We were lucky to catch up with Keith Cedotal recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Keith, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Well, it all started when I got furloughed – during the end of 2020. I thought, “Now is the time to start my own business.” Unfortunately, a lot of pastry chefs started their own bakeries, too. That was a good thing, because Dallas needed more local chef-owned businesses, but I knew I needed a unique concept. So, I took a step back and took some time. I probably took a little too much time, especially for my husband’s liking, but I wanted to get it right.

Then, I created KEESH, which is an acronym for Keith’s Epic East-Side House. I used “house” because I always wanted my business to be a place of comfort. I really focused on the name and logo because I felt I couldn’t move forward without those two. KEESH is a blended concept of what I like to call a “Texas bake-aurant with a French twist.” It draws on my kitchen tenure in both savories and pastries with the creation of eye-popping everyday food.
I started out KEESH by delivering baked goods and preserves to local people in my East Dallas neighborhood. I gave away a lot of food at the beginning for their feedback and attention. Those few taste testers have turned into 1000+ Instagram followers.

I officially launched KEESH earlier this year with just a website, Instagram, delivery program (just through customers DMs) and menu. I first launched delivery as a marketing ploy. I wanted to use it to build my brand and presence in East Dallas, but it turned out to be something people really wanted. Now, it’s a part of the business model. When we are up and running full steam, we will deliver within a 3-mile radius of Keesh. But I am getting ahead of myself, the brick and mortar is the main goal for our next step.

I want KEESH to be a place where you want to go every day to get “epic” everyday food. Having been in the fine dining scene for so long, I realized it’s kind of stuffy and want a more welcoming environment. KEESH will be the “spot” where you can get any meal, any time of day. People have really enjoyed the food and are excited for the next chapter of KEESH.

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?

I’ve been lucky because I always wanted to be a chef, and I had the opportunity to achieve that dream. In culinary school, I was very shy and tried to take in as much as possible. But I wasn’t sure where I wanted to focus. I probably would have preferred to be voted “best dressed” than the coveted “most likely to succeed.” I got into pastries after a very tough internship at the Four Seasons. I kept looking at the pastry kitchen and everything was so pretty and clean. My hands were covered in cuts from lobsters after cleaning out the 40-gallon steam kettles. So, I decided right then and there I would switch to pastry. I went to a local cake shop, and they hired me on the spot. Four weeks later, I was decorating wedding cakes.

Most of my creativity has been on the pastry side. That drive was always just there in me. I love the fact that it’s the last part of the meal. It’s the last thing you eat. I always took it as a stab in the heart when someone didn’t ordered dessert because I had put so much time into it.

Through the years, I have done a lot to build my career, including spending time on the savory side, too, and stints in NYC to get more experience. I have created menus for local restauranteurs, from heathy grab-and-go to Thai cuisines. I even won some local awards along the way, like the 2018 “Pastry Chef of the Year” in the Dallas CultureMap Tastemaker Awards.

So, I’m taking all of this knowledge and putting it into KEESH. I have worked really hard to get here, and I think that’s why a lot of my customers want KEESH to be a success. I have basically worked for everyone in the city, so now it’s time to work for me. I am so happy to start KEESH because I know what it takes… It’s not going to be a piece of cake.

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

Well, it started out with some badly-lit pictures and ill-written posts. Luckily, I had a former colleague, Fran, who really helped me elevate my social presence. She is the brain behind the copy in my posts, i.e. the clever words and puns. Basically, when she got involved is when my social took off. Also, I started delivering to some local bloggers who promoted KEESH, helping me pass the 1000+ followers club.

I always thought building a social presence was going to be super complicated, but as long as you can find your brand voice that’s what matters most. My best advice is to keep looking at the social profiles of those you admire or that inspire you. I like looking at creators outside of the U.S. because they’re posting things you just don’t see around Dallas.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

I started KEESH as a delivery service, thinking it was simply a marketing strategy to build momentum while I worked on opening my brick and mortar. I quickly realized that my “side-hustle” is a key driver of developing KEESH into a bigger concept. I basically just reached out to some of my followers on social who seemed interested in my food posts, and it worked. Momentum grew from there. I gained a lot of attention and got a lot of orders as well. I realized I couldn’t keep up with orders through Instagram messages, so I teamed up with a company called Bottle, which helped me set up my online ordering process. That is helping me scale further.

Contact Info:

• Website: keeshbakery.com
• Instagram: keeshbakery
• Yelp: keeshbakery.com

Image Credits
KEESH or Keesh bakery is fine