Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandi Dupervil and Brittany Jackson.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Brandi and Brittany. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
We met in back in 2010 through our membership in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. from then we’ve grown from friends to sisters.
While we always had conversations about our future and what we wanted to do with our lives outside of our full-time weekday jobs and responsibilities, the idea of opening a franchise came about around 2015 when we first learned about Smallcakes.
We fell in love with the taste of the product, the flexibility of the franchise, and the feasibility of incorporating the business into our already jam-packed daily lives. We began researching the company, talking to other business owners, and saving our money.
In late 2016/early 2017, we decided it was time to stop talking and start doing. We reached out to the Smallcakes corporation to officially get the ball rolling. That meant selecting a location, signing a lease, working with legal teams, finding contractors, hiring a team to run the store and well actually doing what we always dreamed of doing.
Although it seemed like it took forever, looking back, we were able to get up and running in record timing. By the end of 2017, we were ready to open the doors. We worked with Smallcakes to schedule our grand opening for Jan 2018 and the rest was history!
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?
Ha. The easier question might be what was not a struggle?
The first and biggest hurdle that we ran into was finding the capital to cover the franchise fee. Next came the search for the right location this meant navigating our way through commercial real estate legal agreements, comps, CAMs, exclusivity rights, and other legal jargon that we had no experience working with. After what seemed like a crash course in commercial real estate and business law we secured our lease and moved on to the next obstacle.
Turning our newly rented space into a Smallcakes bakery that looked like the ones we had visited and seen pictures of. By this time funds were starting to run low, so we had to roll up our sleeves and enter even more uncharted territory. We became interior designers, painters, flooring specialists, and craftsmen. This involved countless trips to Home Depot, Lowes, and lots of Google. Throughout the course of opening our store, we attempted to reach out to lots of other business owners. We are the type of gals that prefer to learn from others mistakes.
Unfortunately, not everyone was so willing to help or support our vision. Staying focused and not allowing ourselves to get discouraged by the people who told us we were in over our heads, looked at us like we had five heads when we told them we planned to keep our day jobs, and just ignored us all together was a challenge from day to day. Thankfully, the people that supported us spent countless hours reassuring us, poured priceless knowledge into us, and told us the good, the bad, and the ugly of being a business owner.
On a more personal note balancing entrepreneurship in addition to our other responsibilities has taken some adjusting, readjusting, and then some fine tuning. After all, we added a completely new dimension to our lives and our friendship. It took a while to acclimate ourselves to our new normal, remembering to take time for ourselves and continuing to nurtureand sustain our relationships outside of Smallcakes, but we are taking it one day at a time and paving our road as we travel.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Smallcakes Griffin story. Tell us more about the business.
Smallcakes Griffin specializes in gourmet cupcakes, small-batch homemade ice cream (some of it is even cupcake infused), cupcake truffles, and fresh baked cookies.
In the store, our most popular cupcake flavors are key lime, strawberry cheesecake, red velvet, and cookies n cream; however, our recipe book contains over 300 cupcakes flavors so we can make just about any flavor you can imagine. When it comes to ice cream, we are most known for our carrot cake and wedding cake flavors. Strawberry cheesecake, red velvet, butter pecan, and vanilla cake batter are not far behind in popularity.
Our business model is unique because we offer a variety of flavors for customers to choose from — we standout not only for the taste of our treats but also for the guaranteed freshness. All of our cupcakes are baked in-house on the day they are sold because we do not sell day old cupcakes. Additionally, since we make all of our sweet treats in-house, we are able to customize the flavors. For example, we’ve made unicorn ice cream and alcohol-infused ice cream to fit themed birthday parties and celebrations.
Our slogan is “Maybe a Cupcake, or a Scoop of Ice Cream will Help” because we believe that it’s impossible not to smile when cupcakes and ice cream are involved.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
We are beyond blessed to have fantastic support systems. Our families have been instrumental in the process, from watching the children early mornings and late nights to pitching in to help knock down walls during renovation we could not do it without them.
Of course, luck also brought us together in 2010 during college. After all, it is not every day that you find a friend that can match your hustle. Someone with the same level of motivation as you is hard to come by and it has been the foundation of our business.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1689 North Expressway Griffin Ga 30223
- Website: www.smallcakesgriffin.com
- Phone: 470-204-7935
- Email: info@smallcakesgriffin.com
- Instagram: @smallcakesgriffin
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/smallcakesgriffin
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let
