Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony and Renée Rivers.
Hi Anthony and Renée, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
TruBlue Pound Cakes… The Beginning…
Truth be told, while many say otherwise, I believe ours is a pretty simple story— One that began in 2012 when I tested my baby sister LaToya’s well-known pound cake recipe. The one sold at her Savannah, GA restaurant— Café Florie, and the local Farmers Market. See, as the by-product of a long line of successful cooks, bakers and restaurateurs, I was eager to try my hand at her recipe, but first I’d taken the liberty of changing a few things to make it a bit lighter. Yes, I was adjusting the same recipe that my sister, one of the best bakers I know, had perfected and was successfully selling in Savannah.
Nevertheless, I baked my first vanilla butter nut pound cake and it was exactly what I’d imagined— the right texture and combination of moisture & flavor. The compliments, positive feedback and even orders I received after my first cake were completely unexpected. All in all, I had taken some freedoms and made some changes, but in the process, I rediscovered my love for an original recipe— one I made my own, by reinventing and adding a fresh twist, my wife Renée’s idea to experiment and craft a variety of over 30 delicious flavors that have undoubtedly set us apart from the pack, and have even become some of my sister’s favorite flavors. Quick sidebar: I met Renée near the end of 2012 when we both worked for the same company. I later wooed her with my vanilla butter nut pound cake (TruBlue Pound Cakes now signature flavor), we began dating and got engaged & married in 2016. As one of her bridal shower desserts I baked her then favorite almond pound cake, with a freshly whipped topping on the side.
I digressed… (lol)! In essence, TruBlue Pound Cakes (“TBPC”) was born out of generations of family tradition, the encouragement of my exceptionally creative wife and a desire to honor God with this gift He has entrusted us with. See for us, God is not just the one we thank at the end of our marketing piece as our Lord and Savior. He is more than that, He is the one we look to for the wisdom and guidance to manage all aspects of our business; for the joy, love and kindness to serve our customers, and as the sole source of ALL our blessings.
That’s our story!
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The road has been like MAAAAN!!! Have we been blessed by God!!! We have been the recipient of so many mind-blowing gifts and opportunities: Our logo was designed at no-charge by a partner & vice president at a well-known advertising agency here in Atlanta. The securing and first year’s payment of our web domain name (we are still working on creating a website). Two of our four KitchenAid Mixers. The design of our first menu/price list. The design of our banner logo. The design of our business cards. Our first Restaurant Depot membership card. Some of our photography. Photography edits. Table linen, chalk sign and a beautiful glass holder used for events and at the Farmers Market. Our wonderful tax accountant even does our personal and business taxes for free every year! #BLESSED
Events where we served our pound cakes free of charge: Macy’s Lenox Square Bridal Shop Sip & Scan. Kadilsha Cain’s The Harvest Celebration (past VoyageATL feature).
Events we were asked to be a part of where our pound cakes were purchased: Xfinity in-store events. Career Day at Marbut Elementary Traditional Theme School in Lithonia, GA (I also spoke to students during career day). A spoken word event at a café in West End, GA.
We have baked in the past or are currently baking for: A local HR firm that gifted our pound cakes for employee milestone events. A very successful local developer who pre-orders up to 15 Vanilla Butter Nut TruBlue Pound Cakes at one time for himself or to gift to friends/colleagues. A very popular local caterer who plans to open a restaurant where TruBlue Pound Cakes will be the choice dessert on his menu.
Amid all these humbling gifts and opportunities lies my one personal challenge… balancing my 9-5 while baking nights and weekends. For the third year in a row, we are a vendor at both the Dunwoody and the Brookhaven Farmers Markets. Both markets run every Saturday for as many as 10 months, and we are there 95% of the season. This is in addition to baking customer orders we can receive 7 days a week, for gift giving, events, celebrations, home-going gatherings, holidays or just because they want a TruBlue Pound Cakes. We are currently seeking God on expanding to a third weekend Farmers Market for the 2022 season, with the help of our right-hand man, Marcus Harley. Marcus who we call framily (friends like family) has been right there with us just about every single Saturday since we started our first Farmers Market in 2019. His assistance would make it possible for us to expand to a third location. Above all, we genuinely value his heart for how freely he voluntarily gives of his time and energy to serve TruBlue Pound Cakes in the ways that he does. 1LUV Marcus!
We’d love to learn more about your work. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
By day I am a Senior IT Systems Administrator Site Manager for a construction software firm in Norcross, GA. Renée was enrolled in CHARIS Bible College for two years. She had to put it on the shelf for now, to provide some pretty intense long-distance care giving to her almost 91-year-old mother and almost 92-year-old aunt, who both live in Brooklyn, NY, where she was born and raised. Renée is also the one responsible for everything that must get done for TBPC outside of the baking. When I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING! From managing the day-to-day operations, to all aspects of marketing/communication, event planning/coordination, you name it. What she is most enthusiastic about is the customer experience. I’m so proud of the “effortless effort” she puts in when it comes to every possible area of caring for our customers. When I first met her, I nicknamed her Smiley. She smiles from the inside out and it shows in all that she puts her hands to.
While it is not work in the traditional sense, much of our time and devotion is to our shared passion for engaged, and newly married Christian couples. We are active members of Victory Church in Norcross, where we serve as prayer team leaders, are facilitators for PreMarried Life and are also facilitators for our weekly small group for engaged and newly married Christian couples, Victory in God’s Covenant Circle (affectionately referred to as VIGCC). COVID has forced us to make some shifts in what we do and how we do it. We are looking forward to when this pandemic is behind us and we return to (a new) normal, doing what we do even better than how we did it before the pandemic. Renée is also on the board for the Dunwoody Homeowners Association, in addition to being on the Dunwoody Mayor’s Sign Code Steering Committee.
For us, making money is not the single most important objective. We’ve donated our pound cakes to local schools for events and was one of the sponsors for a local middle school’s musical production. During the initial thick of the pandemic, we shipped several pound cakes along with greeting cards to people we knew who were greatly impacted by COVID (became sick, lost a loved one, lost their job, etc.) We also hosted what we coined Pound Cake & Prayer. Where we set up one of our tents and tables in our driveway as we would for a Farmers Market, and gave away pound cake slices to our neighbors, along with praying for them if they wanted prayer. We attempted to partner with our church in their phenomenal effort of feeding essential workers, but the volume they required was more than we could provide as a (licensed) home-based business. Since then and for many weeks, we donated several slices and some whole pound cakes, to the essential workers on the Progressive Cardiac Care Unit at Northside Hospital Atlanta. This is in addition to the slices and whole pound cakes we will just give away at the Farmers Markets.
We have always said and will forever say, “this is God’s business, and we are just His stewards!” So, we are very intentional to handle all aspects of the business modeling the heart of God. We believe He will open the doors that need to be opened, shut the doors that need to be shut, and send the customers from the north, south, east and west! It is especially important to Renée and I that we always maintain our fortified stance of humility in not just knowing, but consistently operating in line with these truths.
We believe what sets us apart is that our focus is on pound cakes…. not decorative cakes, not layer cakes, not cheesecakes, not bundt cakes, JUST POUND CAKES. We have a vast list of specially-crafted flavors to choose from, or we can make whatever flavor your imagination can come up with, within reason (lol). We can bake any flavor GLUTEN FREE, and use real fruit throughout, not just on the top, for our fruit flavored pound cakes. Some of our latest flavor additions are PB&J (peanut butter and jelly) and Ginger Fig. We love having introduced Farmers Market customers to Mashup Specials, where we take two flavors that off the bat just don’t seem to go together. But when I get finished doing what I do, many customers are blown away. Also, every TruBlue Pound Cakes box is dressed in the TBPC signature blue and white polka dot ribbon that I personally hand affix.
We are proud of our consistency. The pride we take in making a product people really love, seek out and come back to time and time again, is what makes doing this enjoyable.
Do you have any advice for those who are just starting out? Anything you wish you knew when you were starting out?
Start out by just giving your products away as gifts. That really opened doors for us way before we even decided on a name for our business and is something we haven’t stopped doing. Also, as you are developing your product, get family and friends involved who already love it and will provide you with honest feedback. You always want people to be honest, especially if the feedback isn’t as positive as you hoped for. Seek out Farmers Markets and retail stores (brick & mortar and online) that sell a similar product and see how and at what price points they do it. Price yourself somewhere in the middle. Do you research for what type of license you will require based upon the product you are looking to sell. We thought we needed some big deal license to be able to bake and sell out of our home, to find that all we needed to get started was a Georgia Department of Agriculture Cottage Food License.
It’s okay to do just one thing. Just focus on making that one thing a great product and not on how much of that product you will sell. It’s about the money, but it’s not about the money. Finally, treat every single one of your customers as a VIP. Always thank them and let them know just how much you genuinely appreciate that they are your customer.
TruBlue Pound Cakes… “It’s your grandma’s pound cake on a whole nutha level!” ~Tony & Renée Rivers
Contact Info:
- Email: trubluepoundcakes@gmail.com
- Instagram: @trubluepoundcakes
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruBluePoundCakes/
Image Credits:
Dillo Raju/Noceans Media*Robyn Clemons*Camille Rivers*Christy Murray*PB Photography LLC
