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

Megan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

My business was started on a leap of faith in Jacksonville, North Carolina on March 22, 2018. Nearly ten years prior to this, I found baking to be a passion of mine when I submitted a cake to the county fair for my Culinary Class as a senior and won. Between that win and starting my business, I worked in a couple professional bakeries in my hometown in Lakeland, Florida. When I married my husband, I made the move from Florida to North Carolina to start our new life and follow him wherever his career as a United States Marine would take him. After our second child was born, I desperately wanted to find a job to give myself a purpose other than being a mom; but, with my husbands job taking him away often and not knowing people well in the area, it seemed like it would never happen.

I baked for events and fundraisers for my husbands unit and everyone always raved about my desserts! They would purposely come just to snag some of my cookies and cupcakes. Multiple people said I should start selling them but I was not so sure. Slowly I started to take a few cake orders and with each one felt like I might actually be able to do this. March 22, 2018 I committed to this dream I held onto dearly for so long. I remember sitting at our dining table late that night after I tucked our daughter into bed and was rocking our son in his bouncer while on the computer. I stared at the Facebook Business Page form I was filling out trying to think of a creative name, the perfect profile picture, etc. I was so excited and nervous at the same time. That night, Sugar, Spice, and All Things Iced was finally a real thing and my imagination for all I wanted it to be ran wild! Then my husband received orders saying we were moving to Hawai’i in the summer of 2018.

I had literally just started and was about to pack up and move across the Pacific. I didn’t know it then, but this was the best thing that could have ever happened to me for my business.

Megan, 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?

Sugar, Spice, and All Things Iced started in March 2018 on a leap of faith. I have always had a passion for baking. My mom and Nana would always make things from scratch and let my siblings and I help. I fell in love with every step of it and carried that through my entire life. After entering into the county fair for a Culinary grade and winning as a senior, it further solidified my passion and a fire sparked that this could be something I make a career out of.

After I married my husband, I knew I would need to find a remote job or create my own business. His career as a US Marine leaves me solo parenting often with countless field ops, deployments, etc and I knew I would need to do something that gave me the freedom to take care of our family as well as bring in money. After being torn back and forth on the “What if I fail” and “What if I don’t” scenarios, I took the leap of faith in myself and started my own bakery business.

I think a unique fact about my business stems from the nearly four and a half years we spent living in Hawai’i. The culture, language, tradition, etc were just mesmerizing to me and I dove head first into it all. From ‘Olelo Hawai’i on my website and social media, the sustainable practices I enforce, the plumeria on my logo, and the aloha I carry in my interactions with my customers, it is clear that Hawai’i left its mark on me.

My bakery offers a variety of baked goods including custom cakes and cupcakes, cake slices, dessert cups, cookies, brownies, pies, cinnamon rolls, and other pastries. I have made orders for birthdays, weddings, baby showers, and the United States Marine Corps Ball.

I think what I am most proud of with my business is that I have never given up. There have been some rough times and somedays I felt like I was barely treading water, but, here I am now riding the waves as they come. Between two cross country moves, our third child, miscarriages, deployments, trainings, and a global pandemic I am still standing and so is my bakery. All of the times I could have given up and I said “not yet, keep going.”

Have you ever had to pivot?

After moving back to the mainland in September of 2022, I had to take a critical look at everything I had done in my business until then. I went from Hawai’i living to Florida living and they are vastly different. My first market in Florida was in my hometown-Lakeland, Florida. I had hoped to start there and branch out to where we are currently stationed in Altamonte Springs. I did ok at that first market but got a quick reality check that what I have been making in the past was not what was going to sell in my future. In Hawai’i I made custom orders and participated in monthly markets in Kailua outside of our base. I sold out nearly each time of cupcakes and cookies. Here? I barely sold cupcakes, some cookies, and did better with cake slices than anything else. It was a trial run and I knew that going into the market that day; but, I was shocked by what I had left over.

I decided to give one of my old items a try at the next market and they were an absolute hit! Dessert cups. A 16oz container packed full of tender cake, sweet buttercream, and anything else that specific flavor required. They are aesthetically pleasing, portable, and storage for leftovers all in one. I sell out of them nearly every market!

You do not need something as life altering as a 4,800 miles move to happen to pivot your business. I think as a business owner, you do yourself a great disservice if you cannot take an honest inventory of what is and isn’t working and adjusting as needed. Pivoting my products and accepting that I was not going to be as successful off the jump in Florida as I was in Hawai’i allowed me to manage my expectations and accept my losses with grace rather than as a total failure.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

As a business owner, you have to be resilient from day one or I am convinced you won’t make it. At least that is how I feel personally for myself in my business. You cannot take things personally if someone buys the same product you offer from another business or that will eat at you. You have to be strong willed, determined, and have perseverance that is unmatched by most because being a business owner is not for the faint of heart. There is more to it than IG reels and hash tags. It’s hours of product creating, testing, social media, marketing, photos, website management, networking, etc.

A story I think that shows my resilience in my life and business is when my family tragically lost loved ones. My brother in law passed in November 2020 and my stepfather passed in December 2021. Both of these deaths were not expected and were gut wrenching for our families. This was also during Covid and living 4,800 miles from home. My husband was Red Cross messaged from a school in California to go home for his brother, but the kids and I were not able to go home. I felt awful, even though I knew it was out of my control, that I could not be home with our family. So I did the only thing I could do-I baked. I made nearly six hundred cupcakes after my brother in law passed and raised just over $1,200 for my mother in law. For my stepdad, I got the call mid morning he passed and didn’t sleep that night. I baked almost eight hundred cupcakes and raised nearly $3,000 for my mom.

This story is not by any means to receive pity or have pats on the back thrown my way. It is a genuine testament to my resilience in overcoming tragedy with using my business and passion to do good in light of the chaos that was surrounding me and my family.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sugarspiceandallthingsiced.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sugar_and_spice_791
• Facebook: www.facebook,com/allthingsiced791
• Other: LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/sugar_and_spice_791