We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jamie Lankford. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jamie below.

Jamie, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I started Just Jamie Desserts in June of 2021. I had just graduated college in May, and I had a job, but I didn’t know if I was going to have enough hours/pay to stay there. I liked it, and I knew that I wanted to have my own cafe one day, so I started baking from home. Baking from home, led to me baking out of another restaurant’s kitchen as I started to supply local coffee shops. Vertical Coffee Co. started selling my muffins and other baked goods. Eventually my Cinnamon Rolls took off! This helped me pay my bills, and pay down on my student loans. Which at the time was my only goal. As new coffee shops opened, I started supplying them. Roots Coffee Co. By June of this year I had more than I could do just part time. I had already thought about expanding, but I quickly had no choice. However, still being young, and unmarried at the time meant that I needed to move fast so I could still pay my bills. After a lot of pivoting, we have 50 West Broad, Jamie’s Eats & Sweets. A cafe and sweet shop. I have loyal customers from my time as just a baker and I’m learning new ones everyday. While I’m focusing on growing and making a profitable business at the moment, I’m looking forward to the chance to help local and global mission works. I have several organizations in mind, and I want to use the cafe as a force for good, and a light for God. I want people to feel welcome in my cafe and I want to keep making peoples day better. I’ve always loved people and food. It’s a great way to bring people together, and I plan to keep doing just that.

My long term goal: support local and global mission works through a portion of the funds from my business.
My short term/ ongoing goal: make a successful business, where people can come and feel welcomed and loved.

Jamie, 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 Jamie Lankford. I own Jamie’s Eats & Sweets. I provide specialty desserts in a cafe environment, catering, and I supply local coffee shops (without kitchens) with baked goods. I grew up watching my mom do Pampered Chef shows, cooking and baking all the time. I loved helping her, and I loved to try to do it on my own. I’ve experimented with food my whole life and I used to host parties with way to much food for all of my friends in high school. I’ve always wanted to own my own cafe or restaurant but as I got to college age, I morphed it into a cafe that helped support global and local mission works. I started as Just Jamie Desserts, and I baked from home. Then I took some samples to a local coffee shop, Vertical Coffee Co. And they loved them. They offered to let me sell them in their store. That’s when I started baking out of another restaurants kitchen. As new coffee shops popped up, I took more samples or messaged their Facebook pages and asked for a meeting. Eventually I signed on Roots Coffee Co. I even start supplying a local bookstore Plenty on Spring this month. As I signed more contracts, I also started to do some snack catering. I had some dessert catering, but now I was adding charcuterie and dips to the mix. So in June of 2022, I changed the name to Jamie’s Eats and Sweets. Shortly after I secured a location, 50 West Broad Street, for the cafe. Now the Grand Opening for my storefront is September 28th. What started as a part time hobby, has turned into my full-time job, and I’m loving every minute of it. I’m really proud of how far this business has come in a year. But I also know that it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of local businesses like Vertical, Roots, and Exceptional Bean. While others were more practical helpers like The Biz Foundry and The Upper Cumberland Development District. My customers also are huge supporters. I have loyal customers who have been with me since the beginning, cheering me on every step of the way. They encourage me to keep going, and they are a huge part of why I decided to move forward with the expansion.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Getting funding for my business was a challenge. I already had a basic idea of my business plan from when I was in college (thank you Jud Davis). But I’m young 22, I graduated in 2021. I had started building credit early, but I didn’t have anything for collateral other than my truck, and so financially I’m a huge risk. I had applied for loans online and I wasn’t getting anywhere. So I went to the Biz Foundry and they told me about their micro loan. So I took the required classes, I finished the business plan, they helped me with my projections, and after several months of trying to get everything together, I got the loan from them. However, it was only enough to buy my equipment. I had done some crowdfunding, and sold t-shirts, it helped, but it wasn’t quite enough. I applied for more loans. I was denied. Eventually, without me asking, (I was very determined to figure it out on my own), my parents stepped in with a generous gift. They have done a lot to help me through the years, you can ask my customers, they have been at several events despite not living in the same state. But this took the cake. I know it’s not a solution everyone has, but I’m thankful for the help. However, there was no way they were going to/be able to front the whole cost. I had to have the Biz foundry loan. I had to have ongoing contracts. I had to be putting in the effort. So talk about your business, show people how dedicated you are to your business, and if it’s something you can do, you’ll find your financial backing. I truly believe that.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Growing clientele is as easy as talking about your business. I tell people all the time about my business. I wear my shirts everywhere, I post about it on my social media. I go into other businesses and tell them about it or invite them to events. But the best way to grow clientele is through referrals. I ask everyone how they heard about me, and I ask everyone to write me a review. Most people spread the word anyway. For every new customer, I almost always get at least one more. Ask people to share your business, and give them something worth sharing, and they will.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @jamieseatsandsweets
• Facebook: Jamie’s Eats & Sweets
• Yelp: Jamie’s Eats & Sweets

Image Credits
The first photo with the wedding cake is me decorating my cake on my wedding day in August of this year. That photo was taken by Matthew Travis Photography. The rest of the photos were taken on my IPhone.