes that fun and it makes it easy to place importance on that part when you're not looking at things uh just through the transactional lens of the dollars and commas and you know and the the monetary exchange of you know money for a good or money for a service, uh, when you can actually really truly care about the person on the other end uh and you know the value they get, which I mean how I mean how does that work with the pricing and perceived value of you know of something that you're going to eat, but is it's also very it's very a very different thing.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Yeah, it's interesting because there's there's kind of two sides to that that I get look at. Is the one is um you know the hours that I spend preparing. If they don't book with me, obviously I'm out money, technically. But if they do book, then it was worth it, right? And I recoup some of that in the cost of the cake. Um, but also once they go through that experience, and because I've done my work on the front end and hopefully communicated, you know, pricing parameters and things like that, so they have a good idea of what that pricing is gonna look like. That once they've come and then they taste it, uh then I pretty much book almost all of them that actually come and sit down with me. So generally speaking, it's worth it. You know, every now and then it doesn't because either it the pricing does generally is the pricing that doesn't work. Um, because I'm not the cheapest, you know, because I do everything from scratch. My number one priority is that that taste is on point. It is a good cake, it's the best cake that you've had, it is not the best wedding cake you've had, it might be the best cake you've had. Do you know what I mean? It's not like your everyday, it's something luxurious, it's something special, which you should have at a wedding. And so when they sit down and they taste it, then I'm I'm pretty much a shoe-in as long as the pricing fits. You know what I mean? And so that is generally worth it. I've got probably about an 80 to 90 percent, you know, booking rate when they walk through the store. So that for me, it kind of like makes it worth the extra. Um, and you know, it would be cheaper, I'd make more money if I didn't do that. Um, if you didn't factor in that little element, but I'm not willing to compromise on the quality of the cake and the experience in order to make more. And someone else might think that that's not a smart business move, but for me, it's my only move.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

I love that more than you uh than you know, because that is something in every industry in the world. Uh you know, and how often, you know, entrepreneurs start their companies, they're small, they want to do things differently, they want, you know, they're they go in with the intention of being like that and not chasing profit over quality. And um, and then there seems to be, you know, a certain point where there's you know, they come you you know, founders will come to crossro a crossroads, or maybe multiple times throughout their journey, where they're faced with a decision that doesn't line up with one or the other. And being able to stay, I mean this you've been doing this for two decades. Right. To stay the course and stick to what you value and how you wanted to build this for that long is incredible, and not many entrepreneurs do that. You know, uh you s you see a lot that they they fall victim to changing their their values and the way they do things and what they care about to chase to chase profit, but um you know it's super tempting.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

I mean, you know, because it's hard, it's hard to make a good profit in this business because it's uh it's high hour and high dollar, like for for your products. Um and so and the perception, it's art really, so it takes a long time to create the art if that's what you're doing, versus just buying bulk cake frozen and buying icing in a big bucket and then putting it all together, you know. So that's not what I do. I do everything from scratch to order, so it makes a big difference in the time spent, and so the perceived value out there in a big box grocery store cake world is that you know, that why would you spend that much on a cake, you know? So that's the hard part is trying to make enough to actually sustain a business, but staying true to that quality and that that business model. Um, and and so it's tempting to do those things. That's why a lot of bakeries do it. It's a lot cheaper just to buy that stuff, bulk in, and then just put it together. But like today, after our conversation, I have eight hours of just making buttercream in front of me.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

So if that puts it in perspective, yeah, no, and it's uh no, it and it certainly can be tempting to do that. Um and but it's also if you did that, you would just become like every other shop out there. Uh there'd be nothing that makes you unique or different. And you know, what you're like the you know the way that I at least am looking at it or hearing it is that so you you're not you know, you're not e a cake shop. You're you're you're selling an experience that comes with a cake for their wedding day. It's the like the experience is is really everything, and that's the piece that you don't get uh with the you know the other guys uh who are doing it the you know the other way. And um and that's good, you know, that's yeah, you couldn't make you can probably make more of doing it the other way, but there's also an element to like as a founder of doing things that can help you sleep at night, right? And if something just goes against your core value and you know you're breaching that a core value of your of yours, uh and you're doing things that you you you know that you don't want to be doing or shouldn't be doing or whatever, you know, it's that that that kind of stuff can keep you up at night, and that's you know what's all this about, right? Like you You were working in hospitals and then you decided to turn your passion into a business. Yeah, so that's not something you want to turn into some factory where you're just churning out volume and going away from everything that you love about this.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

But I'd rather be in the medical field if I was doing that.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Yeah. Which what did that decision look like for you to like how did you know? Like what drove this?

SPEAKER_01 22:46

I had three small children at the time. I was working at the hospital, sometimes third shift, sometimes second shift, so that I could be home with them and run them to preschool and elementary school and all that good stuff. Um, it was my husband owns a branding agency. Branding's very important to us in our little family. Uh, and so two people owning their own business, having these kids, it's a lot. You know, we own a house, two cars, you know, you we were in our 20s, young 20s, and had a lot of responsibility. And I wanted to be a surgeon or an OPGYN, I wasn't quite sure. And I was working on the cardiac floor, and I enjoyed that aspect. I enjoyed the medical aspect. I was also in school pre-med at the same time. So that was a lot going on at once, and it took a hit on family life. So I met with the leader of the one that ran the whole cardiac floor, and I just just to ask her, I wanted to ask her, like, how did you get here? And what have you sacrificed to get here? Um, because at the time when I was in school, I did one of those career placement type things, you know, for for the fun of it. And it basically said, you shouldn't probably be the doctor, you should probably run the doctor's office. Because I don't love research, I love to organize and make it all happen, right? So that's the the long and the short of it. So anyway, she I met with her and she was like, Well, I am divorced and I have no relationship with my children, and this is my liar. And I said, Well, being that I've already made the decision to get married and have these kids, um, I think I might just try to pivot. And at the time, people were asking me because my hobby was doing the cakes, so they were asking me to do cakes, and so then I just started kind of charging a little bit for when I did someone's cake, a friend or a family, and I did a few wedding cakes, and I was like, you know what? I think I'm gonna turn my passion into my career so that I can be more present for my family. Um, because marriage was really hard at the time. I'm not gonna lie, it was incredibly hard. One of our children is on the spectrum, so then that even added a lot to the whole dynamics of things, and um, it wasn't it just that that business model of going to school, pre-med, working at the hospital, having three children, and being married was not gonna work.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Something had to give, yeah. Yes, no, and that's uh I mean, one making you know that it seems like a an easy decision uh that if you are you know a bystander looking in, you know, what would you what decision would you make? I think most people would say, yeah, I'd choose my family over my career, but we know that to by seeing the reality of people as lives, and that's easier said than done.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Um and it's definitely a pivotable, pivotal, pivotal moment that changed the trajectory of my probably my whole life. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

Yeah, I would imagine hugely. Um and you know, it's be and then making that pivot, not just to go into a different career working for someone, but to make the pivot to then take the jump. You know, you're pivoting to then take a huge leap uh to turn something that's all that's been your passion into a into your career, into a business, is that takes a lot of uh you know, a lot of courage in itself. And so um that's you know, that's it's like the biggest thing of uh that I think about and like um and love talking to different entrepreneurs and founders about is is like the the why behind doing it beyond money because obviously making money is necessary. Is necessary, has to be a goal, no one is gonna complain if they make more money, uh you know. Um but having a why behind you know beyond that that is uh I think necessary to sustain for to build something sustainable because um uh the m like you know there's money can't buy you happiness, it can make you it it just magnifies who you are you are already, and so if your why is deeply rooted in your family and your life and uh what really matters, then that is also in my opinion going to be a supercharger uh and a superpower for you as a founder because how do you compete against some if you're someone who's just doing this, doing something for the money, just making wedding cakes for money, and that's it, doesn't give a shit about wedding cakes, doesn't care, like has no passion about it. How do you compete against someone who is building this because they love wedding cakes and the experience and the art that goes into it and being creative and how it makes people feel? And driven by doing this, you know, with their family and children and their marriage as the you know driving force behind why you did it started it and they're doing it in the first place. How do you compete with that?

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Well, it's interesting because I had to make the opposite decision later on. So I did that and I did that for quite some years, and then um I gone on Food Network and I got a brick and mortar, and business was booming, um, and my kids were growing, and they were in my head. I always thought as your kids get you know to be teenagers, because I I felt like I didn't need my mom more, you know, like I I was very independent as a teenager, so I thought that my kids would be the same, but I realized that they needed me more during those years than less, and I had to make the decision to stop sweet cakes and go out into the corporate world so I would have more of a nine to five, I wouldn't be working nights and weekends, I could take them to their games, I could drop them off at the movies, I could, you know, all those little things to do with teenagers, and um you know, and and sometimes people would say, Well, why would you stop when you were successful? But I'm like, success is relative again. Family life was suffering because I sweet cakes was my baby and I poured everything into it, and it was then I have a tendency to pour myself into things, you know. I mean, that's my little tendency. So that's been a big challenge for me is balancing that. So it is a really hard decision to make, but yet one you have to make in order to make it work, like family life work, right? So I made the decision opposite, and so then I only did a few cakes a year because I couldn't let it go altogether. Um, and I made more money because I was in corporate and worked my way up and you know, in that department. Um and then in 23 I made the decision because uh all my kids were grown and gone, and I didn't want to sit around every night, you know, with nothing to do. So I made the decision to jump back in um full full force, and then some.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

That's amazing. Yeah, well, that's uh it it I mean it just it really goes to show how important your family is to you and that you're willing to put them above everything else, which uh is very admirable. So uh yeah, it's that's it's amazing. And so Andrew, we close every episode, every interview, every discussion with the same questions. So I'm gonna ask you, what is your trade secret, whether it be in business or in life?

SPEAKER_01 31:38

Oh, pour your whole heart. I think that's probably mine. That's would be I just pour everything that I am into it. Give it all.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Amazing. Yeah, no, it's and there's something I think about uh too is is every day you might not bring you might not have everything to give. Uh but being like you can always show up and give everything that you have that day. Even if that's not even if that's just a fraction of your your maximum. Right. You can all that that is a decision that every single one of us has and we can make every day is to just to give everything that you have that day. Uh and so um Andrew, thank you so much. I I've loved getting to know you, and and uh uh what you're doing with sweet cakes is amazing, and I can't wait to see all of your future success as you take this uh to the next level and continue um you know making people's biggest days uh very special. And so how can people find you or get in touch with you uh if they want to see what you're up to, or if they want to see if you uh can make their big day special? Uh where can they find you?

SPEAKER_01 33:06

I uh my Instagram is great to kind of see what's going on because I post on there a lot. Um, and that is Sweet Cakes by Andrea Reed. And then my website, which will be finished um at the end of this month, my new website, and so it's gonna have a lot more capabilities and have a lot more to show, and that is makeyourdaysweet.com. And um, or they can email me, which is Andrea at makeyourdaysweet.com.

SPEAKER_00 33:34

Amazing, and so we'll put all those uh links in the show notes um so people can can uh have that there to find you. But Andrea, thank you so much. This was amazing. Uh I'm excited to see the uh your journey and how it unfolds.

SPEAKER_01 33:50

Oh, you're so sweet. Thank you for having me on, and it's been fun to I've been listening to your podcast, and um it's been fun to kind of catch up with some of the ones that you've done in the past.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

Well, thank you so much.