We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Taysia Matthias. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Taysia below.

Hi Taysia, thanks for joining us today. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

My main business is art-based and fully custom. It’s very easy for anyone to go to the grocery store and get a simple cake for $10; however, $10 wouldn’t even cover my cost of ingredients for a similar cake. Grocery stores have much lower costs than specialty bakers such as myself. In addition, I strive to provide the best quality I possibly can, which means spending a little more money on better ingredients, more sturdy packaging, and spending more time refining details to make sure I can present work that I am absolutely proud of. This does come with its downsides – a lot of the times, I end up under-charging for custom work because I didn’t realize it would take an extra hour or two to complete the request when I originally quoted the customer and wrote the invoice.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am the owner and founder of Alani Bakery LLC, and co-owner and co-founder of Regent Business Development, both located in Coeur d’Alene, ID.

I am in my 3rd year of official business with Alani Bakery, and Regent Business Development just launched last week!

I went to college for business administration straight out of high school. Both of my parents and my step dad are all 3 successful business owners, so I already had that mindset ingrained into me from a young age. I also had a passion for baking, and when I became a stay at home mom in 2020 I figured why not do something productive with my free time?

Alani Bakery has grown exponentially in the last year. I attended an entrepreneurship bootcamp in February 2023 where I learned so much more about business and marketing, and since then I have won a local chocolate competition known as The Chocolate Affair and become known in my community for my business and baking skills.

Alani Bakery focuses on custom event baking. I make all kinds of goodies! Cakes, cupcakes, cookies, macarons, and so much more – just about anything that is requested of me. I am known to take challenges head-on!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Building reputation as a cottage food baker is one of the hardest struggles for this industry, in my opinion. First starting out, it was difficult to convince potential customers that I knew what I was doing because I didn’t have any proof yet. It was a very long process, constantly trying to create content that people liked and also showed that I was capable of fulfilling requests for designs I have never attempted before.

It took about a year before I started getting orders from mutual friends, and about another 6 months before I started getting orders from people who weren’t referred by anyone within my immediate circle. Even then, I was still operating at a loss and not getting very many orders.

What really pushed my business to the next level was that bootcamp I went to last February. I learned a lot about how to market myself and my business in a way that built trust with my potential customers. Then winning the title of “Master Chocolatier” in my community this February accelerated my growth to the point where I am now consistently turning down orders due to being fully booked!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

My journey over the last 4-5 years has definitely been rocky. Starting out as a stay at home mom, my business was just a hobby for about a year. It grew to a point, and then almost 2 years ago I had to suddenly stop due to becoming a single mom with no real job or income. I stopped baking and started working multiple strenuous jobs to make ends meet. After a couple of months, I slowly got back into my business, attended that bootcamp, and that inspired me (along with my current boyfriend and business partner, David) to take a leap of faith. I quit my jobs and put all of my time and attention into my business. That was almost exactly one year ago, and now my business is doing amazingly, David and I started Regent Business Development together, and we are expecting a baby (my second baby, his 3rd, so we will have 4 children all together)!

Taking that leap of faith was the biggest risk I’ve ever taken. Failure was not an option – I still have my son relying on me! Thankfully, it was also the best decision I’ve ever made.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.alanibakery.com
• Instagram: @alanibakery
• Facebook: https://Facebook.com/alanibakery