We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brandy Jackson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brandy below.
Alright, Brandy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
The idea really started off as a joke! I have been vegan since 2021 and I was deeply disappointed with the dessert availability. Desserts were lacking in variety and when I was able to find a sweet treat outside of a cookie or a slice of cake, it was expensive and disappointing. I jokingly one day said, “I should start a vegan dessert company!” I played around with the idea a little and a good sister friend of mine said, you should name it Vegan Luxury Desserts… and so it began! I created the company & created my first dessert, the cinnamon roll and it was a hit! I tried to veer away from it to focus on other desserts but the cinnamon rolls were so popular that I put Vegan Luxury Desserts on hold and created 313 Cinnamon Rolls!
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?
Of course! My name is Brandy aka Cinny B and I am the founder/owner/creator of 313 Cinnamon Rolls!
313 Cinnamon Rolls is an all vegan, nut free, cinnamon roll company with gluten free options. We offer a variety of cinnamon rolls to satisfy any sweet tooth, with a current offering of approximately 25 different flavors! I am always asked what’s our top flavors and honestly, they’re all the very top, lol! Our traditional is our classic cinnamon roll with vanilla icing; we also offer flavors like sweet potato, strawberry, red velvet, a variety of lemon flavors, peach cobbler, banana pudding, maple bakon and the list honestly goes on and on! If you can think of it, we probably already create it!
The happiness that we bring to our vegan, dairy free, nut free Cinnafriends is what makes us the proudest! The joy of having a quality vegan dessert, in so many flavors for a fair price and amazing quality to provide to our vegan and non vegan customers is what makes what we do, so worth it!
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I think what really helped us build a reputation in the market is how we show up for 313 Cinnamon Rolls! We are extremely proud of 313 Cinny and we make sure to shine at all times when representing the company. We pride ourselves for being kind, consistent, open & honest. In moments when we cannot deliver, for example, if we weren’t able to open our retail location a particular day, we made sure we shared the reason with our Cinnafriends. If we felt like a Cinny (cinnamon roll) was smaller than usual, we’d discount the product because we pride ourselves on giving a bang for the buck. We took personal time with each Cinnafriend to get to know them, hear their stories, likes, dislikes & journeys and shared our own with them.
One of our favorite things to do (outside of create Cinnys) is support others! We opened our retail location to other small business owners to provide them a platform to promote, sell & educate. Although we have closed our retail location, connecting with our customer and providing space for other small business owners is something we are eager to get back to once we secure a new retail space.
Any advice for managing a team?
Oh! This is actually one of my favorite topics because before I owned my own business I was in leadership in corporate America! Leadership has to be one of my favorite roles and I always like to start by saying you do not have to have a title to be a leader! One of the most important aspects of leading a team and maintaining high morale is respect. One thing I always told my team is I have children and you are not one of them! lol! This simply meant that they’re adults and I respect that and expect them to show up as such. Providing an adult the space they need to do their best, is imperative. Leaders lead, not micromanage. Micromanaging is not my jam and I don’t like to be made to do so. Another important aspect of leadership is honesty, I keep it real with my team members, the truth will always shine! Another very important aspect is appreciation and lastly, team work. One thing I pride myself for as a leader is the ability to get into the weeds with my team. I cannot expect a team to show up for me if I cannot show up for them. Showing up for your team is being able to do all aspects of their jobs and doing so as a show of support when needed. Team work does truly make the dream work!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.313cinnamonrolls.com
- Instagram: 313CinnamonRolls
Image Credits
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