Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sarah Chapp. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Sarah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

Economic fragility. COVID-19. Tariffs and economic uncertainty. All three of these key terms would scare most people away from opening a small business. But me? I went all in with grit and determination that I was going to open a bakery and grow it into a multi-dimensional business.

In 2012, I was moving to a new state where my husband found work. I was looking to get back into my teaching career after a two-year stay-at-home mom stint. However, many of the schools around me were consolidating and reducing staff numbers. With no available teaching positions, I opted to fall back on my hobby as a means of a profession: I opened a small upscale bakery in a new city. This was during a time where banks were not giving out many loans but I walked into the bank with my cake portfolio in hand and secured the funds necessary to open my doors. Long nights, early mornings, caked in sugar and doing endless dishes, managing employees and working the social media pages– it was (and still is) a tiring but rewarding profession. Once my small business loan was paid off, I felt some breathing room financially for three years.

I was hitting a comfortable stride until COVID hit in 2020. My bakery, which is generally viewed as a “luxury” item, had to close its doors temporarily. Being shut down during that time was not an option for me financially; I knew I had to bring my baked goods out of my city and across the country. People were stuck at home and wanted to “eat their feelings”. I capitalized on that notion and began building an online presence of our royal iced cookies that could be shipped to customers stuck at home. This move staved off any financial losses in 2020 — and in 2021, we had to move my business to a larger storefront. The bakery was back to full scale: selling cakes, cupcakes, and cookies with a secondary business of royal iced cookies shipping around the US. We even grew to the point of selling our cookies wholesale to other businesses, bakeries, and boutiques across the country.

In 2024, I began to notice a precipitous drop in sales—which is typical in an election year. I was seeing that people weren’t walking in for a $1 cookie but they were spending $130 on a cake for their boss’ birthday. The trend was simple: people were not utilizing my bakery for the “everyday” but they were still wanting to party. My hope was that after the election, things would settle back to a stable-state like it usually does. Unfortunately, the economic uncertainty with tariffs drove my business even further downwards. Even my online wholesale clientele scaled back their orders due to their own businesses slowing down. The thought of a food truck had crossed my mind for at least a year at that time and I knew people were still wanting to go out and have a good time at festivals, fairs, concerts. I took the risk and decided to purchase a food trailer which has since proven to be another great way to diversify my bakery business.

In each of those leaps of faith, I utilized an expansive amount of data: quantitative data from my sales and qualitative data from customer feedback, social media trends, and business platform trends (Etsy, TikTok, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, etc.). But no matter what data I used to make a decision, I knew I had to have the support of my employees and my family to take those risks.

Sarah, 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?

I am a small bakery business owner of 13 years in northwest Pennsylvania. Although our bakery offers cupcakes and cookies, I personally identify myself as a cake artist; I make the types of cakes that you would “see on TV”. In our shop, we go by the mantra that you “eat with your eyes before you eat with your mouth”. Therefore, we take great pride in our image, bakery cleanliness, branding, social media presence, and of course our baked goods.

At my bakery, I also teach decorating classes as a way to meld my previous and current professions together. The best baked good you can eat is one that is homemade with love by your family or friends. I teach cake/cookie/cupcake decorating as a way for people to create those edible memories at home for their loved ones.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Originally, I was a middle school math and science teacher for 5 years in New York and New Hampshire. During that time, I also received a Masters in Educational Curriculum and Instruction and completed the vast majority of my doctoral degree but was not able to finish due to my pregnancy and mommyhood.

I began decorating cakes after my wedding in 2007 where I felt my cake was sub-par. This was during the time that many cake shows were making their way on television; I had always been an accomplished sculpting artist and decided to give cake decorating a shot. I made an easy transition to cake due to my experience with clay, beading, mosaics, and scrapbooking.

When I was an at home mom, I started to build a clientele for cakes and cupcakes. I also was receiving recognition within the cake community for my work and felt like this could be a viable career if I needed to fall back on it.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

One of the best pieces of advice that was ever given to me was from a vice principal of a school where I taught: “Hire people smarter than you.” Most business owners would disagree with that statement out of fear that their employee would upstage them. What he meant was: if you hire people who are not innovative, not quick-thinking, not charismatic, or not motivated, then you are going to be doing their work in the end. I always try to hire people who fit all of those characteristics listed above and it has resulted in a professional work environment that is “drama free”.

In my bakery, everyone has equal say and equal tasks. I approach my staff regularly with recommendations on how to decorate a cake I’m working on, what we should do with the food trailer menu for that week, which cookie would be a good design to put on the website, etc. Everyone cleans their own dishes and their own workstations–and I am the only one in the shop that cleans the toilets.

Additionally, I give each staff member full credit on social media if they helped bake or decorate a baked good. It lets customers know that I possess a very talented team. People who come in and pick up their item with great joy at the finished product, I make sure to let them know who the lead designer was on the pastry. If a customer ever says “You’re so talented”, I am quick to correct the statement by remarking “I am lucky to be surrounded by the talent. We all do a great job in here.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.confectionsofacakelover.com
• Instagram: confectscakelov
• Facebook: Confections of a Cake Lover
• Yelp: People who write reviews on Yelp are miserable.
• Other: TikTok: @confectscakelov
  Faire: Confections of a Cake Lover