We recently connected with April Farkas and have shared our conversation below.

April, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

I hope and pray that my legacy tells the story of how many great stories start with “I came from nothing” but no great story ends with, “I stayed there”. I want to tell a story of faithfulness, will power, determination and perseverance. I want people to see my logo and see what I have built from the ground up……..how I started with nothing and made something.

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 background and context?

My name is April Farkas. I came from a small town in central Florida but moved a lot as a kid. We were very poor when I was coming up. As a result, we didn’t have much. I grew up and got started in the work force. I wanted more for my family. I worked hard and was committed to my family and my job. I did well in my semi – corporate roll and received several promotions. Somehow, I always felt there was a little something more like something was missing. I never knew what it was but it just felt like I was destined to do more than sit behind a desk and I always questioned my purpose in this life. Don’t we all? I never knew what it was. I never knew what gift God blessed me with that would give my life purpose and meaning. What was His plan??

Then, one year for his birthday, my husband asked for a cheesecake for his birthday cake. I thought the easiest thing to do would be to go to The Cheesecake Factory to find what he wanted. I went there. They didn’t have the flavor he wanted. I guess I could have probably chosen another flavor and he would have been fine with that but that wouldn’t be a very good story, would it?

I decided to make one myself. The rest is pretty much history. He fell in love with my cheesecake the way he had fallen in love with me. I started making them more often and for more than just my immediate family. After a little while friends started pushing me to tell them when I was going to make it an official business. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it. And so, The Cheesecake Lady was born.

So many of my customers have fallen in love with my cakes the same way my husband did all those years ago. I bring joy and happiness, one slice at a time. I love the smiles. I love when a customer leans back and closes their eyes while enjoying my cakes. Seeing that feeling of bliss that washes over someone’s face as they savor each bite is priceless for me.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

I manufactured in small batches at first because that was all I really needed. I soon found that I needed to double and triple my recipe to have enough! Now I make my recipe by the pound so that I can produce much larger batches. I am currently working to find a private label manufacturer who will be able to take on this project and help me manufacture even more!

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

I’m sure my story is not the traditional story of how a business is funded but it’s mine and I’ll own it. Quite simply, I have earned every dollar. My husband and I have put in a little cash here and there to help things move along a little more quickly than they would have but I have worked and earned my heart out. Every dollar I’ve made has gone back into the company. It has caused some slow going at times but I don’t owe anyone anything. We have found equipment second hand and we have done all the work ourselves. We manufacture the cakes but we have also had to put in a lot of work on things like remodeling the food truck. We bought the food truck used and completely remodeled it. We scraped off the old wrap by hand, fixed a few things on it, installed electricity, flooring, installed the appropriate material on the walls, and several other little things to make it fit our needs. We also keep up with all the maintenance and repairs to the food truck ourselves. We are currently working on much bigger things that requires putting even more of the money we earn back into the business that will allow it to grow even more. It’s growing so fast and we can’t wait to see where it all leads!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thecheesecakelady.net
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/thecheesecakelady.net
• Other: www.instagram.com/thecheesecakeladyinc

Image Credits
Fryed Egg Productions