Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Karla Lino. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Karla thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

For as long as I could remember being in the kitchen was something I really enjoyed. Watching cooking and baking shows, I always admired how chefs would create dishes with ingredients that were so simple. As I got older though I realized that if I wanted to pursue a career in the restaurant business, I first needed to understand how business worked in general. I graduated college with a business degree and headed off to culinary school.

During my time in culinary school, I learned so many techniques and had so many experiences that only reconfirmed that I really wanted to be apart of the culinary world. I always said opening up a restaurant would be a dream come true but, as I started taking baking classes I realized that baking was something I was really good at. Being in the kitchen I gravitated towards the savory side of the culinary world but after making my first batch of cookies and breads, I realized that I enjoyed baking so much more.

As I took more and more baking classes and started to bake more at home I started to think that maybe opening a small bake shop would be the way to go. My time in culinary school though was cut short due to work and the pandemic. I had to take a semester off and just before I was ready to sign up for the following year the pandemic changed everything. Classes resumed but, the experience of being in the kitchen with the chefs wasn’t there anymore and so I focused on working.

I continued to talk and talk about how my dream would be to open a small bake shop but when that would be I had no idea. So one day a friend went out and gifted me a red KitchenAid mixer. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to do something with it. The mixer was much more than a mixer, it meant that I can do it if I really wanted to. So soon after I decided to bake sugar cookies for Valentine’s Day in 2020.

I had absolutely no idea if the sale would be successful or not but that didn’t worry me. Yes, I was a bit nervous because well just with anything new one doesn’t necessarily know how it will go. I baked cookies after work and would decorate them. As I sat there I knew I needed a name that would follow the journey of this baker and so that same friend who gifted me the mixer joking said “why not Fake Chef? People will always ask you why Fake Chef?”. That’s how our name came to be.

The story behind Fake Chef is that while in culinary school still learning all there was to learn about the culinary world my friends would ask me questions that they said I should have the answers to and when I didn’t they would jokingly say well then that makes you a “Fake Chef”.

Fake Chef had its first ever sale right before COVID shut down the world. The amount of support we received was incredible. I never would have thought that by receiving a mixer it could change the direction my life was going. Through this journey I have met some amazing bakers and I knew the one thing that would be unique to Fake Chef would be the delivery of our products. Our slogan “Freshly Baked For You” encapsulates just what Fake Chef means to me and those who have helped Fake Chef get to where it is today. Baking an order isn’t just a transaction to us, it means that you will receive our baked goods as fresh as possible just in time to enjoy it with your morning coffee, afternoon tea or to sit around the table and share it with your loved ones.

While Fake Chef may not be solving problems we do cherish every order and pride ourselves in making sure that anyone who orders from us remembers the experience and creates memories with our baked goods.

Karla, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Fake Chef consists of one baker, which is myself however, Fake Chef is much more that just the baker. Fake Chef is able to operate because I receive support from my family and friends.

Fake Chef is a local bake shop who offers a variety of baked goods and offers personalized orders to individuals who are looking for something that is unique to them and their tastes.

Fake Chef started in 2020 and at first we offered an assortment of baked goods from our Browned Butter Banana Bread to our Specialty Cheesecake however, we also wanted to give people the opportunity to have creative freedom when ordering from us. Opening that door to our clients we were able to be more inviting to individuals who wanted certain pastries for their parties and gatherings.

We are extremely proud of how far Fake Chef has come from its very first sale to where we are now. We have had many opportunities to be apart of community events, be featured in other small businesses and to continue to connect with so many individuals who are also in this industry.

As Fake Chef continues to grow our goal is to be able to offer monthly pastry boxes with some of our classic goods and some new ones as well. We also are looking to be able to find a space where people can come to us and buy our baked goods to enjoy on a daily.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best source of new clients for us has been word of mouth and through Instagram.

We understand that there are other business out there who may provide the same services, however when ordering from Fake Chef we try to make the ordering process as easy and stress free as possible.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

One thing that we believe that helped build our reputation would be how clean and consistent our presentation of our business is. It all about the tiny details. From the moment a client contacts us, to thinking of everything that could go wrong, we make sure they know that they know that we appreciate them.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @fakechefpastries
• Other: email: [email protected]

Image Credits
All pictures taken by us