We recently connected with Cristina Castro and have shared our conversation below.
Cristina , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with something countless entrepreneurs have had to figure out on the fly – how have you dealt with the rise of remote work?
Besides wanting to bring a little happiness to my corner of the world during the pandemic. I saw an opportunity to build a business based on the need for delivery service. It is also a strength since It would be a remote delivery base business, I have saved money by not opening a storefront. Doing this kept my overhead expenses low and allowed me to still afford my high-quality ingredients. For some, this may seem a little unconventional but I love delivering the items to our customers without them having to worry about one more thing on their list. It is fast, simple, and convenient for our customers. We adapted to the times while providing a service which is the reason our business survived those crazy times. We not only survived, we thrived.
Cristina , 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 name is Cristina Castro I am the proud owner of Whisky Business and Desserts. Springville, Utah is the home of my business and where I currently reside with my husband and 4 children. I have my Associate of Science for Baking and Pastry, which I received from the Art Institute of Salt Lake City Utah in 2013. I come from immigrant parents who came to the US from Mexico to give my siblings and me an opportunity for a better future. I am the 4th child of 10. It was fun growing up in a big family. To this day I am still cooking for 10 people… in other words, my portion control could use some work. LOL
I was the executive pastry chef at Frida Bistro in Salt Lake City, Utah, until 2013. Then I joined Kneaders Bakery and Cafe and worked at their home office as the executive pastry chef for over 50 stores. During this time I was over their pastry R&D and pastry training in UT, ID, CO, NV, MO, KS, and TX until 2020. I traveled to many different store openings and trained my pastry teams across the states. After being in my position for a few years, I decided it was time to take a step back to spend more time with my children. They were growing up rapidly with my parents taking care of them. It was a tough decision to make, I worked so hard to be where I was and I was enjoying every minute of it. I went home, but I just couldn’t give pastry up completely.
I remarried and with the help of my amazing husband Whisky Business and Desserts was born. Together we created a pastry delivery business. Helping people send delicious home-crafted goods to their loved ones to help them get through the hard times. This was something I knew I wanted to do in order to share a little bit of happiness to my corner of the world. Many times I found myself at a deficit on my orders, I want it to be so perfect that I go way over budget. My passion never went unnoticed and we always had enough new customers to more than cover any overage. I pride myself on our amazing hand-crafted chocolate bonbons. Our pastries are perfect but the fact that people can get them where they need them when they need them is what makes us really stand out. When they taste them, they are hooked. With every order, the customers come back and tell me how good it was and how it reminded them of a certain memory. They always give us a special thank you. Whisky Business and desserts is my pride and joy. I love sharing my passion with everyone, the community, and the relationships that I share with our customers are special to me. I hope to open a storefront in the future, but for now, I will continue to share my love for baking with everyone around us.
We are always booked out a few weeks out at a time. I personally take care of all of our channels of feedback and social media. I am very grateful for the success our customers have made Whisky Business and Desserts. I believe that without them I wouldn’t be able to share my love and passion for desserts with anyone.
Anyone is able to reach out by calling us or emailing us at [email protected]. Our Instagram is whiskybusinessdesserts and they can follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/cristina’s desserts.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I believe I built my reputation on a few important things such as customer service, quality, creativity, and flavors but most importantly the relationships I have with my customers. I always love a challenge. When I need to learn something new to ensure I provide the customer the best quality product I will do my research and practice until I get it right. I am a perfectionist. LOL People who know me know that I will go above and beyond for them each time they order. Customer Service has been a big thing for me throughout my life. It can be as simple as asking them how their day is going to adding a free little something to show them that I care and that I am grateful for them. Sometimes all people want is someone who can listen and be understood.
We can be reached by email at whiskybusinessdesserts@
Any advice for managing a team?
This is one of my favorite questions to answer. Because I believe that sometimes people try to make it more complex than it should be. As a leader, I believe that to be successful you first have to understand the needs of your employees. Always showing how grateful you are for them in little ways will help them want to go to work, but you can’t show real gratitude if you don’t know what they do for you and the things that matter to them. I had many great managers that I worked with but the best ones taught me that having empathy and not just sympathy goes a long way. Giving your employees clear expectations of your policies is very important, but a clear and strong vision is a must. So that while they grow, employees know that it is okay to make mistakes as long as they learn and keep trying to move forward. The world is a scary place at times, some will point fingers and play the blame game. It is important they learn to own up to their mistakes so they can grow the confidence to make better choices. They will need that confidence for future problem-solving and productive autonomy. When it comes down to it. We are problem-solving every day, and being able to adapt is a great way to help with morale when managing a team. Lastly, you want to be able to celebrate the small victories as well as the big ones. It’s the little ones that make people want to try harder to reach their goals. You have to be able to do the good thing vs just the nice thing in order to have a team that can be successful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://whiskybusinessdesserts.business.site/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whiskybusinessdesserts/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CristinasDesserts/
- Other: Email: [email protected] Phone number: 801-669-1328
Image Credits
Nick Bayless
Dallan Byrne