We recently connected with Alonso Navarro and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Alonso, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I started baking to find some kind of relief for my anxiety. I realized that baking was more than a “fun activity” for me but more therapeutic. Every time I walked into my kitchen I started grabbing every ingredient I saw and throwing them into a bowl and mixing them up. My mind was so preoccupied with what I was making that it helped me forget about everything else and my anxiety subsided. Personally, baking is one of the ways I can express my feelings since I am not very good at expressing myself. It’s a way for me to say thank you, or show you appreciation or sympathy through baked goods.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Alonso, and I am 30 years old. I was born and raised in Lima, Peru. I moved to the states in 2016, and that’s where my baking journey started. It is always hard moving into a new country by yourself. I went through a time where I was having a lot of depression and anxiety and baking was a therapy for me. I started Beary Good Bakery in 2019 back when I was living in Austin, Texas. After a couple of years I moved here, to Kansas City, right in the middle of the pandemic. Growing a business it’s hard but growing it in the middle of a pandemic, that takes more than hard work. It takes consistency, passion for what you do and lots of nights without sleeping. Beary Good Bakery before was nowhere close to what it is now. My business has grown so much and all of it it’s because all the love and support from my family , friends and customers. I offer a variety of desserts: cake donuts, cakes with buttercream, macarons, cupcakes and cakesicles. I specialize in cakes with buttercream for any occasion like weddings, baby showers, birthdays, themed cakes, etc. I believe there is a few things that set me apart from other bakers or bakeries. First, I will say I do not cover my cakes with fondant. Personally, fondant doesn’t taste very well. I do use it for little decorations or to customize something. Also, I get asked a lot to copy cakes. I definitely don’t do that. Every time a customer send me a photo of a cake, I always tell them I do not copy cakes but I use the photo as an inspiration to come up with an original design. I believe my flavors and designs are what set me apart from other people.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

First I would like to say and give a little piece of advice to everyone who is starting a small business or everyone in general. Do not get hung up on social media or try to compare your work or yourself with other people. We all are unique and have different skills. Just have fun doing what you love and sharing it with your love ones.

Building an audience in social media it’s hard. Because you have to be very consistent when it comes to posting content. Definitely the best way to do it (and free) it’s by telling your friends and family to share your posts. Also, posting content at the right time and day. Internet has a lot of articles about what’s the best day to post on social media. And last but not least if you feel like spending a little bit of money. Pay for some ads. It does help a lot to reach out more people and build a bigger audience.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

I do everything from scratch. To be honest, I didn’t go to culinary school for this. I am a self-taught baker. It was hard at the beginning, but with lots of practice you can achieve everything. I watched a lot of videos and read a lot of books about it on my own. Also, helps a lot having the right tools for it. Makes everything easier. I remember at the beginning I will offer myself to make cakes for every occasion to my friends , family or coworkers without charging them. It was a way for me to practice and grow my skills.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.bearygoodbakery.com
• Instagram: Bearygoodbakery
• Facebook: Bearygoodbakery1