We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Arielle Walker. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Arielle below.
Arielle, appreciate you joining us today. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?
As a former pastry student and current bakery owner, I have noticed a big gap between students finishing school and the skills required to practice baking/decorating as a career. Often culinary/pastry schools guarantee certain certifications at graduation, but the ability to re-create what they have learned so that the business is profitable simply isn’t there. With schools donning out bogus certifications, it sets unrealistic expectations in the graduates’ mind about how much they believe they should earn in a real job. School is a place to learn new skills. Most culinary schools also require short externships, however these are usually an attempt at cheap labor on the business’ part. Continued development is almost completely missing in this industry. There are a few people who take the initiative on their own, however I do not see much middle-ground between new graduates and professionals. I would like to start an internship program, where eager graduates can practice 1,000 cakes, 10,000 cookies, and lots of other fun things in the meantime. This will refine their newly learned skills, and properly prepare them to be true bakers and decorators in this industry. I have noticed that the art true scratch baking is at a decline, and although people love to watch decorating videos online, fewer people are able to competently use these skills.
Arielle, 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?
Yes, of course! I went to pastry school 13 years ago because I was struggling with depression and wanted to put my mind on something I enjoyed. I loved learning a lot about all the different aspects of pastry-art, especially cakes and desserts. This led to working in the industry at a new, private hotel. I LOVED my work. One day my boss invited me to find another job. I was heartbroken because I wasn’t sure what I did wrong. He told me I wouldn’t learn anything else there and if I wanted to continue growing in my career, I’d have to find a new place to do that. I worked in many other hotels, restaurants, and bakeries, and enjoyed it so much. One day, as I was looking for a great career move, I realized everyone wanted to hire me for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, minimal pay, and no benefits. Instead of taking the one that paid .50 higher than the rest, I decided to sell desserts to these places. I had met a lot of people, and knew that they would buy my work. Thus, Arielle Pastry Works was born. We are a custom bakery, we create lots of cakes and cookies and treats for the general public, but we do not sell out of our pastry case. We bake to order. And we ALSO bake and sell wholesale desserts. This is what differentiates us from other bakeries. If you want a delicious cup of coffee and a single cupcake, buy two of each somewhere else and bring me some! But if you need 1,000 logo cookies for an event, we got you! We aim to be the pastry chef for hotels, catering companies, restaurants, coffee shops, etc that do not want to hire one, but also do not want to pull cheesecake out of a Sysco box and pretend it’s great. We sell to lots of local DFW places, but our proudest accomplishments are the TV Show, “The Chosen” and all 4 of the DFW Neiman Marcus locations.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
I ORIGINALLY started baking and selling when I was 11. I told my parents I wanted to travel, they said I could but that I would have to pay for it. So the bake sales started. When I turned 12, I went to Ecuador. Almost every summer of my teenage years I was able to travel overseas, and baking paid for most of it. Then, in my 20’s when I found myself depressed, I went to pastry school. I baked at work and I baked on the side for whoever I could. This grew over time, to where I was able to work for myself full time, then hire staff to help me. I now have a shop-front, 4 employees, and even bigger dreams of the future! Also, no more depression ;)
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
I started baking as a side-gig. I didn’t go out and spend exorbitant amounts of money on stupid things. I was diligent and I saved up, and started buying equipment piece by piece. It took me a couple years to pull everything together, I looked for a financial partner but couldn’t find one. So I used what I had. I made my garage into a pastry kitchen. I worked by myself then hired a part time helper. I still saved, and was able to open a shop front with those savings. I still don’t have a financial partner, and now I think it’s for the best.
Contact Info:
- Website: ariellepastryworks.com
- Instagram: arielle_pastryworks
- Facebook: Arielle Pastry Works
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