We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Octavia Cephas Tiana Hoskins a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Octavia Cephas, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Our business started in 2012 when a friend of mine told me (Octavia) that I should open up a business. From that point on is when I started doing research on how to open a business. I also did some benchmarking to verify who would be my actual competitors and their pricing. Once I’ve obtained my business license, insurance, and EIN I was ready for business. I started advertising on social media and vending at my local farmers market. Then my sister advised me into doing the Chicago Black Womens Expo. She introduced me to Alan Tapper. He submitted my application and from that point on my business started to blossom. I was the only baker at the expo allowed to sell in which I was able to gain new clients for my business. I was selling out every day and this is when my daughter Tiana officially joined the team. While I was at the expo she was baking and bringing in additional treats. Since that time we’ve catered weddings, birthdays and baby showers. Up to this present day we have moved our business to the East Valley in Phoenix, AZ. Tiana has since graduated from Pastry School and developed skills in all aspects of the bakery. Not only is she well versed in the back and front of the house but also the administrative side of the business. We primarily focus our business on Southern Comfort Desserts but also party cakes, quick breads and cornbreads. You can find us at either the Chandler Farmers Market or the Eastmark Farmers Market. We like to meet the people where they are at.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

We provide our Sweet Friends with our staple Southern Comfort Desserts, party cakes, cookies, brownies, quick breads and cornbreads. We help bring back nostalgia for our customers of by baking treats that their grandparents and parents used to make. We also provide catering for those in the East Valley no matter if it’s for the home or office.

We are most proud of keeping the business going through COVID. While most shut down we kept going and through this our business has tripled. We were able to grasp the palate of more people and turning them into believers of our treats. They understand our vision and our backstory.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

What helped us build reputation is by being consistent. Remaining consistent in our treat offerings, samples and our sweet friends telling others about our business. We also started introducing seasonal and monthly flavors to switch things up.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

We built our social media audience by posting relevant material and by letting the audience into our lives. We wanted our sweet friends to know who we are outside of being bakers. Our clients like to feel personable with us..

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sweetandsavorytastings.com/
• Instagram: Sweetandsavorytastings
• Facebook: Sweetandsavorytastingsdesserts
• Twitter: Sweet_Tastings