Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Southern.
Megan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I began working with cakes through Walmart. I had no experience, and I was trained on the job. I took up cake decorating extremely fast. It just made sense to me. I was a natural. I worked side by side with my trainer for five years. I then got another position cake decorating at a more quality controlled bakery where I was able to fine tune my talent. I worked there for 3 years until the company went under due to a lawsuit. While at that company, Corrine Browning (the former Hoosier Girl Cakery Owner/company founder) contacted me about a cake decorating position, where at that time I declined due to continued loyalty through the previous bakery.
When I found out that company (Sugar Kneads Cakery) was going under and I was looking at potential of not having a job to support my family, I looked for jobs again. I had actually gotten a job with the school. I was extremely unhappy at the school position, because it was not my passion. After 2 weeks, I declined the job at the school. I was literally jobless for about a week, and magically Corrine Browning just happen to call me again. Fate had it to where she called me at the time I needed her to call. I began quickly with Corrine working at Hoosier Girl Cakery. I showed Corrine my talent and skills. Corrine said she started up Hoosier Girl without knowing how to fully clean frost a cake smoothly. She just made cakes the way mom or grandmas would at home with a rough, textured frosting. She hired me because she was beginning to get more custom cakes and needed someone to help decorate. Her passion was the baking part of the bakery.
I had been decorating cakes since 2007. I was 21 when I began decorating cakes. Corrine showed me a whole new world of cakes. I had never seen a business like hers that made wholesale cakes.
She made deliveries 2 times a week to Stripling’s General Store on Hwy 53 and Hwy 78. She had just gotten a new account with Farmview Market in Madison, GA. She had also just opened up the downtown Hoosier Girl Bakery location 6 months prior to hiring me. Before, Corrine had done wholesale distribution to Stripling’s out of her own home. She even had customers pick up cakes from her home. She made cakes from her home for 4 years before getting the downtown Monroe location we have now. This was just a hobby for her. Her husband had a great job, and they really didn’t need the money, she just had a passion for it. She moved into the bakery location 9 months pregnant with her little girl Preslie. She was baking cakes with taking care of a newborn baby as well.
After about 3 months of showing Corrine my skills, and my quickness with cakes. One day she came to Olivia (Corrine’s employee before I was hired) and I and said basically…. Her husband got a great job out West where they were one day years from now planning on moving to eventually. It just happened quicker than expected. They didn’t expect to have that position open up for her husband, but he ended up getting that job. She said she could:
1. Sell the bakery to one of us (which she would prefer that way her bakery would live on).
2. Sell the bakery to someone else.
3. Sell the bakeries items and extinguish the bakery all together.
She sold her beautiful house, and I was so excited/scared that my husband and I decided we would try to run it.
We were the most ambitious about it, I asked my Dad for a loan. He had money from my mother’s death a year prior. So it was almost like my mother had something to do with me getting this bakery. My parents knew I was financially struggling after working for Sugar Kneads. My Dad jumped at the chance to help me. My husband would have taken out a loan on our house to do this. It has always been a dream for my husband to own his own company.
I have owned this company more than a year now, and I have had a lot of ups and downs. Overall it has changed my life for the better. I have now been a cake decorator, and now a bakery owner for more than 10 years. It is now more of a family owned company. My Dad helps every week on Tuesdays with dishes. He comes in for free just to see me succeed. My brother occasionally helps with deliveries. My husband has gotten us new smaller clients which are now picking up on cake sales. We are now distributing to Stripling’s General Store in Bogart, Farmview Market in Madison, Butcher Store in Loganville, and Ragin’ Vapors in Loganville. My husband helps controlling the deliveries to Ragin’ Vapors and Butcher store every week. We have two employees with Ami and Olivia which I could not do this bakery without. It is very much a team effort.
Corrine is still here for support if I need her, which I very much appreciate. She wants nothing more than to have her business that she created to succeed.
Has it been a smooth road?
Not a smooth road. At first, owning the bakery felt more like sink or swim. I am just happy I had a lot of experience ordering supplies at Walmart to know what to expect. I had a lot of experience stacking custom/wedding cakes to know what to do with what cakes. I know how to bake from Sugar Kneads as well and make fondant. Those were just to prepare me for owning this bakery. I am happier now than I have ever been. My husband and Dad are very proud of me. Christmas last year was my first year and I didn’t quite know the magnitude of how much cake I was going to need. It was a very big learning lesson for me. I hurt 2 weeks after Christmas from how exhausting Christmas was for us. I will be more prepared this year for sure.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Hoosier Girl Cakery – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
What sets this bakery apart from others is everything is made from scratch. Some bakeries say that, but then use Pillsbury. Ours is truly sugar, flour, butter, margarine, eggs, etc for everything.
We even cook our own caramel and German frosting on the stove. Our top sellers are our Caramel, Cocola, and Classic yellow cake chocolate fudge frosting. Usually we keep 8″ cakes on hand so last minute people can come in and have something frosted up. Most traditional bakeries don’t keep extra items on hand and just make to order. We are also extremely friendly with our customers.
We try to treat them with kindness and respect like we would want to be treated.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love all our different stores, landscapes of the city or the countryside. You can have it either way.
It is very beautiful, and not too hot like Florida. What I like least is probably the traffic. You definitely get use to defensive driving here.
Pricing:
- 8″ round cakes will be either $26-28.00 + tax depending on flavor
- Mini cakes $5.75
- Cake slices $2.75
Contact Info:
- Address: 121 North Midland Avenue, Monroe, GA 30655
- Website: www.hoosiergirlcakery.com
- Phone: 678-439-8669 (678-43YUMMY)
- Email: hoosiergirlcakery@gmail.com
- Facebook: Hoosier Girl Cakery, LLC-Monroe, GA
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 us know here.
