We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amanda Newland a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Amanda thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.
The trend within the ‘macaron world’ is an addition of food coloring & flavor additives—flashy aesthetics and sugary profiles. A core tenant of my baking is wholesome ingredients, locally sourced, and organically grown wherever possible. When you bite into a macaron shell, as the buttercream hits your palate, you should be able to discern sweetly the full profile of all flavors without drowning in sugar. And for these reasons, I promise to never compromise the integrity of my product .
Amanda, 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?
My love of cooking began as a little girl in my grandmother’s kitchen, as any good Italian would tell you. She was never one for fancy meals, but what she did make, tasted like heaven and brought everyone to the table. This inspired me to make the transition to Johnson & Wales University after graduating high school to study Culinary Arts. My time was well spent, though I realized, fool heartedly, I would learn ‘much more out in industry’ than I could at school. While not completely wrong, I didn’t yield all the skill sets I could have or should have.
For a few years, I was adrift in my twenties, trying to figure out life as many young adults. I pursued international travel, studying and teaching yoga, and finally moving across the country from New Jersey to California.
Landing in Sacramento, the proclaimed Farm to Fork Capital of the world, I fell back in love with my roots: whole foods, local farms, and friendly, native purveyors. Any spice, root, or technique you could dream of, you can find nestled on The Grid. However, my appreciation at the time was only that of a ‘foodie’, not of a cook, or baker. As my proclivities turned toward the art of baking, it just for fun. The concept of weighing, dividing or multiplying a recipe to execute a perfect bread or cake didn’t appeal to me. I enjoyed looking at a dish like the Wild West—a little bit of this, a healthy dash of that, etc.
As I neared my thirties, I began to become increasingly insecure about my ‘career’ choices, in that, I didn’t have one. So, in an attempt to put the big girl pants on, I leapt two feet deep into the commercial real estate pool. This began in the acquisition of properties, tenant and landlord representation, as well as tenant improvement. As I moved through my experience in the field, this eventually lead me to find interest on the escrow side of things, where I then landed in San Francisco.
Two years, a pandemic, and many videos of bakers on the internet (as well as a deep love and appreciation of Ginger Elizabeth, her chocolates and divine macarons), lead me to experiment in the world of French macarons, myself.
Maybe it was the generous gift of a KitchenAid from my husband (then fiancé), but as ‘21 turned to ‘22 I decided I was going to conquer the difficult execution of their baking. All hopped up on spit and vinegar, I gathered my ingredients, weighed them out, and painstakingly went through the steps—five hours later, I was dismayed to find they were cracked, lopsided, and flat. “No matter,” I thought, “I’ll try again and nail it.” Well, one try turned into two, two into eight, and I finally threw in the towel.
My career in national commercial escrow wasn’t working out and I felt like I was leading an inauthentic lifestyle to who I was fundamentally. My fiancé and I were on the cusp of marriage, and thus starting a family. I realized that when I did have a child, I needed to be near my sister, my niece and my nephews—so I put away the baking gear, left my office job, my husband relocated offices and to Phoenix we went in April of ‘22.
As we began to settle into our new life in The Valley, I resigned myself to the duties of a house maker our first year and eventually stay-at-home mom; this wasn’t depressing per say, but it did feel a little hollow of a prospect at the time. After getting married in May, traveling in June, and preparing for our honeymoon in August, sometime in July my husband encouraged me to try the macarons again.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him I was over it, was so disinterested in the idea of failure after hours of preparation. As sort of a consolation to him, I begrudgingly brought out my tools. Letting go of my white knuckled expectations, I lost myself in the whipping of the meringue, the folding of the macaronage, the piping of the batter…lo and behold, there were feet! No cracked shells, no deflated tops, but the batter rose into the iconic macaron foot! I jumped, I bounced, I screamed! “SEAN! Look at them!! I did it!!”
After that, I was on a roll. I spammed my community’s Facebook page offering free samples, taking in whatever constructive criticism I was given and driven to improve. As I toiled away on fillings (Meyer lemon curd, salted caramel, pumpkin butter to name a few), I made a resolute vow to maintain the integrity of the ingredients before me. Their manipulation at my hand would be to highlight their natural flavors, enhance their aromas, never to drown them in sugar nor additives. Thus, Manda’s Macs was born.
The goal has never been to reinvent the wheel, simply to elevate the ordinary. While some create beautiful works with colorful, ornate macarons, my aspirations are a little more…rustic. No color additives, no flavor additives; local & organically sourced when & where possible. Let the food convey it’s own stories; let the beauty lay in its characteristic state; let the art speak for itself.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Being transparent, and honest. There is no smoke, no mirrors when it comes to my product—when I’m customer faced, it’s palpable.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
I participate in farmers markets, as I do not yet have a brick and mortar store front. With this particular business model, I am the complete face of my business; when my clientele has questions, I’m the one to answer them, to bond with them, and establish report. So while my product sings melodies I can only hum, it’s the personal touch, the stories and banter that seal the deal.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mandasmacs/?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085447926558&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-van-winkle?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Yelp: https://yelp.to/BIZOEPX9Ap
Image Credits
Photography by Jeresa – Jeremy & Theresa