Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Luxmoore.
Jennifer, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up with my grandmother living next door, and she gave me my love of baking.
When I was little I would help her, and then as I grew up, all thru high school I would experiment with brownies (fudgy or cakey?), cream puffs, souffles, cookies and so much more. I thought about going to college for baking, but I didn’t want my hobby, what I loved, to grow into something I didn’t like, because it was my job. So I went to college for communications and ended with a Masters in communications. I ended up working for a radio station in Rhode Island as the copywriter and continuity director.
I had been there for about 7 years when one of the afternoon shows did a bit on “What would you do if you won Powerball” my answer was “Open a bakery.” I thought about that. I had gone as far as I could in that job, and if I wanted to do something else I was going to have to start at the bottom. So why not start at the bottom in something I loved. I went back to school at Johnson and Wales taking a CE pastry program that met on Saturday and Sundays, so I could still work during the week. After the program ended I stayed at the radio station for another 9 months or so before starting a small wedding cake business out of my home.
That summer I got a job for a local restaurant and did their dessert baking and made my cakes out of their kitchen. The following winter (February 2007) I had enough booked business for the summer that it made sense to get my own baking space. I found a huge, cheap, old mill building space and built out a kitchen with used equipment, one table and a lot of hope! The following year I won my first Best of RI award for best wedding cakes! That year I also added my first employee.
We’ve now moved to a new location, 1413 Westminster Street, that has walk by traffic, regular customers and contains a full bakery, coffee, and espresso as well as plated desserts and a bar! We have about 15 employees and are open 7 days a week.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
One of the biggest struggles was having a seasonal business. I started with wedding cakes because they were creative, a larger project that I could get into, but then be done with and move on to a new project, and they had a larger price tag so I could make some good money when I was just starting out. Where opening a full bakery was beyond my talents and my financial means at the time. But doing wedding work is usually just busy from April thru September.
That meant that as we grew, during the winters I would have to lay people off and many times they weren’t available to come back the following year. So I was always training new staff and losing great staff. Plus paying the staff I kept was really stressful during the winter. We needed a full bakery that offered goods all year round, but that takes a lot of money, and the banks won’t give you that money until you’ve established yourself. After 8 years we started looking for a new space. That process was so fraught with stress.
Finding a building that is in good shape, finding one at a price point I can manage and in a good location is really hard. We found one and started with plans, architects, contractors, but after 7 months of planning the environmental testing came back that the building was just too contaminated. So… we stop looking for the summer.
Then in the fall, we start again and finally find something. The sell date keeps getting pushed back because the seller is having problems with his new building, then about 3 weeks before the sale is supposed to happen we go over the details with the contractor and the bid that they had givens us 8 months prior, has now doubled! So we cancel the project again because we can no longer afford it.
Another 5 months goes by and the seller reaches out to us again and asks if we would consider taking a look at the project again, but he recommends a contractor that he had worked with. We agree and this contractor is much better and can do the project for what we want and finally 3 years after we started this, we sign the purchase agreement on Halloween Day 2016.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Sin started as a wedding cake business. We have won 7 Best of RI awards for wedding cakes and 2 for Best New Bakery. When we moved last year we added morning pastries like muffins, Sinnamon rolls, scones, pop tarts, full-size bakery cakes as well as slices, cupcakes and more.
Plus we do coffee and espresso drinks, and then in the evenings Thursday thru Sunday, we offer plated desserts paired with cocktails. The plated desserts are based on the 7 Deadly Sins… Sloth is a cheesecake, Wrath a creme brulee, Lust a chocolate dessert, Greed an extra large dessert, Pride is fruit based, Envy varies and Gluttony is a mixed platter.
We’re the only company that does specialty cakes as well as a full-service bakery. Even though we expanded we’re still known primarily for our custom cakes and wedding cakes. We have a ton of orders every week for birthdays, showers, parties and weddings. I love the look someone gets when they walk into the bakery and we bring out their cake. They just look so happy!
What were you like growing up?
I was a shy child who liked to read. I had one good friend and wasn’t really social. I loved to watch tv. Becoming someone who has the get out there and advertise my company and talk about it and be the face of it, has been a difficult journey! I used to sit in my car and psych myself up before going in to talk to someone. But now, it’s a lot easier, having my communication background definitely has helped!
Pricing:
- Wedding cakes and Specialty cakes start at $6.25 a slice and go up from there.
- Bakery items are between $2 and $6
Contact Info:
- Address: 1413 Westminster Street Providence RI 02909
- Website: www.eatwicked.com
- Phone: 401-369-8427
- Email: info@eatwicked.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sindesserts/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SinDesserts/?ref=bookmarks
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/eatwicked
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/eatwicked/
Image Credit:
jwesselphotography, blueflash photo, snap photo
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