We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emily Stump. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emily below.
Emily, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
When I suddenly had the opportunity to own my own business I knew one of the first things that needed to happen was a name for it! I brainstormed ideas I could live with and polled my friends and family (maybe even a few strangers!),. Most thought it should have my name in it somewhere. So I settled on Sweet-Em’s Cake Shoppe. My mom who is a part of the business is often asked if she is “Emily”…she has fun telling them “NO, she isn’t sweet enough to be Sweet-Em” We have a lot of fun with it!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m Emily and I own Sweet-Em’s Cake Shoppe. I started this business when I was just 21. I grew up baking beside my Mom and Grandma who made the best…well everything honestly! She was an inspiration to me. I had also taken cake decorating as a 4-H project in my youth at our local county fair. and won at the local and state level where I was awarded top honors. I never dreamed I would own my own business. I was just a girl working a bakery job who loved decorating cakes and had an amazing opportunity dropped in my lap! I had a small cafe propose a business partnership where they would “incubate” my cake business and help me get it off the ground. Through a lot of hard work and perseverance, it quickly became a venture where I could operate on my own. My family was instrumental in the early days and continues today to be a vital part of my team. I am going into my thirteenth year of business and haven’t looked back. I am still learning ad growing and know there is incredible potential to still tap into. I create custom cakes from the very basic birthday celebration to elaborate grand cakes for weddings and other special occasions. I have recently added a full line of dessert buffet options to my menu as well as provide desserts for local restaurants to feature on their menus on a weekly basis.
I work with customers every week who have an “idea” but need guidance in getting their vision into a workable plan for number of servings they need as well as stay within their budget. It means working together closely with them to create a memorable cake for their family and friends to enjoy.
I am proud to run a business where honesty and customer care are my priority. My customers are the reason I am able to have this wonderful business. I’ve been in business enough years to enjoy creating cakes for a graduate who then gets married, has a baby shower, then celebrates their children’s birthdays. They return year after year and I have been with them through all of life’s milestones. it’s pretty cool!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Owning a business asks a lot of you on a regular basis but I had no idea just how much until July of 2021, My dad suddenly became ill and was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma multiforme. He had beaten colon cancer in 2008 but this time was different. The Drs let us know he likely had months to live. There is never a good time to receive news like this and unfortunately, life cannot just stop. I still had a business to run with order commitments and financial responsibilities to fulfill. Although I tried to slow down it was hard to balance wanting to be with my dad in those days and still keeping my business going. I was well into my busiest part of a cake decorator’s life with wedding season in full swing and I had brides who had booked their cakes months prior to us learning of my dad’s illness. The summer wore on and my dad remained mostly unchanged in his health. But October came and he quickly took a turn for the worse. It became apparent he wouldn’t live through the next week. I]The hospice nurse told us he had days left. I had no idea at the beginning of that week that I would need to make a heartwrenching decision by week’s end. I had several wedding cakes booked for delivery Saturday and now had to decide, would I cancel last minute on these brides, jeopardizing my business reputation so I could be with my dad and family as he passed from this life to the next? Or fulfill the contracts I had entered into months prior by creating and delivering their wedding cakes with my mind numb and my heart breaking. Both mattered. My family and those brides. When I was struggling to make a decision, a family friend who was with us at my dad’s bedside in those last 24 hours, asked me what would I want to say I had done in the years down the road….And I knew what I had to do. I couldn’t control that my dad was leaving us but I could control what would become of my business. I put my head down, got the work done, and prayed I would make it home in time for a last goodbye. It wasn’t only me, my brother and sister were there for me helping to get the cakes accomplished. My sister was headed home when my brother got the call. He was gone. There was nothing else to do but finish. We delivered and set-up three wedding cakes even though our world had just been turned upside down and the mental anguish was on a level we had never known before. I made my peace with my decision. I am so proud of my family and my team that were there for me that day. So, when I have customers question my dependability, I smile, tell them a bit of this story and assure them I have what it takes. I have learned that I can be bent but not broken.
Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?
I had a close call of almost missing a wedding cake delivery. I had met with a couple who wanted to book their wedding cake with me. All went as usual, with information gathered and details noted. Their wedding day arrived and I proceeded to deliver their cake as discussed at the appointment earlier. When I arrived at the venue location, much to my surprise, there was another party already in full swing! After questioning those present, I realized I was given the wrong location. I still to this day do not know where the breakdown in correct information went wrong. I tried multiple phone numbers and avenues of trying to reach someone in the wedding party to discover where I needed to be but to no avail. I was in panic mode and didn’t have any idea what to do. As I sat in my vehicle sick about what had happened, I received a phone call from the maid of honor wondering where the wedding cake was. I explained I had gone to the location given at the appointment only to find it was incorrect. She gave me the correct location which thankfully was only 10 minutes away. I hurriedly drove there, set up the cake as quickly as I could, with a roomful of guests all watching me and left, feeling only slightly relieved. I tell brides that there likely will be something that goes wrong on their special day but to remember that at the end of the day, they are still married and that’s what really matters. I just don’t ever want to be part of the thing that goes wrong again! I have learned to confirm and re-confirm ALL details in the weeks and days prior to a wedding. Lesson learned the hard way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sweetemscakeshoppe.com/
- Instagram: sweetemscakeshoppe
- Facebook: Sweet-Em’s Cake Shoppe
Image Credits
Cat Alkire Photography Arielle Peters Photography OMG Photographt Ryan Hodges Photography