We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sandra Soogrim a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Sandra, 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.
Island Love Cakes was an idea that originated from my mother’s kitchen. Every Christmas my mom would make Guyanese Rum Cake which filled the house with the sweet aroma of fruits, nutmeg, and rum. Island Love was created from the love we have for our heritage, our West Indian roots. Business runs in the family and when thinking of endeavoring into entrepreneurship, I wanted it to be meaningful and share the love of the Caribbean with others. Taking my mother’s recipe, I began to play in the kitchen with other spirits and created our menu. During the pandemic when we were all grounded and no one could take a cruise and get their rum cake, we provided an experience for those that love rum cake but want it locally. We use a particular Cognac that can only be found in the Caribbean, Hennessey Pure White and created a delightful cognac cake, a spin on the traditional rum cake. As we opened in June 2019, we began to see the joy in our customers faces when thinking of rum cake they had from a memorable trip, enjoyed over the holidays with friends and family or experiencing it for the first time and falling in love. Island Love was created to share the love and warmth of the Caribbean to others. In 2022 we established Island Love Charities where we partner with orphanages in the Caribbean and sell pins to help the charities support the youth and expand the knowledge of others that may travel to these countries where we can bring awareness to the needs of our youth. It’s all about Island Love!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to tell our readers how you got to where you are today
As an entrepreneur, it’s an amazing feeling taking an idea and bringing it to fruition and seeing the joy it brings to others. It’s always been about the love of the Caribbean, the love of family, tradition, and sharing that with others through our products. There are many other competitors in the market however our cognac cake is a unique product. By using premium spirits that our customers enjoy such as Malibu Rum, El Dorado 5 Year Aged Rum, Hennessey Very Special Cognac and Hennessey Pure White Cognac that comes from the Caribbean is what makes us stand out. The flavors are distinct and we plan to continue experimenting with other flavors as the company continues to grow. We plan to continue sharing the love of the Caribbean in each bite!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Island Love was created in 2019 and just as we started out, the pandemic hit in 2020. We were getting prepared to launch a full year of events and really share the brand with the public. Due to large startup costs and no revenue coming in, we were stuck with a large amount of debt. As the pandemic prevailed past the first few weeks then months, we began to feel defeated and began to slowly sell off equipment and inventory in an attempt to close the company down. As we vended in September 2020, we shared with our customers that we would be closing and to our shock customers came out and began to purchase in large quantities, then referred their friends and family. Within 3 months of reopening in the fall of 2020, we were able to clear all of our debt and continue growing the business. It’s our loyal customers that keep us resilient and keep us going, we are so grateful!
How did you build your audience on social media?
We started by reaching out to local food bloggers and restaurants to expand our customer base and reach. Through social media we connected with brands such as Viacom, In the Know Cooking, MASC Events and partnered together to do live events. It’s been through our Pop Up Markets in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan that our customer base has expanded. Through posting on Facebook and Instagram and now learning TikTok, we inform our customers of where they can find us, we share promotions with them and keep them informed of news revolving the brand. It’s allows us to reach customers in Hawaii as well as all over the US!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.islandlovecakes.com
- Instagram: Islandlovecakes
Image Credits
Photography by Katrine Moite