We recently connected with Dominic Genduso and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Dominic, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

I started making cheesecakes for family and friends in 2008 as a side hustle. In October 2017, our son Dominic “Nico” Genduso passed away from a motorcycle accident. Shortly after, my wife Amanda and I felt we needed a change and moved to Waco, Tx. I started Driving a Commercial Truck hauling fuel to local gas stations. In October 2020, I had to have Rotator Cuff surgery and I was out for 6 months. During this time, I had a chance to reflect on what all had happened in our life the last 3 years, we decided to make cheesecakes again and sell them to our new Friends and neighbors in Texas. It took off and in a few short months we bought a food trailer. We decided to name it after our son Nico so we could always remember him and be able to share our story with others that have also lost someone in their life.

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?

It has been a wild ride but in March 2022, we entered into the Texas Food Truck Showdown and we won People’s Choice Award which was very exciting and validating. In August of 2022,we opened our shop in Hewitt, Tx. It has been a blessing meeting so many wonderful people and our business is doing well even through a Pandemic. We are so grateful and give all thanks to God.

I just have a love for cooking and baking. I learned to cook at a young age where my mother and grandmother both taught me to cook. I eventually started baking and cooking food for the family.

Our Products are mainly cheesecakes in various sizes, 5oz, 8oz and whole 9″ inch cheesecakes in a variety of flavors. Our most popular is the Turtle cheesecake which has an Oreo cookie crust with plain cheesecake and topped with pecans and house made chocolate ganache and caramel.

We do events, weddings, Farmers Markets and Neighborhood sales. We have 4 wholesale accounts that carry our cheesecakes in Waco and surrounding cities.

I believe what sets us apart from others is our variety and flavors of cheesecakes we offer.

We are a small business that really cares about our product. We make all of our cheesecakes in house from scratch including most of the toppings and fillings by making them in small batches for consistency.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I’ve always felt pretty confident that if I try hard enough and be consistent in my practices, I will feel more confident that I will succeed. I may fail at some things, but if you keep trying and not give up, you will persevere.

We went into this not ever running a business before. We have had our struggles and we’ve made it through so far. We still have a lot to learn and we will make mistakes but we will never give up. We started this business in the start of a Pandemic and we are still here today.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When we moved to Texas from California we did not have family nor did we know anyone here in Waco, TX

My first job was brutal and I could not physically do the work due to heavy workload and very long hours.

I lasted about a month and looked for other work. I was out of work for 3 weeks and I decided to get my Hazmat Endorsement and haul fuel. I worked for about a year and half when I realized my shoulder was hurting and it became hard to lift anything over my head. That’s when I found out I needed Rotator Cuff Surgery. After the surgery I had 6 months of physical therapy and during that time we decided to make a change in my career from truck driver to baker. This was my passion and I had a chance to really take hold of what I’ve always wanted to do but never did. So now I am baker and we have our own business, Nico’s of Texas, LLC

Contact Info:

• Website: nicosoftexas.com
• Instagram: @nicosoftexas
• Facebook: Facebook.com/nicosoftexas