We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Wenderott a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

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

Hello! My name is Jennifer Wenderott and I am the owner of The Simply Sweet Bakery. My love of baking, cooking and entertaining started when I was little girl. I spent a lot of time at my grandparents house and my grandma shared her love of cooking with me. I learned how to bake pies, cakes and cookies from scratch at a young age and eventully she shared her cooking skills with me too. My favorite memories are when I learned to peel apples and roll pie crust to make her famous apple pie. Everyone loves her pie! .
I think what sets me a part from other bakeries in my area is that I do everything from scratch. I make my batters in small batches and use local products when I’m able to. One of my biggest things is to support other small businesses in my area. If I can purchase eggs or fresh produce from a local grower/farmer I will be the first in line to do so. One thing I am proud of is the fact that I don’t use box mixes, pre-made fillings, frostings or bake in large batches and have a freezer full of cakes waiting for an order to come in. Every order is made fresh and just for that client. I have found a passion in custom cakes and I only hope to expand on that.

The thing I am most proud of is that I started my bakery from the ground up. I didn’t purchase something someone had already started or had made a name for. I started my bakery around Easter in 2013. There was a need for pies that I knew I could fill. I put out a few social media post about offering my services from there my business has only grew. As time went on I found that I had some really great cake recipes and so I began making more custom cakes and cupcakes. I started with any kind of all occassion cakes, but have in the past few years found my passion to be custom wedding cakes. I love meeting couples and hearing about their vision for one of the most special days of their lives. I love to look at insperation cakes with them and then create a one of kind, custom cake just for them. Giving their guest not just something beautiful to look at, but something that also taste good is my main focus. I want guests to talk about how delicious the wedding cake, cupcakes, cookies were. I want them to want more

I have worked hard to create a brand people can trust. My best advertising is word of mouth and referrals. My clients know they are going to get a fresh, made from scratch product each and every time they order. Although my passion and focus is custom wedding cakes I still enjoy creating the occasional smash cake for a first birthday, anniversary cake to celebrate a milestone, retirement cake to mark a job well done, a batch of cinnamon rolls for a corporate breakfast and treats for other special moments in a persons life.

I have recently been picked up for a 12 series season to host my own cooking show on the Eat This TV Network. It will focus on homemade food and how easy it is cook and bake from scratch. I will be sharing recipes from both of my grandmas. I am excited to begin this new adventure and to share my love of cooking and baking with my viewers.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think the biggest thing that helped me build a repuation within my market is that my motto has always been “Quality Ove Quantity”. For me it is not about how many cakes I can do in a week/weekend. It’s not about how many orders I can take. It’s about the product I make, the customer service I provide and knowing my client is more than satisified with what I have created for them. I am known for making a high quality, made from scratch cake that is custom to the client. I don’t just recreate a cake from a picture. I make them personal to each couple. Part of my reputation is the fact that offer free consults to each couple so we can sit down and really talk about their vision. We take time and look at differnt insperation cakes while creating a cake just for them.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social Media has been a huge part of my business. Word of mouth is always a businesses best advertising, but social media is part of this. When someone asks for recommendations and a past client mentions your business not only does the person who asked for the recommendation see it, but so do their friends/followers. When your business is tagged others tend to click and look at your work. Joining groups and pages is big part of engaging with future clients. Being from a rural area I had to have a way to get my name into larger areas and reach a broader audience. I joined several different FB groups/pages that would get my name notices. This includes wedding groups/pages, groups where you ask for recommendations, groups/pages about local businesses, etc. I had to carve my niche with these groups so others started pointing to me for custom cakes.

I found that posting at least once daily has increased my following on both Facebook and Instagram. One daily post helps to keep you in people’s news feed, but not overwhelm them with your content. I have started to do more reels and stories as I have noticed an increase in like and share with these. I do purchase ads when I am running a special or know it’s an engagement season (Christmas, New Years, Valentines and beginning of summer). This helps to get my name and brand on peoples feeds.

This has helped my side hustle to grow into a full time business. I am in the beginning stages of moving to a larger location. I hope to be in a building and out of home kitchen shortly after the first of the year. I believe social media has played a major part in this growth. I have a Facebook and Instagram Page along with a dedicated website. Instagram is how the Eat This TV Network found me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thesimplysweetbakery.com
• Instagram: simplysweetks
• Facebook: facebook.com/simplysweetkansas
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/RR2Fx-Cd_fM
• Other: I will be hosting a cooking showing on the Eat This TV Network that will begin airing in November.