Exploring Life & Business with Jori Harris of Jo’s Got Cakes

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jori Harris.

Hi Jori, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started baking really young. During the summers when my parents were at work I was about 13 and my brother was 16 and every other day, I would just make something in the kitchen and then we would have to hurry up and pass it out to all the neighbors because we weren’t supposed to be using the oven when our parents weren’t home.

My favorite thing to do would be to take plain vanilla recipes and just add stuff to them to get these different flavors like I would add orange juice for, orange cupcakes or add lemon and lime and a lot of different things. And as I grew up, every now and again, I would sell a cake here or sell some cupcakes there. But I didn’t start baking seriously until June 2019 when my grandma passed away and she was the baker of the family so I just kind of felt closer to her every time I would get in the kitchen. So last year I decided that I really loved baking and I could see myself doing this forever and a mentor of mine told me that your perfect job is something that you would do for free and I would bake cakes for free and that’s how I knew this is what I wanted to do.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It’s definitely not been a smooth road being 22 and having the majority of my clients being college students who as we all know, most college students aren’t prepared to spend a large amount of money on a cake. So trying to find prices that actually help me make a profit while also empathizing with being a college student because I am a college student. It’s also been hard trying to get older customers to take me seriously; unfortunately, a lot of people see my age 1st and then they automatically assume there’s a lack of experience. So that’s one of my biggest struggles. Another huge struggle of mine is I am a perfectionist and in the cake business or in the food business in general, you realize that a lot of times things are not going to be perfect. Sometimes you’re going to have an idea and you’re going to make the cake and it’s gonna look the exact opposite of what you thought you wanted it to look like. And so it’s been a real big struggle to hold down my perfectionism and try to just remember to go with the flow.

We’ve been impressed with Jo’s Got Cakes, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I specialize in custom cakes and cupcakes. I am 100% from a scratch baker, which means everything I do is my own recipe from scratch no box mix. I would say I am most known for my apple pie cupcakes. They are a huge hit with everyone. I am different from other bakers because all of my recipes are my own. I sit down and come up with my own recipes and then take days to try them out and perfect them. I am so proud of just how far I’ve come in just the last few years. I started just because someone said I should and now I never want to stop. I want everyone to know that I really have a passion for baking and basically making people’s dreams come true. Every single thing I make is made with love and I’m always super excited to create whatever it is that I’m asked to create. You’re not just getting a cake or cupcakes or cookies from me. You’re getting a whole experience.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
The thing I like best about our city is the opportunity. There are so many opportunities for you to do what you want to do. I honestly don’t think that if I lived anywhere else, I would be doing my business the way that I’m doing it. I think living in Atlanta has given me a better chance at living my dream. The thing I like the least about our city is the traffic. When you’re trying to drive a two-tier cake from one destination to another across Atlanta and you’re stuck in traffic on a hot summer day like, oh my gosh, the cake is going to melt, it gets to be really stressful.

Contact Info:

• Email: jos.gotcakes@gmail.com
• Instagram: jos_gotcakes
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=379163542948119&ref=content_filter