We were lucky to catch up with Amanda Debek recently and have shared our conversation below.

Amanda, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

So I actually started when I seen this cute concepts/franchise on social media and realize that they opened another location in our hometown so I went by visit it and see the concept and flavor After that, we liked the flavors and concept and we’re interested in the business opportunity so we contacted the franchise for more information. We took the steps to becoming franchisees and then started looking for a space we chose Ann Arbor because it’s business district and we occasionally used to come up on the weekends to walk around town and we like the vibes and the diversity. In the coming months, we signed on with a contractor and started our project. What should’ve been A 3 to 4 month project turned into a Year and a half of stress and paying rent. The next few months were very chaotic, but turned into excitement and anticipation, the reality that I was becoming my own business owner kicked in and we began planning opening our cafe

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?

I’m Lebanese American born and raised in Dearborn Michigan. I always worked from home and always had a drive and hunger for success.
i owned a successful event planning business for years before I decided to move on to franchise business. I love working with people, those who know me I’m very social and belong in customer service Not only do I have an eye for design and beautiful things, but I overall love being social and make people happy and desserts And sweets are the way to go. The concept of the Hungarian cakes are very unique and that’s what I wanted to bring to the city of Ann Arbor something unlike any other, something different something new and unique and mission accomplished!

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

The best source of new clients with me now is quite a few ways actually first as you eat with your eyes so when people like something that’s visually appealing they’re going to try it so all of our desserts are very neatly put together and we use top quality ingredients flavor is huge. They taste that they’re hooked! we do offer coupons as well 20% off one single item we’ve been doing this for the past month or so to drive in new customers, but since we only opened a little over two months ago, still finding out about us. I’ve been reaching A lot of local university organizations, etc. to set up fundraisers and sponsorships to support my community as well as get my name out there!

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Advice I would give to managing a team would be to allow time for your staff to show their strengths and weaknesses because actions speak volumes! I learned that not everyone has the skills or mindset I do and that I have learn from them as others have alternative methods that I may benefit from! Give others a chance to shine as their skills may help my business grow. Team work is highly encouraged, monthly meeting/ team building and a system needs to be set and things should flow smoothly. Always be open to ideas from your staff as well make them feel like they’re opinions matter, therefore they’ll work harder and smarter for you

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thehouseofchimneycakes.com/ann-arbor
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/houseofchimneycakesannarbor?igsh=dXdjZ3d5cXI5Y3ky&utm_source=qr
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@houseofchimneycakesaa?_t=8rP2HIHpnWY&_r=1