We recently connected with Tahira Christensen and have shared our conversation below.
Tahira, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
It takes a strong work ethic and a whole lot of perseverance in order to be successful. Many of the skills needed for most jobs or professions can be learned and researched but if you aren’t hungry enough to go and seek it out, you won’t succeed. There will be many times throughout owning your business when you want to throw in the towel, it will seem too hard, it will seem never ending, the hours and stress will get to you in major ways. But you must have confidence in what you are building and where it is headed and the perseverance to keep on going.
You must outwork yourself. Don’t focus on what the competition is doing, focus on how much harder you can work and what you can do to push towards your goals. Focus on being more efficient and really exploiting your strengths, and hiring and getting support in areas you struggle in. Wherever your gaps are, whether that be marketing, financials or something else, take the time to learn and focus on those things. Read books, listen to podcasts, test and measure it. Work each day to be a better version of yourself and in turn a better business owner and you will see the success you are striving towards.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Who am I? I am Tahira Christensen, self-proclaimed Cheesecake Queen of Houston. I have been obsessed with Cheesecake since I was 9 years old. I would make those no bake cheesecake boxes better than anyone, my secret ingredient was a teaspoon of vanilla. I was deemed the dessert bringer for every family event and that really propelled me into trying more and more things. My mom is an artist and would always make us these beautiful, shaped cakes for our birthdays, she would take sheet cakes and hand cut them into various animals or shapes and decorate it with can icing in different colors and sprinkles and we would be so ecstatic to see what she had made every year. After one my birthdays that prompted me to start baking cakes and cupcakes and seeing everyone light up when I showed up with a dessert to a family event made me so happy. Dessert makes people SO happy and I love providing that.
We have enjoyed two years in the storefront now and while it hasn’t been without it’s challenges, we are so happy to have it! With my obsession I really wanted to create an alternative to cheesecake factory that was locally made and baked in house. We wanted a diverse and robust menu that we could change up as often as we saw fit and not really sticking to the monthly menu lineup many bakeries follow. We want people to come in every week and there to be something new and excited for them to try. Our cheesecake menu has grown to about 75 flavors now, with about 30 being on our permanent menu, meaning you can order them anytime from our website as a full size.
In store we offer a rotating menu of 6 different cheesecake flavors by the slice each week. In the fridge alongside them you can also find cakes slices, our famous banana pudding, and keto cheesecake jars. In our showcase you will find cookies, cupcakes, brownies and rice krispy treats and so many more pop-up items. Our Facebook and Instagram pages are the best place to keep up with what’s in store! We also offer custom cakes and dessert tables for special events! We coordinate with local vendors and offer delivery and setup with our equipment. Scrumptious can’t wait to serve you!
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
After graduating college, I worked retail management to the point of major burnout. I was working long, crazy hours, most holidays and weekends and constantly missing out on important moments with everyone i cared about. I hit a point where I just wanted a change. At this point I was managing at a business in The Galleria of Houston. I really sat down and thought about what I was good at and also what I could turn into income. I’ve always loved writing and baking equally but saw a very clear path in baking and it was something I had not been able to do with my crazy schedules. With my next vacation days i started working on scratch recipes that i could sell. I posted pictures of cupcakes on my Facebook page and started getting orders from old classmates and friends. I did a few giveaways that garnered some more interest and support from my circle. Because I worked pretty centrally, I would have people meet me at work and would keep orders in my mini fridge in my office. I started also offering 2-layer cakes and a friend challenged me to make a 3-tiered blue’s clues cake for her daughter and that really got me passionate about custom cakes and i started offering those as well. I ended up quitting my retail job weeks before getting married, after having a long conversation about how miserable i was in my position with my now husband. We figured out how much i needed to make each month for us to stay afloat and realized i was already bringing that in with cakes. I focused on cakes for almost 2 years and really created the business then. I got my dba, business bank account, created a website and got business cards. I realized i wanted to get back into cheesecake and found a scratch recipe that i loved. I partnered with a local wine bar, and they allowed me to use their kitchen in exchange for desserts they could sell. I picked up 2 other wholesale accounts and really accelerated my cake business because i was able to bake so much more and faster at the start of the week and spend time throughout the week creating buttercreams and designs.
I realized i wanted to offer a storefront but had not been in food for many years and retail had made me not like people, so i needed a place that i could learn to like people again and also learn some great systems to run a business. I took a management position with a Chick fil A that was opening near me and spent nearly 2 years serving guests and learning so much. I also started to like the general public again, because so many nicer customers came in versus my retail customers. I ended up leaving that job after complications with my pregnancy and spent another 18 months raising my human and business. Then the pandemic hit, and all my events got cancelled, my wholesale accounts had to close their doors and i was left wondering how i was going to cover my bills. I had to pivot and fast. At that point i had only sold full size cheesecakes, cakes and cupcakes by the dozen. I decided it was time to go smaller. I started selling cheesecakes by the slice and individual cupcakes curbside outside the wine bar i baked at. This really helped me to create a following locally and people loved that they could stay in their cars and get great desserts. Soon after we got a call for a storefront opportunity. A local cooking school could no longer operate in their current model and needed someone to take over the lease. And we jumped at the opportunity.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I believe my commitment to quality product has been the biggest builder of my reputation. Every day I am looking for ways to make our product even better, fresher, long lasting, etc. A lot of trial and error and feedback has gotten us to our current systems but we dont stop trying to improve. My employees sometimes freak out at how quickly I will throw something out, overcooked, trash, undercooked, trash, wrong consistency, trash. Whenever we have items coming up on their sell by date we try to give away as much as possible to local businesses, fire and police departments. But anytime something isn’t right we get rid of it. We even have certain employees that are banned from our staple products like brownies, it’s an easy recipe but even easier to mess up. We try to be as transparent as possible with our customers and own up to any mistakes we make. We are human and we are baking, things are going to get by us sometimes but we try to make it right immediately and don’t try and point fingers or any of that.
In addition to our quality controls we also try to be as innovative as possible. We are in a suburb of houston, but we try to find inspiration from bakeries in new york, los angeles, paris, australia, etc and bring those unique offerings to our tiny spot. We try to make our offerings as unique as our customers and also go for that instagram ready look.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.scrumptioushouston.com
- Instagram: @ScrumptiousHouston
- Facebook: facebook.com/scrumptioushouston