We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tamara Williams. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tamara below.
Alright, Tamara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today
If I was to start over with our business, I would’ve waited to get a brick and mortar and have all revenue go into a separate account. I would’ve joined a Chamber of Commerce when we opened the brick and mortar.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
We are Chef KennethJ and Baker Tamara, owners of Royal Cheesecake &Varieties. We have over 20 years in baking experience as Chef KennethJ is culinary certified and Baker Tamara is grandma-certified.
In 2013, KennethJ asked Tamara to start a company with him and her response was “I don’t want to work with you.”
After prayer and careful review Tamara decided to join Kenneth and Royal Cheesecake &Varieties was created.
We provide a variety of desserts including cheesecakes, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, pound cakes, banana pudding and more.
What sets us apart from others is our consistency in presentation, product and great customer service. We also create unique flavors including our famous Chicken & Waffle, Sweet Potato Biscuit & Gravy Cheesecake and others.
We are most proud of being in business for 9 years and being consistent. We have been able to mentor other businesses and see their growth. We have been able to sustain in a pandemic and actually grow from it.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
We relocated to North Carolina in September 2013. We started a new company in a brand new state where people did not know us. We got a kiosk at Northgate Mall for the holiday season starting Black Friday. During the holiday season, Ken’s mother’s health declined and we got a call to travel back home (Detroit, MI) immediately. We let the mall security know that we had to close early, informed the mall manager and left. We slept for 2-3 hours and made the treacherous drive back to Detroit, Unfortunately his mother did pass 2 days after our arrival. The mall manager called us to check on us and she gave her condolences; in the next sentence she stated when are you returning? We were flabbergasted and explained we have to do funeral arrangements but will return when we can. We returned for the Christmas season and while working received a call that Ken’s grandmother had passed. Once again we had to still work. We were able to finish the contract for the holiday season.
On New Year’s Eve, Ken’s second mom passed. She had just told him at his mom’s funeral, ” I am here for you.”
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rcvcakes.com
- Instagram: @rcvcakes
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/rcvcakes
- Twitter: @rcvcakes
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu84ZldsOsBwOTjwhpSwTkA
Image Credits
German chocolate cake, strawberry crunch cupcake, strawberry cheesecake- Raleighfoodtrap Chicken & Waffle cheesecake, Turtle Cheesecake, Kenneth & Tamara picture- Stacy Sprenz-Ssprenzphoto