We recently connected with Cristal Spellman and have shared our conversation below.

Cristal, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

The biggest challenge to profitability in our industry is lack of community support. Small business exists because we as artist have so much to offer. The amount of time and energy that we put into our craft is extremely under rated. Unlike the big chains in our industry we put our best into producing the best products which means that we have to use the best and a lot of times the most expensive ingredients to create such scrumptious desserts. The last couple of years have been brutal on small businesses because we have to buy our products in bulk and the amount of majority of our ingredients have doubled in price. Majority of the small businesses are dying in Virginia Beach because we are out here on an island alone and there are many weeks that we don’t break even and are having to use personal funds to make sure that our employees are being paid. We love what we do because we have a passion for it, but most customers don’t support because they don’t feel that it is worth the price that we have to charge in order to break even. Some customers don’t understand the “behind the scenes” process of doing what we do in order to make the desserts that make a party a huge hit or a wedding the perfect day. We are often told that what we charge is not worth it but they have been enjoying our unique products for years. We put our hearts into our craft and if the community doesn’t wake up soon, there wont be any small businesses that make the community a great place to live around any longer. I know 3 amazing small businesses in our industry who have had to close their doors due to lack of support from the community and the cost of goods. The city that we are in helped during covid and we are grateful but without there being a natural disaster we are a dying industry. I pray daily without ceasing because that is the only thing that keeps me going. I know that I was born to be a small business owner, its just sad that my fellow business owners didn’t get the help in time.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Plaza Bakery LLC has been around since 1959 and we specialize in everything sweet. We are located at 3762 Virginia Beach Boulevard, Virginia Beach, Virginia in the Birchwood Commons shopping Center. We began the journey with Our Almond Wedding Cake Petit Fours, and they have been the top selling favorite and a hit at many parties and events for years. We are a custom cake shop designing cakes for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and celebrations of all kinds. Recently we have moved to a new location which has enabled us to get closer to the community by adding soups, salads, sandwiches, lattes, and music. We have gone from a grab and go cake shop to a local cafe offering many of what our customers would have to go to multiple places to enjoy. We also offer delivery for a fee in order to make sure that our customers don’t have to stress about destroying the cake or desserts before the party starts. For those who accept the challenge we even take the product to the car and show them exactly how to get to their destination feeling like they have super powers. Our desserts are one of a kind and you cant find them anywhere else. We have an almond wedding cake that cant be duplicated and it sets us apart from everyone else in our industry. Not only is it the almond wedding cake but the customer service and environment that we provide for our clients has been top tier for years. We are most proud of our ability to allow our customers to enjoy whatever event that they plan and not have the worry of their guest being p[eased with the desserts that they present from Plaza Bakery. You can taste the love in every bite!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Last year I lost my mother to cancer and it was extremely difficult to deal with the grief while being a business owner at the same time. Over the years I have always mentored young women and found a way to not only employ them but to pour life lessons into them that they can take with them through the years. This process is actually what helped me to survive during my grief. I didn’t realize how treating my staff as up and coming small business owners prepared them to handle the business when I was down. I placed a lot of time into my managers of each department teaching them how to own their department and to ensure that the department runs flawlessly without me having to look over their shoulders. This was the avenue to future business ownership and also personal growth for them. I think that we as business owners have to not be afraid of our staff leaving but enjoy the feeling of knowing that they are better because of the time that you put into their growth. I was down with grief for about 2 months, but because of the work that I put into them as individuals Plaza Bakery ran flawlessly because I wasn’t mentally or physically able to during that extremely difficult time. Seeing my business in perfectly good shape after my return let me know that I was doing something right and it helped me to see that storms may come but sunshine returns in time.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Plaza Bakery survived during Covid 19 and there were times when I knew that it was over. Instead of throwing in the towel, I began to take a deep look at what the top sellers were in the business and did away with the others. This wasn’t easy as customers were used to certain items since childhood so it was scary. This enabled me to cut back on payroll and ingredients. It helped to know that things may not look the best but if you look really close, you can survive hard times.

Contact Info:

• Website: theplazabakery@gmail.com
• Instagram: @plazabakerycafe
• Facebook: @plazabakeryvb