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

Hi Nita, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

I was working at an event one day where I was selling my dessert bars. I sold at this particular business, a tech company, 2 or 3 times a month pre Covid for several years. Each time I sold there, I would set up my table, carefully arranging my dessert bars and mini pound cakes for sale. One day as I was selling, one of my regular customers came by and bought a couple of his favorite bars, the Exteme Bar. An Extreme Bar is a giant buttery, soft Rice Krispie bar that’s layered with homemade salted caramel, chocolate, and marshmallows, kind of like a big rice krispie sandwich.
Hours later after I got home, I received a text from my customer telling me that my bars, the Extreme Bar to be exact, had saved his life. He told me how he had been in a fender bender on his way home from work, and happened to be driving his wife’s car at the time. When he got home and told his wife about the accident he also gave her the bag of Extreme Bars. He told me he was certain she would have killed him for crashing her car but she was so happy to receive the Extreme Bar that she forgot about being mad at him almost immediately. And that’s how my treats saved his life! I’d like to think that there are countless other times behind closed doors where my treats were used to prevent conflict. Why fight when you can share something delicious! Lol.
But seriously, one of the most fulfilling parts of my job is hearing from customers how much they love my treats and how they look forward to them each week. It makes me so happy when they share their excitement about their purchase or tell me how they’ve shared them with their loved ones. Making people happy through my specialty desserts brings me so much joy!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Nita. I’m the owner of Sweet Nita’s Baked from Scratch. I’ve always been passionate about making food from scratch, particularly when it comes to baking. As a mom, raising kids, I never bought brownie or cookie mixes, cake boxes or frosting from a can. If there were treats in our house, then they were made from scratch. About 9 years ago I found myself going through a divorce. And since I’d left the workforce years earlier to raise kids full time, I found that my college degree was irrelevant and decided to reinvent myself and start a baking business. Through hard work and the encouragement of some friends, my little business was born. I was able to take my passion for creating and baking, and turn it into a business that was not only profitable but fun and deeply rewarding.
One of my favorite things to do is create desserts that invoke a sense of nostalgia, and then amp up the flavor. Do you love rice krispy bars? Then you should try one of my Extreme Bars- it’s loaded with salted caramel, chocolate and marshmallows- or a S’mores Krispy. Do you love nuts and coconut? Try a German Chocolate Bar or a Hello Dolly Bar. Are you a sucker for banana bread? Try my Banana Bread with a delicious pecan brown sugar crumble on top- sooo good!
One of the things I’m most proud of and think helps set me apart is that each item I sell is made the way I’d make for my family or friends. I make as many components from scratch as I can. For example, in my Salted Peanut Butter Caramel Swirl Brownie, I make the peanut butter caramel first and then swirl it between two layers of brownie batter before they’re baked into peanut butter brownie perfection. My Blackberry Coffee Cake with a Brown Butter Crumble, has a homemade blackberry jam that I swirl between layers of coffee cake batter. The brown butter crumble is baked ahead of time before crumbling it on top of the blackberry swirled cake, and then its popped in the oven and baked. Afterwards, I take some reserved blackberry jam, whisk it with some confectioners sugar to make a beautiful purple glaze that gets drizzled atop the coffee cake. Yummm!
On any given week at one of my farmers markets, you’ll find upwards of a couple dozen different offerings on my table, all lovingly made and ready to enjoy.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I mentioned before that I went through a divorce years ago… At the time I had 5 kids between the ages of 4 and 16 at home with me. I hadn’t worked outside the home since my oldest was born. It was a scary time for me and very overwhelming. I wanted to find a job that would allow me the flexibility to raise my kids without being away from them all day, so when a friend suggested I start selling my bars at the local farmers market I was immediately interested. Several months later, I was selling at my first market. I remember how much work went into choosing a name for my business, designing a logo, applying for all the necessary licenses and permits; all while navigating a messy divorce and trying to take care of all the needs of my children. It was hard! The truth is, it took me a long time to gain confidence in myself. But as I worked hard to build my product and my business, I also found myself growing into a new and better, stronger, more capable and confident version of myself. Likewise, as I grew, so did my business.
It’s been roughly 9 years since I began my journey with Sweet Nita’s Baked from Scratch. I absolutely love what I do and what I’ve worked so hard for! I love the friendships I’ve made with my customers and other vendors. I’ve been able to teach my kids about the value of working hard, while still taking care of ones family. My journey from the start of my business to where I am now is one of resilience and how I’ve changed from someone who didn’t think I had a lot to offer, to someone who has created a flourishing business.

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

One way I keep in touch with customers and foster brand loyalty is through my social media. It’s such a rush to see people responding positively to my posts. Photographing, styling, and editing for my social media is another aspect of my job that I enjoy. It’s such a great way to reach out to customers and future customers. It always makes me happy when a customer tells me they saw one of my products on Instagram and are excited to finally try it. It especially made my day when a couple, who found me on Instagram, drove 200 miles to try my vegan cinnamon rolls. While I have a website and am still trying to improve my social media platform, I’ve found selling directly, face to face, is still my favorite way to keep in touch and is one of the reasons I love my job so much. I have many regular customers who stop by my markets weekly, or every other week and I always enjoy catching up with them. I know many of my customers favorite flavors, and favorite bars or cakes. Along the way I get to hear about who’s expecting their first child, who’s daughter is going off to college, or who is training for their first marathon (and therefore can only buy one Pumpkin Bread with chocolate chips instead of two). Through my customers I get requests for certain items which occasionally become staples on my menu, like my Carrot Cake with cheesecake filling, for example.

Most of my elderly customers aren’t on social media, so many of them call or text me directly when they need to place an order. I love being able to offer this personal way to reach me if that is what’s most comfortable for them. I find it really special that I have made so many customers that I consider to be friends. Building those relationships is easily one of my favorite aspects of my job.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sweetnitas.com
• Instagram: sweet_nitas
• Facebook: sweetnitas

Image Credits
Most images are by me, Nita Rogers