Meet Simone Bridges of Goddess Food Factory

Today we’d like to introduce you to Simone Bridges.

Simone, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I will always hold dear to my heart the day that my grandmother, Phyllis Williams welcomed me to help her in the kitchen while she baked cakes. I would gaze at her for what seemed like hours while she added ingredients and mixed batter. I studied every move she made. Sometimes she gave me the spoon when she finished whipping up her cake batter. Of course, I believed that I had received a grand prize. The batter was so yummy. I licked it clean off the spoon. My grandmother is an old-school cook who is also a caterer; needless to say, she can cook and bake anything. One day, I was finally brave enough to ask her if I could help. She looked at me and responded, “Girl, you’re not going to burn down my house.” I didn’t give up though. One day while she was baking, I inquired again. Without hesitation, she pulled a chair from the dining room table and positioned it so that I could stand on it to see what she was doing. She proceeded to hand me a cup of milk and told me to pour it in slowly while she stirred the batter. I smiled at her and followed every instruction given. Yes, at only three years old, it was the beginning of living my dream out loud.

From that point on, I never missed an opportunity to help her bake. When I turned five years old, I received my first Easy Bake oven. I thought that I was a real-life chef. To me, my cousins were my customers. They pretended to order desserts and I baked what they ordered. Sometimes, I charged them a quarter. Later at age nine, I started baking in the conventional oven. I experimented with all kinds of ingredients. I created dishes using apples, pecans, peanut butter, peaches, and everything else. I baked all the time and I started getting orders from neighbors and members church. At 11, I opened my bakery, Goddess Food Factory. That was the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. Today, I’m 14 years old and I have a thriving, successful business in which I serve delicious treats and teach kids science, technology, reading, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STREAM)) via our interactive, hands-on baking classes for kids. I have also founded a nonprofit organization, Simone Bridges Inspires Inc to promote kid entrepreneurship and to provide a space for kids to gain self-esteem and values.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
In business, there will always be challenges whether they are small or big. I’ve had challenges of not making enough profit from sales to pay myself, as well as having too many orders and not enough staff to assist me with fulfilling the orders. I’ve had to stay up really late handling business matters and go to school the very next day. One of the most valuable lessons that I’ve learned is to anticipate various occurrences and to put a plan in place so that my business can continue to thrive. Preparation is valuable to have a successful business.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Goddess Food Factory – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Goddess Food Factory is a fun-filled bakery in which we sell delicious treats, host parties, and teach science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STREAM) during our baking classes for kids. Our unique exSTREAM Baking classes are one-of-a-kind. Kids learn how to create a scrumptious dessert, listen to kid-friendly tunes, pose for photos against our backdrop, and dance around to kid-friendly music with our company mascot, Master Chef. I have so much fun sharing my journey with them and listening to their aspirations. We have a blast. Our exSTREAM Baking parties became so successful that I later created exSTREAM Baking subscription boxes so that kids across the country could learn STREAM education using culinary methods.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
If I had to start my business from scratch, I would seek an investor to obtain a larger bakery. There are so many more services that I would love to provide, but I can’t do a few of them due to limited space. Therefore, I’ve been trying to figure out innovative ways to achieve the same vision in an alternate format. I’ve thought about adding a mobile service to accommodate more people. I’ve explored new fun merchandise, such as educational printables, recipe sheets, chef uniforms, girly accessories, and cutesy clothes. All items will be available online, as well as in the store.

Contact Info:

• Address: 2552 Spring Lake Road Jacksonville, Florida 32210
• Website: www.goddessfoodfactory.com
• Phone: 9044149887
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: instagram.com/goddessfoodjax
• Facebook: facebook.com/goddessfoodjax
• Twitter: twitter.com/goddessfoodjax
• Other: youtube.com/goddessfoodfactory, linkedin.com/in/simonebridges

Image Credit:
Paul Stewart Photography

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