3 Sweet Ladies Bakery
Owner of 3 Sweet Ladies Bakery Linda Brown took up baking as a hobby and says, “I use baking as a therapy” and a getaway from normal life.
At the start of her bakery, she was selling above the “golden number,” or the ideal financial marker a business needs to make to make a profit. Brown says sales declined throughout Covid-19 and contemplated when to stay open. “There’s some days that I don’t even make $100 in here so I’m thinking I don’t need to be here keeping everything running I don’t need to be here so I close up, I do, I close because I have to conserve money where I can” Brown said.
Brown stepped away from a fast-paced job for her daughter and found that she could not stay at home. So, she decided to take a cake decorating class and found her love for baking again.
After baking wedding cakes out of her house, she decided to take a leap of faith and venture out to open her own bakery. Her vision became a reality in October 2019 after years of working towards this goal.
Brown describes her passion for baking as, “my therapy, I’m closed usually on Sundays and Mondays and I cannot wait to get back in here!”
For Brown, the only downside to having her own shop is the business aspect.The global pandemic caused Brown’s bakery to shut down for 2 months. Since reopening, sales have risen slightly, but Brown says, “we’re still not making that golden number every day like we were before and exceeding that Golden number. But we’re getting close you know and I’m very optimistic about it, so you just have to take it day by day.” During the pandemic, their business model changed from in-person, to more of a curbside pickup model.
Brown focuses on pastries and cakes in her bakery. She constantly thinks of new ways to revamp her flavors and bring new flavors to the bakery such as pumpkin bread, apple bread, and molasses cookies for the fall season. Despite her focus on seasonal flavors, Brown always has cookies, brownies, and chocolate, and italian cream cakes in her store.
Brown is determined to continue her bakery and is trying to help society. In fact, she offers a 15% discount to all healthcare workers and first responders.
Her philosophy is to put out good, fresh products and cater to people with a sweet tooth.
Brown wants customers to take away from her shop that it takes “a community” to help support small businesses. “We’re out here, a lot of us trying to hang on, depending on the community to try to keep it going.”
Brown has been gracious enough to offer that 15% discount to the Bolles student population if students bring their student IDs to her store.