Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelsey Lucius.
Kelsey, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My parents moved us from Long Island, NY to Aiken, SC the summer of 2004. Fast forward a year, I was in 6th grade and headed to the hot lunch line – it was pasta day, the best day. As I walked back to my table in the cafeteria, some boys were messing around in the lunch line and my plate was hit, flipped up onto my chest, and hot spaghetti and green beans stuck to my chest and belly like glue. I ran to the locker rooms just up the hallway and stripped off my shirt as quickly as I could and started bathing in the sink to get all of the hot pasta off of me. The cold water felt better, but it still hurt so much. The nurse bandaged me up some with some numbing cream – not the best idea for a second-degree burn – and I ended up at the burn center here in Augusta that afternoon.
Grateful for my mom who worked there, she tended to my burns as I looked at the bulletin board of babies and kids in various stages of care from burns – they were posing with the doctors who mended their injuries. I asked my mom what how they ended up here, how long they are here for, and what they do to get better. It was a morbid discussion that led to my decision to raise money for the kids. I petitioned my school’s student council to allow me to host bake sales during our class break and they offered to match every dollar I made. My first year, I donated a few hundred dollars to JMS to purchase toys for the children in recovery and two years later, I was able to donate a special bed for patients with Muscular Dystrophy and a room makeover for my science teacher whose daughter is living with MD. Seeing the impact baked goods could make, raising money for these efforts dear to my heart, I decided early on I was going to become a pastry chef and continue to spread good pastry to my community.
Building my business has been the hardest test I have faced, but I hope in the coming years to be established enough to truly give back again. Forming relationships and partnerships within the community to mentor young aspiring bakers and bring a sense of service to our community.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Opening a small bakery business has been a fantastic journey. It’s easily one of the hardest things I’ve set out to do, not because the work is hard or because the process is difficult, it just takes a lot of mental and emotional maturity and self-awareness to stick to the process and keep working towards the end goal. If I’ve learned anything, the process will never go as quickly as you might think or hope and no matter how prepared you may be, there will be at least a dozen hurtles that pop up unexpectedly and learning how to pivot and adapt is vital. Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart and having a strong and stable support system to turn to in friends and family is so important to help keep you grounded while your business world feels unstable and unknown.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Opening Bottom Line Bakery and now expanding and opening my food trailer – Salty Tomatoes has been a career dream and goal of mine for so long. Working and learning under other chefs in the industry, I have always wanted to be my own boss and spread the knowledge and tenacity this industry calls for with up-and-coming bakers and aspiring chefs.
Here at Bottom Line Bakery, we specialize in custom celebration cakes, wedding cakes, and baked goods. I wanted to offer some delicious sandwiches and just simple good food too so we’ve now separated our cafe side and opened a mobile food trailer to get out into the community and really reach people at events and around town more easily. 2020 changed the way the industry works and small businesses needed to pivot or sink. I always wanted to have a mobile unit and while it’s a completely different ball game having to load up a kitchen on wheels, it really does allow for some great face time at local community events with our patrons.
I am most proud of facing my fears and validating my industry knowledge and experience by winning Food Networks, Chopped Sweets Champion title their first season on Million Dollar Desserts.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
At the end of the day, no matter how bad and stressful the days get and how overwhelming all of the tasks are, the only thing we can do is keep working. Every single day, all we can do is put on foot in front of the other and keep pressing forward to make the next best decision for ourselves and our business.
It sounds sad and harsh, but no one really cares what we go through. People enjoy and buy into the journey and the story, but if we disappear, people will continue to live their life. As business owners providing a service, it’s easy to fall into feeling like we owe the community and our patron’s complete access and all of our efforts, in some ways that’s true in regard to providing the best service we can, but in reality our business deserves 110% of our time and attention and effort and no justification needs to be made for our choices. Most people like to take advantage, and it’s so important to place boundaries around yourself, your business, and what you are willing to personally and professionally intermingle and be involved in. Nothing happens overnight, so don’t feel pressured into making any rash decisions, and if you do, then you know that’s already a red flag.
Pricing:
- Wedding Cakes $250-$2000+
- Celebration Cakes $35-$2000+
- Holiday Treat boxes $30-$250
Contact Info:
- Website: Bottomlinebakery.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/bottomlinebakery
- Facebook: facebook.com/bottomlinebakery
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bottom-line-bakery-and-cafe-evans
