We were lucky to catch up with Denise Moreno recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Denise thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

More Sweets was originally started in 2016, legally at least. I always dreamt of this idea of a bakery and having this business. But I finally took the big step in becoming a business in 2016. I filed all the necessary paperwork and started working on all the important things a business needed to have set up. I slowly transitioned from working for other bakeries to doing my own work starting around 2018. Then I took a crazy leap and started applying for Farmers Markets all over LA County until I finally got into a market as a vendor. Then I went full time into my business. I worked in the Farmers Market scene for about 2 years, and then we found the PERFECT location for a store front bakery. With my mom and dad, we signed the lease and were ready to get the gears rolling and into the bakery business. Then the pandemic of 2020 happened, and everything got shut down. Our store front bakery was at a standstill (rent still due). We couldn’t sell at farmers markets because they were closed. Weddings were not happening so our Golf course venues were closed. We had absolutely no orders coming in. Prebooked events wanted refunds. Preordered cakes were cancelling. It was something we had never expected or planned for happening. I didn’t know what to do. I think everyone felt this way. But we still had equipment to pay for, bills to pay for and rent due. I had to pivot and pivot fast! While I was used to doing a certain menu for the farmers market, I already knew what items were great at being prepackaged and started doing “pop-up” shops. Luckily we have the best customers, and all those that followed us on Instagram supported us during this time. While we weren’t as busy as we had been, and lost so many sales, we managed to hold on and do everything we could until we could finally open in 2021.

Denise, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Since I was a little, I always loved baking and wanted to have a bakery. I was unsure how exactly to get to this point but luck kept me on a path that got me to Culinary school after College. Culinary school went by so fast, and although I studied for savory/culinary cooking, I ended up at my internship, and subsequently first job, working in the pastry department. I stayed worked with pastries and continued to learn as much as I could. After over a year at this first job, I moved on to a Cake/Cupcake store, that I ended up staying at for quite some time, learning more than I could have ever imagined. I learned everything from cakes and macarons, to inventory ordering, staff scheduling, and so many more managerial/operations skills. I took all the good and bad I learned and set the foundation for my own business. More Sweets was created as a place for people to enjoy and indulge in the sweet things in life. Our first tagline was “Bites of Decadence”. It has always been our goal to create the best, most enjoyable experiences. We use only the best and highest quality products and make everything in house from scratch. Freshly baked and handmade, we hope to provide customers with edible works of art that will make their parties and gatherings fun, delicious, and stress-free. We take care of the baking and decorating, everyone takes care of the enjoying.
I am most proud of our commitment to excellence. We do not take any shortcuts and always put everything into making the best product. Whether it means working 12-16 hour days, or driving all over LA looking for ingredients, we make sure every baked goodie is delicious and done right.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

In December 2021, after dodging Covid for 3 years, I finally got it. I was so devastated for multiple reasons. Of course, no one wants to get sick like that. But I also had so many preorders booked. It was my worst nightmare coming to life. I had to personally call each customer and explain to them we couldn’t fulfill their order. I have always done everything I could to make sure all orders are fulfilled and ready to go on time! I even learned how to pipe and work mainly with my left hand (I’m right handed) when my right hand was stitched up from a cut and couldn’t be used at all. But this time, there was absolutely no way I could do any orders. I was not only sick and not feeling well, I was so depressed and bummed I had to cancel all those orders. So many were for special moments, like baby showers and bridal showers and birthdays. We also had to refund all the preorders. At the same time, rent was due and certain bills were due. We had to shut down for 2 weeks, which meant absolutely no sales, or income coming in. All of this of course happened right at the beginning of our Christmas season, which happens to be one of our busiest seasons all year. And we had to miss the majority of it! This is the time of the year we get slammed and booked with orders, but helps us bulk up to make it through the slow season (aka January/new diet/no sugar season). As soon as I was cleared, I ran back to the bakery and started pumping out as much work as I could! We didn’t fully recover what was lost, but we were able to survive and make it through luckily.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Managing a team is just as hard as learning all the skills and techniques to be an expert Pastry Chef. A Team with so many different personalities and perspectives must be taken care of and treaded lightly. As a manager, you have to learn quickly everyone’s work style and vocabulary. Some people understand the bigger picture and dedicate themselves to it, some people are only there for a paycheck. Either way, the best thing you can do, besides listening to understand, is leading by example. Working alongside your team is the best way to earn their respect. When the days are busy and there’s more work than you can imagine, getting in the kitchen and literally getting your hands dirty is the best thing to do. This helps keep morale high too, showing the team you carry the workload with them, helps everyone work a little harder. It’s always best to show your appreciation for them as well. Try to make the work fun as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.moresweetsla.com
• Instagram: @moresweetsla
• Facebook: More Sweets LA