We were lucky to catch up with Alicia Phoenix recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alicia, appreciate you joining us today. Can you share a story that illustrates an important or relevant lesson you learned in school

I went to Scottsdale Culinary Institute (now Le Cordon Bleu) in Arizona. On the very first day of ‘Kitchen Basics’ class, our teacher told the class that if anybody had come to culinary school looking for fame, money or an easy life – they should get up and get out. I don’t think the average/non-food industry person realizes the hours, sweat, toil and absolute LOVE that goes into what we do. The rush of pride at being able to create something that tastes divine, looks like a work of art and brings a smile to the customer’s face is the reason we work hard and keep going.

Alicia, 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?

As a little kid, all I wanted was to be a ‘Chef’ – I dreamed about being a Chef on a cruise ship so that I could cook and travel. I went to culinary school with that in mind, but quickly changed my career direction once I had a taste of decorating with chocolate and sugar. I knew at once that my dream was to decorate cakes and create delicious desserts. Even on the hard days or the very long days, I am always so grateful that am lucky enough to have a job that I love doing.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I was told to always be agreeable, and that the customer is always right. Under this ideation, I rarely turned down order requests. I feared disappointing customers by refusing their orders or their design requests. There are a couple of problems with this thinking. One, is that you can quickly take on more work than there are hours in the day which limits the amount of special attention you can pay to each client’s order thus not doing your due diligence. Second, in agreeing to every order, you may take on work that you know is out of your scope of ability which causes stress throughout the project and most likely results in a finished product that is not as beautiful as what was intended. It has taken practice to refuse orders once I know my schedule is full and to not feel bad about it. I also happily refer customers to other local businesses when they request designs/products that I know are not within my scope of ability.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Word of mouth has been my best marketing tool! The great thing of being part of the entertainment/food industry is that when one customer buys your wares, they are putting your company on display in front of a large group of people. If you are good at what you do, the product sells itself. When a customer of mine purchases a birthday cake or desserts for a party, they are effectively marketing for me and giving out free samples! It is not long before their guests contact me for cake and dessert.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.crimsoncake.com
• Instagram: @thecrimsoncake
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-crimson-cake-oceanside-2