We were lucky to catch up with Jamie Mack recently and have shared our conversation below.

JAMIE, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The beignet bar was an idea that came about as a favor to a friend. He and his wife loved beignets and all things New Orleans and asked if I could make beignets for them. The answer was “Sure, why not?” I tried a few recipes that I didn’t care for and decided to take a trip to New Orleans to found out what a beignet is supposed to be. Turns out everyone’s beignet is different, but each that I tried had something about it that I liked. Taking the info I had gathered; I came home and wrote my own recipe. After two years of research, tweaking, trial and error, I finally have my ultimate recipe. During this two-year process, my team and I started with pop ups at local breweries, then we moved on to the festival circuit, and finally found a home inside Arden Fair Mall. We went in as a holiday pop up in 2021 and have been there ever since. You don’t really find beignets many places on the West Coast, and definitely not authentic ones. I’m born and raised Sacramento Proud, but we have some of the most authentic beignets in the region. Anyone who has not tried them recently should come check us out again. It’s been a long process of getting it right, but I believe our daily commitment to improvement is what has placed us among the best.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started as a home baker when the Cottage Food Permit was a mere discussion and celebrated when the bill finally passed. Much thanks to our governor and Sacramento County. That permit changed a lot of lives, including mine. I wanted to work from home so I could raise my child without the assistance of daycare. As a cottage baker, I could do just that. I specialized in custom cakes and treats for any occasion you could think of. I did this for 11 years and I knew it was time for me to grow into something different, but I didn’t know how. Covid taught me how. During Covid, parties got canceled, but people still had a sweet tooth, so I shifted my direction from custom cakes and created a line of dessert cakes that quickly gained popularity with my clients. It was also during this time that I was invited to compete on a show called Baketopia for HBOMax. I accepted the invitation and won both a cookie challenge and a sculpted cake challenge. This was huge. It was the culmination of my custom cake career as I knew it and allowed me to truly focus on building something that could be bigger than me. I wanted to do something that I could train a staff of teenagers to do and once I started my journey to beignets, I knew that was the thing.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In October 2021, I signed a lease for a spot inside Arden Fair Mall. This was different. A small business like mine had no business being able to sign a lease in a mall, but it was Covid outside and although we were coming down off the peak of the pandemic, we were still very much in a pandemic. The mall needed to fill spaces and we needed a space. I had NEVER done anything like this before and there was a lot I didn’t know, but we opened November 1st and took off like gangbusters. It was incredibly busy that holiday season. People had stimulus checks and cabin fever and were ready to shop hard. We had amazing sales that quarter. Then after the holiday season was over, dry January hit and so did every lesson in taxes that no one ever taught me. The mall was back to being a barren wasteland and every penny that I thought I made in profit grew wings and flew straight out the window, because it was the end of the 4th quarter and taxes had to be paid. I realized that this is probably why new businesses shut down after their first year. We made it through and began another year with new knowledge and we were prepared this time. However, our second holiday season looked nothing like the first. Only about half the number of shoppers showed up, so here we go again fighting through and toughing it out. Owning a storefront is nothing like being a cottage baker. I really only had me to worry about, my personal taxes, and a few permits to keep track of. Now I had employees and more taxes than I have fingers to count on. We are still striving and learning and have never missed a payroll. Heading into our fourth holiday season, I feel like I could write a book with the info I’ve learned, but we are ready (fingers-crossed).

How’d you meet your business partner?

My sister, Muriel Dimel, has played a very important role in the success of SpiderMonkey’s Dessert Studio. I’m creative and she is very administrative. She helps keep me organized and she is my right hand. She has been with me through literally every step. Her kitchen has been my cottage kitchen. She has been with me through rainy pop-up days and 115-degree festival days. She helps me run the dessert studio at Arden Fair Mall and answers my late night and early morning calls to help me sort out random ideas. She’s the best.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://spidermonkeysds.com
• Instagram: @spidermonkeysdessertstudio
• Facebook: Jamie Marlene
• Linkedin: Jamie Marlene
• Yelp: SpiderMonkey’s Dessert Studio