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

Alright, Jody thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Most entrepreneurs will tell you that success is measured between a balance of hard work, grit and a little luck thrown into the mix. I do agree with these as well, however, I do believe that there is a difference between hard work and passion in what you do…

In my business, as a bakery that caters to those with dietary restrictions, it started out as more of a marketing angle to provide baked goods to an underserved market.

Once I became extremely proficient in my product in it’s quality and output, it was brought to my attention that not only did I provide a safe baked good that could be eaten by someone with a severe allergy (think anaphylactic reactions to food items, hives, etc), it ALSO provided a mental wellbeing to those who were purchasing them.

Throughout my 15 years of owning my business, I have had numerous emails, calls, texts and letters from customers letting me know how “grateful” they are that their kid was able to feel “normal” by having a cake “that they could eat {safely}”.
This feedback provided an even greater passion for me to continue on with purpose, knowing that I was doing something so good for the community. You do right by your customers, they will do right by you – bringing you more referrals.

My passion for my customers wellbeing, strengthens exponentially for this reason but also because I still feel that the market needs more high quality dietary restrictive options out there in the world! But I will also say, a little luck never hurt anyone either!

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?

Food has always been important in my family – I was exposed to a ton of different cuisines and cultures very early on and from an early age, I spent time with my mom, learning the ins and outs of a kitchen. I just loved how food created a reaction in people. After college, I went on to serve in the United States Air Force during Desert Storm and during my military service, I spent alot of my off duty time creating new recipes as well as adapting family favorites. Always encouraged to follow my heart and share my love of food with others, I thought about ways that I could provide a twist that would serve an emerging market…cakes that could be enjoyed by people with allergies or dietary restrictions. And an idea was born…

I am originally from Denver but began my new venture during a three year stint in Los Angeles in 2006. I began honing my vegan and gluten free baking skills; creating tried and true, no fail recipes that would even make a skeptic say they “couldn’t believe that it didn’t have *** in it!” (insert: egg, gluten, dairy in here!). It was already a thing on the West Coast, so I knew that I would have a jump on my idea by bringing it back to Texas. I returned to Houston in 2008, bringing a creative and fresh approach to the custom cake market. It was a completely untapped avenue for my new business and as I gained traction, jodycakes took off and I haven’t looked back since that day!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Consistency, Customer Service, Superior Product

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

During the pandemic, I was able to truly see that a huge portion of my revenue relied on large events and weddings. Of course these things stopped for a time so I marketed to my customers to do individual packaging that could be delivered to their guests independently so that everyone could still celebrate virtually – basically have their cake and eat it too.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jodycakes.com
• Instagram: jodycakestx
• Facebook: jodycakes Custom cakes & cupcakes
• Linkedin: Jody Flood
• Twitter: jodycakes
• Yelp: jodycakes

Image Credits
Shot of Jody Flood – unknown – I’ll Have What She’s Having Picnic Fundraiser 2018 Cake photos – Jody Flood/jodycakes