Now That’s Amoré
When Opportunity Knocks, Answer the Door
Eight years ago, Steve Jones was an upper manager for a telecommunications company. But when the economy took a turn for the worse after the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, Jones found himself out of a job and looking for work. After encouragement from his family and ex-coworkers, Jones decided to pursue one of his life-long dreams--owning a bakery.
Taking Off
Since he was 9 years old, Jones has enjoyed cooking and baking. “While I have always enjoyed cooking meals, pastries and desserts have always been my favorite part of the process, as everyone enjoys dessert,” said Jones.
This love for baking is what prompted Jones’ career move, and in 2002, Jones began the planning process. His original goal was to open a bakery, but after doing research and talking with his peers, Jones decided to add a retail portion to his business as well. “While decorating cakes out of my home, I realized that the only local places that sold decorating supplies were chain stores with a limited supply of items,” explained Jones. “The closest supply store was in the next town and knowing that there were a lot of other home decorators, I decided to add the retail section.” In doing so, Jones is also now able to offer a greater variety of decorations on the company’s own cakes.
Another conclusion Jones drew from his research was the need for ready-made cakes. “Many of the people I had talked with in developing my plans stated that they were tired of getting grocery store cakes that only looked decent but didn’t have the flavor to go with the looks,” continued Jones. And so, Jones added ready-made cakes to the mix.
A Place to Call Home
After the plans were in place, Jones located an empty storefront in Plano, Texas, built it out to meet the city’s restaurant code and opened Cakes Amoré as his first professional custom bakery. “The greatest challenge, other than financing, was convincing the community that they could get a bigger, better-tasting, better-designed cake without breaking the bank,” explained Jones.
To do this, Jones handed out cake samples to passerby’s and brought samples to a variety of other local businesses. This, along with other advertisements, helped Cakes Amoré find its place in the community. And as the business grew, Jones was able to find vendors that were willing to give him price breaks as the quantity of orders increased. “We constantly promoted the business and kept checking prices,” said Jones.
In the months ahead, it was quite obvious to Jones that the promotion paid off. “I soon realized that my biggest growth came from referrals from my clients,” said Jones. “My clients would tell their friends and coworkers to go nowhere except to Cakes Amoré. The referrals grew my business faster than the thousands of dollars that was being spent on advertisement.”
Client Confidence
So how does Jones ensure that his clients will continue to spread the word? “A business practice I learned as a teenager was to give the client a top notch product at a reasonable price,” said Jones. “I continually stress customer service to my staff and expect them to treat our client as they would want to be treated.”
This involves truly understanding a client’s request for that special cake, showing a customer where the cake supplies are located, rather than just telling them, and maintaining an atmosphere that truly feels like home. As Jones elaborated, “While we will joke with our clients and establish a comfortable and relaxed relationship with them, our clients know when it comes to business, we strive to meet their needs in a professional manner.”
Teach Me! Teach Me!
It wasn’t long after opening his business that Jones realized another need within the community--the need for education. Clients began asking Jones to teach them to decorate, so Jones put together a few classes of different skill levels and Cakes Amoré began offering classes in the evenings. Since that time, the course offerings have grown from just three levels of skill to now include everything from beginning to master level decorating. In addition, the company offers seven or eight specialty classes along with the standard classes.
Teaming Up
Over the past seven years, Cakes Amoré has expanded on its specialty, offering everything from character cakes to wedding cakes to high-end specialty cakes. To aid in this expansion, Jones brought on Lorie Carnes as Cakes Amoré’s executive pastry chef in February of 2007. As a former business owner and cake/pastry chef, Carnes brought with her an extensive knowledge of additional cake styles, fondant designs and upright 3D-style cakes. Today, the company has 10 employees including Jones. This includes Carnes, who manages one baker and five decorators, and two others who handle inventory, retail supplies, and order write-ups, as well as designing cakes for clients. Jones has taken on more of the retail/sales side of the business as his arthritis now prevents him from spending all day in the bakery.
While concentrating on the retail and sales side of the business has its benefits, Jones does miss his time in the bakery. “A stress relief for me was to bury myself in baking and decorating … I miss not being active in the decorating side, but from time to time still get in the kitchen and do a full day’s worth of baking,” said Jones. However, because a normal day of baking is between 50 to 70 cakes, not to mention Jones’ arthritis and the time needed to grow the business, Jones spends most of his time outside of the baking area and keeps an eye on the bakery as a second quality control person.
The added time he can devote toward other aspects of his business has allowed Jones to expand his business in many ways. Now, Jones has time to research and test new recipes and products to offer clients. He can keep closer contact with vendors and spend more time finding the best pricing for the products he sells, enabling him to keep his prices lower and fight off the price increases so many other bakeries in the area have had to implement. Jones has also updated Cakes Amoré’s website with photos of a variety of cake styles, broken down into categories to help clients easily find the type of cake they’re looking for. In addition, he’s increased the cake displays shown throughout his store so customers can better envision the cake options available to them.
Economic Pressures
While the demand for cakes, even high-end cakes, is still present, Cakes Amoré has also seen its share of challenges as the economy has worsened. These challenges range from working with long-term clients who have been hurt by the economy to rising vendor costs. Jones’ solution? “Instead of investing in more equipment and additional staff at this time, we are working to keep our prices at the point where our clients can continue to enjoy their edible art centerpieces,” said Jones. “Since our type of business depends on clients having discretionary spending money, we held our prices without putting needed price increases in place, causing us to place several projects on hold.”
One of these projects is relocation, as Cakes Amoré has now outgrown its 3,000-square-foot store and would like to expand, which would enable the company to offer an even larger variety of cake styles. After the expansion, Cakes Amoré would plan to increase its offering in pastries as well. And as an exciting addition to Cakes Amoré, Jones would love to add a café with an edible art cake theme, catering to the working community in the area. Jones elaborated: “With our reputation in the community, I feel the bakery and café will enhance each other, allowing us to be more profitable in the future.”
Not Your 9 to 5 Job
While it’s been seven years since Jones left the corporate world to own his own bakery, he still remembers the surprises he faced upon opening his business. “Since most of my time was spent in the corporate world, I always had evenings and weekends for myself and family,” explained Jones. “Once the store was started, and since we are open six days a week, I found myself working six-and-a-half to seven days a week in order to get all the baking, decorating, cleaning, and office work done, as well as to grow the business. I’m still working six days a week most of the time, but I enjoy the work, challenges, talking with the clients, and their reactions when they see the final product.”
Eight years ago, Steve Jones was an upper manager for a telecommunications company. But when the economy took a turn for the worse after the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, Jones found himself out of a job and looking for work. After encouragement from his family and ex-coworkers, Jones decided to pursue one of his life-long dreams--owning a bakery.
Taking Off
Since he was 9 years old, Jones has enjoyed cooking and baking. “While I have always enjoyed cooking meals, pastries and desserts have always been my favorite part of the process, as everyone enjoys dessert,” said Jones.
This love for baking is what prompted Jones’ career move, and in 2002, Jones began the planning process. His original goal was to open a bakery, but after doing research and talking with his peers, Jones decided to add a retail portion to his business as well. “While decorating cakes out of my home, I realized that the only local places that sold decorating supplies were chain stores with a limited supply of items,” explained Jones. “The closest supply store was in the next town and knowing that there were a lot of other home decorators, I decided to add the retail section.” In doing so, Jones is also now able to offer a greater variety of decorations on the company’s own cakes.
Another conclusion Jones drew from his research was the need for ready-made cakes. “Many of the people I had talked with in developing my plans stated that they were tired of getting grocery store cakes that only looked decent but didn’t have the flavor to go with the looks,” continued Jones. And so, Jones added ready-made cakes to the mix.
A Place to Call Home
After the plans were in place, Jones located an empty storefront in Plano, Texas, built it out to meet the city’s restaurant code and opened Cakes Amoré as his first professional custom bakery. “The greatest challenge, other than financing, was convincing the community that they could get a bigger, better-tasting, better-designed cake without breaking the bank,” explained Jones.
To do this, Jones handed out cake samples to passerby’s and brought samples to a variety of other local businesses. This, along with other advertisements, helped Cakes Amoré find its place in the community. And as the business grew, Jones was able to find vendors that were willing to give him price breaks as the quantity of orders increased. “We constantly promoted the business and kept checking prices,” said Jones.
In the months ahead, it was quite obvious to Jones that the promotion paid off. “I soon realized that my biggest growth came from referrals from my clients,” said Jones. “My clients would tell their friends and coworkers to go nowhere except to Cakes Amoré. The referrals grew my business faster than the thousands of dollars that was being spent on advertisement.”
Client Confidence
So how does Jones ensure that his clients will continue to spread the word? “A business practice I learned as a teenager was to give the client a top notch product at a reasonable price,” said Jones. “I continually stress customer service to my staff and expect them to treat our client as they would want to be treated.”
This involves truly understanding a client’s request for that special cake, showing a customer where the cake supplies are located, rather than just telling them, and maintaining an atmosphere that truly feels like home. As Jones elaborated, “While we will joke with our clients and establish a comfortable and relaxed relationship with them, our clients know when it comes to business, we strive to meet their needs in a professional manner.”
Teach Me! Teach Me!
It wasn’t long after opening his business that Jones realized another need within the community--the need for education. Clients began asking Jones to teach them to decorate, so Jones put together a few classes of different skill levels and Cakes Amoré began offering classes in the evenings. Since that time, the course offerings have grown from just three levels of skill to now include everything from beginning to master level decorating. In addition, the company offers seven or eight specialty classes along with the standard classes.
Teaming Up
Over the past seven years, Cakes Amoré has expanded on its specialty, offering everything from character cakes to wedding cakes to high-end specialty cakes. To aid in this expansion, Jones brought on Lorie Carnes as Cakes Amoré’s executive pastry chef in February of 2007. As a former business owner and cake/pastry chef, Carnes brought with her an extensive knowledge of additional cake styles, fondant designs and upright 3D-style cakes. Today, the company has 10 employees including Jones. This includes Carnes, who manages one baker and five decorators, and two others who handle inventory, retail supplies, and order write-ups, as well as designing cakes for clients. Jones has taken on more of the retail/sales side of the business as his arthritis now prevents him from spending all day in the bakery.
While concentrating on the retail and sales side of the business has its benefits, Jones does miss his time in the bakery. “A stress relief for me was to bury myself in baking and decorating … I miss not being active in the decorating side, but from time to time still get in the kitchen and do a full day’s worth of baking,” said Jones. However, because a normal day of baking is between 50 to 70 cakes, not to mention Jones’ arthritis and the time needed to grow the business, Jones spends most of his time outside of the baking area and keeps an eye on the bakery as a second quality control person.
The added time he can devote toward other aspects of his business has allowed Jones to expand his business in many ways. Now, Jones has time to research and test new recipes and products to offer clients. He can keep closer contact with vendors and spend more time finding the best pricing for the products he sells, enabling him to keep his prices lower and fight off the price increases so many other bakeries in the area have had to implement. Jones has also updated Cakes Amoré’s website with photos of a variety of cake styles, broken down into categories to help clients easily find the type of cake they’re looking for. In addition, he’s increased the cake displays shown throughout his store so customers can better envision the cake options available to them.
Economic Pressures
While the demand for cakes, even high-end cakes, is still present, Cakes Amoré has also seen its share of challenges as the economy has worsened. These challenges range from working with long-term clients who have been hurt by the economy to rising vendor costs. Jones’ solution? “Instead of investing in more equipment and additional staff at this time, we are working to keep our prices at the point where our clients can continue to enjoy their edible art centerpieces,” said Jones. “Since our type of business depends on clients having discretionary spending money, we held our prices without putting needed price increases in place, causing us to place several projects on hold.”
One of these projects is relocation, as Cakes Amoré has now outgrown its 3,000-square-foot store and would like to expand, which would enable the company to offer an even larger variety of cake styles. After the expansion, Cakes Amoré would plan to increase its offering in pastries as well. And as an exciting addition to Cakes Amoré, Jones would love to add a café with an edible art cake theme, catering to the working community in the area. Jones elaborated: “With our reputation in the community, I feel the bakery and café will enhance each other, allowing us to be more profitable in the future.”
Not Your 9 to 5 Job
While it’s been seven years since Jones left the corporate world to own his own bakery, he still remembers the surprises he faced upon opening his business. “Since most of my time was spent in the corporate world, I always had evenings and weekends for myself and family,” explained Jones. “Once the store was started, and since we are open six days a week, I found myself working six-and-a-half to seven days a week in order to get all the baking, decorating, cleaning, and office work done, as well as to grow the business. I’m still working six days a week most of the time, but I enjoy the work, challenges, talking with the clients, and their reactions when they see the final product.”