Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany Steele.
Brittany, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was raised in Pennington, AL, a small town in West Alabama. I lived with my mom growing up and my grandmother lived beside us and my aunt, my mom’s twin sister, lived on the other side of my grandmother’s house. Everyone in my family loved to cook so I grew up watching and cooking all of your great southern dishes; greens, fried chicken, mac and cheese and so on! As a child, I would always tell my siblings I was going to be a chef when I grew up. I did not quite become a chef but I say close enough!
After graduating high school in 2008, I left Alabama and attended Jackson State in Mississippi for one and a half years and transferred to a nearby community college and obtained an Associate in General Business and eventually finished my Bachelors in Business Administration with a concentration in HR in 2016 in Georgia, just to end up back in the arms of my first love, the kitchen! As I grew up and became an adult somewhere along the line, cooking became more of a chore to me and I started to practice my baking skills. I came to love baking and creating desserts because it allowed me to be more creative than cooking did in my opinion. For years I would speak of starting my bakery business but never had the courage or knowledge to do so.
Finally, in 2017 I was sitting in the living room of my one-bedroom apartment trying to think of ways I could bring in extra cash; although I was making decent money working for the State of GA, I wanted to earn more to take care of some debt. I said to myself, “Why not do something you love?”. That day I went to the dollar tree to purchase 20 8×8 aluminum pans with lids and I started B’Samone’s Sweets from my living/kitchen. B’Samone’s Sweets was more of a full bakery-style business that provided a variety of cakes, cupcakes, pies and banana pudding! I did it off and on and participated in many vendor events to get my name out. Business was good for what it was because I was working a full-time job so my times was limited anyways.
My mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and fought like a champ but at the end of 2018, beginning of 2019, she became very ill and she would pass shortly after in March of 2019. At this point, I was not doing much business but everything stopped and I even said I did not want to continue on creating a business but God had other plans! After the passing of my mother, I went into seclusion for months and only left home to go to work. One lesson I learned from the passing of my mother is say what you need to say to the people you love while they are still here and resolve things that need to be resolved because once they are gone time is gone! After a while, I started to feel like I was in a place that I had never experienced before and I no longer wanted to be there. Towards the end of 2019, I discovered Kirsten King on social media, Kirsten is a Social Media Strategist, and she helped me see my dream again. She provided great guidance as far as social media but most of her time was spent motivating and convincing me that my dream of creating a business was still alive.
I came up with a new name for my business, The Banana Pudding Company! This name came about because banana pudding was always my best seller and it was my grandmother’s recipe that my mother gave to me and it was kind of a homage to her and my grandmother. I had a new logo created and beginning working to put things in place for my new business. I officially launched The Banana Pudding Company in October of 2019 and decided to leave my job in February of 2020 and then the PANDEMIC! At this point, I was already unemployed so it was sink or swim so I sunk but only for a period because one thing any successful entrepreneur will tell you is, there will always be an obstacle but it is more about how you maneuver than the actual obstacle. I used the down-time to think of ways to come out on top or atleast with not so many “cuts.” Through the pandemic, I never stopped “selling” and promoting my products. Yes you heard right! Although sales were low, people were on social media more than ever so they atleast saw my business and products even if they were now buying. Since things has calmed a little, sales are increasing and we are getting our business name in people hears. Today The Banana Pudding Company offers six different versions of banana pudding (including the original names after my mother and grandmother) and other banana pudding inspired items, including cupcakes, cakes, and cheesecake. We moved into a commercial/shared kitchen on July 1st, located in Marietta, GA. Also, shout out to my dad, James Steele, who has been a major part of me being able to obtain a space and other strides my business is making. It has been a long, tough road but we are here to stay!
Has it been a smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road at all! My biggest struggle is fighting through self-doubt. When I first came up with the idea to just sell banana pudding inspired items, I had very high moments where I would tell myself this is unique and the people will come and other moments when I told myself everyone knows how to make banana pudding so why would they buy yours?? I think all business owners and entrepreneurs have these moments but it is more so about how you let it define you; will you let it take you down or will you fight it and live to see your business flourish?
So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Banana Pudding Company – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
The Banana Pudding Company is a dessert business that specializes in homemade, southern style, stovetop banana pudding! We have developed six varieties of banana pudding, including our most popular, the original version, Nell & Bernice Nana Pudding. We provide banana pudding, cupcakes, cakes, and cheesecakes.
I am most proud of just overcoming, we fought through the pandemic even when no one was buying anything, including banana pudding and we are still here despite the odds and all of the obstacles that were placed in our way. What sets The Banana Pudding Company apart is its focus on banana pudding. Many companies and individuals sell banana pudding but most have a wide focus on many different types of desserts. We are trying to stay laser focus on banana pudding for now, a little variety will soon be added to the menu but right now it is all about banana pudding. Also we provide a variety of flavors that many have never tried together, so we get to open people’s eyes up to new things. For example, our Ginger Me, Please! Banana Pudding has a ginger snap base and 100% of our customers who has tried had never tasted those flavors together.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the variety in everything; the people, the food, and the entertainment. Atlanta is truly a melting pot and if you take the time to explore, you will find some amazing things and people. What I like least is the TRAFFIC but it really is a small price to pay to get to experience all that Atlanta has to offer.
Contact Info:
- Address: 225 Williams Drive (Not Retail/Preorder Only)
- Phone: 6786744625
- Email: hello@thebananapuddingcompany.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/thebananapuddingcompany
- Facebook: facebook.com/thebananapuddingcompany
- Other: www.thebananapuddingcompany.com
Image Credit:
Brand New Consulting Group
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