Homemade for Sale by Kivirist Lisa Ivanko John D

Author:Kivirist, Lisa,Ivanko, John D. [Kivirist, Lisa; Ivanko, John D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781550925821
Publisher: Perseus Books, LLC
Published: 2015-06-04T04:00:00+00:00

Chez Moi Bakery owner Rhonda Jones inside her food truck, which she uses to deliver and sell her cakes. COURTESY OF JONES FAMILY

Spirit Cake Sales Pour in via Social Media

When most folks go on a Caribbean cruise, they come home with a tan. Rhonda L. Jones came back with a dream of launching a rum cake business from her home kitchen.

“At the last minute I ended up going on a cruise to the Grand Cayman Islands when a family member was unable to go,” shares Jones. “Onboard, I went to a rum tasting and a later excursion to a local rum cake bakery when we docked. I brought back a few bottles of duty-free rum and started recipe experimenting with my family as taste-testers until I nailed it.” With this distinct recipe in her kitchen repertoire, Jones embraced the opportunity to launch a bakery business.

“My passion for baking started early in life; I remember baking my dad miniature pineapple layer cakes in my Easy Bake Oven,” Jones recalls. “I grew up in a household that loved sharing food. My mother baked every chance she found, and I helped at her side making her specialties of apple pies, peach cobbler and yeast rolls. I never realized back then that those experiences would so directly impact me today.”

Jones’ business roots are in people and creating connections through the kitchen. Everything is personal with a story behind it, starting with the name of her business: Chez Moi. “I simply love the French language, which started with my dad teaching me words and phrases when I was very young. I continued learning French by studying it in high school and lived in Boug-en-Bresse in France my junior year. Folks might initially think I do French pastries. But it’s the meaning of Chez Moi that inspired the name: ‘My Place.’ As I work under a home processor license administered by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, that name reflects me on an even deeper level.”

North Carolina is one of the states with an expanded approach to home-based food operations. Her home processor license allows Jones to sell a broad array of products via outlets such as mail order, wholesale and her most recent venture: a food truck.

“The initial inspection and licensing process took a little time. But once I went through that, I’ve had a lot of flexibility, along with support from our department of agriculture, on growing and diversifying my business.”

Jones’ focus on rum and other spirit cakes came out of a clear understanding that she needed to differentiate her products. “To truly shine, you need to drill down to what you’re good at making and make sure it is something unique and not already offered. With a saturated cupcake market here in Durham, I saw opportunity in rum cakes.”

After launching in 2005, Jones focused strictly on holiday sales of rum cakes for the first five years. “Rum cakes fit well with the Christmas season. Even though it is distinctly different than a fruit

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