We recently connected with Katrina Golden and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Katrina, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I am the head baker and has been baking since she was a little girl. She tells everyone she burned her first cake in an EasyBake oven! Baking is a passion for her, and her passion shows in everything she makes. Lil Mama’s Sweets and Treats was born in 2019 after Katrina retired from government service and wanted to expand her hobby to a business. She states that she was “pushed” into this business by some of her closest friends who felt that others should experience what they have experienced at her hands. The rest, as they say, is history.

We have found that people long for desserts that are home made or have the home made taste but are unable to find them from commercial bakeries or their local grocery store. We have met that need because we have recipes that we have gotten from our elders that we use. We bake everything from scratch, nothing comes from a box. We use these recipes and sometimes put a “new school” spin on an “old school” recipe, still bringing that sense of good nostalgia to all who sample our desserts.

We are finding that we’re breaking alot of stereotypes in that my business model is built on professionalism, putting out a most perfect product, and not skimping on anything just to say we have something to sell. Lil Mama’s Sweets and Treats started at a church vendor event and has since grown to a permanent presence in the Augusta Mall, has expanded to the Columbiana Centre in Columbia SC and has a coffee and dessert truck that is a mainstay throughout the Augusta GA area.

Katrina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We are a veteran owned family business that started from the ground up with nothing more than one mixer, one oven and a dream of making people happy with cake. We have found that people long for desserts that are home made or have the home made taste but are unable to find them from commercial bakeries or their local grocery store. We have met that need because we have recipes that we have gotten from our elders that we use. We bake everything from scratch, nothing comes from a box. We use these recipes and sometimes put a “new school” spin on an “old school” recipe, still bringing that sense of good nostalgia to all who sample our goods. We have since expanded to offering several different types of desserts, still keeping to our motto of “bringing joy with the first bite”. We take great pride in what we offer to the people of the Central Savannah River Area and want to expand to bring what we do to the entire southeast.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

What helped build our reputation within our market is two things: ministering in excellence and having a quality product at an affordable price. My staff and I do not cut corners just to say we have something to sell. We conduct quality control on everything that goes out to the public, meaning that if it doesn’t taste good, it doesn’t go out. If it doesn’t look good, it doesn’t go out. If it looks rushed, it doesn’t go out. That also entails engaging in excellent customer service which means we treat every customer as if they are the most important person to us because they are!

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

My advice for managing a team and managing high morale is to actually care about your employees and foster open communication between staff and management. Letting our staff know that we value their input, opinions, and suggestions goes a long way in maintaining high morale. We are also fairly transparent with our staff, so if something is happening in the business that will affect them, we let them know.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lilmamasweets.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/lilmamassnt
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/lilmamassnt
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/lilmamassnt
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/lilmamassnt
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/cakeheadnation