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

Maurine, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How do you think about spending on things like coffee when times are tough?

My parents are both very frugal and have passed that onto me. They always have stressed the importance of not doing into debt when possible. We have worked really hard to not incure debt and not spend money frivolously. We were able to start Momo’s with only a $15,000 investment and have never had to put any more of our own money into it. Momo’s has been completely self funded since then. We were cash flow positive within months and have always made a profit since then. Working with my dad has been so beneficial as he has shown me how to bootstrap a business, find good deal, and make a business successful without doing into any debt

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’m Maurine, and my nickname is Momo’s which is where the business name comes from. I started Momo’s Gourmet Cheesecake in 2015 out of my home. I was a social worker then a stay at home mom. My mother in law asked me to make a cheesecake in the fall of 2015, which I had never done before. But it turned out great. My family loves cheesecake so I started making it for them and fell in love with the process. I started experimenting with my own recipes and flavors. I decided I wanted to start a small business just selling to friends and family since I had found a creative outlet that I enjoyed and there aren’t really any places that specialize in cheesecake. I stared doing cheesecake in a cup and perfected that form of cheesecake. My business slowly grew and in 2019 my dad became my business partner and built me a food truck. We opened a shop in Provo in 2020, a shop in South Jordan in 2021, and a shop in Salt Lakw city in 2022. What sets us apart is that we do smaller cheesecakes in 3 different sizes. We use fresh quality ingredients. We make all of our suace in house. We do 4 weekly flavors so you can always come try something new. I also do wedding cheesecakes.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

Social media has played such a huge role in our growth. I hired my amazing social media manager, Noelia, in 2020 and we have created such a great community through social media. We are able to get all our information out to our customers about new flavors, holidays, and any other marketing we want to do. We have never spent any money on marketing or ads. We feel a personal connection with our followers and customers and I believe they feel that from us. They get to know us through our videos and stories. We have a great relationships with local influencers and foodies that has helped us grow so much and we get to connect with their followers as well. We also work in the shops as owners and enjoy meeting and connecting with customers in that way

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

My husband and I used to own a gym. Fitness is my husband’s passion so in 2017 he opened his own gym. I never saw myself as an entrepreneur but I learned so much from him and our experience owning that business. As Momo’s grew, we got busier and busier, to the point where we felt we had to decide between one of the businesses. In the end, we decide sticking with Momo’s was the right choice so we moved forward with continuing to grow our cheesecake business and have both been 100% in since then

Contact Info:

• Website: Momoscheesecakes.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/momogourmetcheesecakes?igshid=YjNmNGQ3MDY=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/momogourmetcheesecakes?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits
Lila Avila Rachel Madsen