What does your business do?
Fancy Flavors is a bake shop located in West San Jose. We have a physical brick and mortar store and we specialize in macarons - it’s our bread and butter. Now, we also offer coffee and other pastries. Last year, we went viral for selling spiral croissants, so we’re doing a lot more laminated pastries now, too.
How did you decide to start a business?
I’ve loved baking since I was in middle school. My first experience was with my aunt - I didn’t think it was going to be a career path, but then when I was graduating from high school I signed up for a competition for culinary school. There were 48 other competitors, and I won first place! I took that as a sign and managed to get a full scholarship to culinary school.
After culinary school, I did an internship at Pebble Beach. While I was doing the internship, I decided to start Fancy Flavors to sell to the community. Afterwards, I got more hands-on experience working at a family bakery while building Fancy Flavors at the same time.
Around 2015, I quit my other job and got a job at Google as a pastry cook. I stayed for two or three years and became the pastry lead at Google, leading a team of twenty people. We produced thousands of desserts every day. That was a great experience - working with amazing people and learning different baking techniques.
What has been the most challenging part of running your business so far?
Some of the more difficult moments are handling customers who may not be happy or not satisfied with the products. I tell them, “It’s okay, it’s just a dessert, you’re not going to hurt my feelings,” but taking feedback can be difficult.
Funding can be a little tricky, as well. We have seasons where we’re super busy, then other seasons where we’re slow. At the beginning of the year, people are on a diet, so they’re not really buying pastries. Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day are really busy. I have to make the right financial decisions to ensure that I can take care of the business and my team. Sometimes that means having difficult conversations with my team, but they’re great. Including myself, we have six people on the team and I’m looking to hire one more now.
A lot of the people working for me are word of mouth, referrals from a friend or past people who have worked with me. Recently, I was looking for someone with a pastry chef background, so I put out an ad on Indeed. Typically, I’ll take someone really inexperienced and have them work front of house first, then gradually they get intrigued and start getting hands on in the kitchen. For less experienced people, I train them more slowly, but they learn!
What do you love most about running your business?
First and foremost, I love my team. As an owner, I love hiring people who are a great fit for the company and a great fit day to day with the rest of the team. We have a small team and I’m very picky about who I bring on.
Second, I love being able to create desserts and being part of people’s special occasions. Birthdays, weddings, baby showers - I get to be a part of their special day.
It's also nice to get recognition from the community. I was in the Mercury News and on TV. That’s definitely exposure that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
What are your goals with Fancy Flavors?
This is the million dollar question that I’ve been thinking about. I’m in the middle of lease negotiations - do I sign another 5 year lease or not?
I could open up a bunch more locations, but I’m also going to become a mother. I’ve had conversations with my team and I’m thinking about whether I want to scale up or scale down and focus on being a mother.
What’s one tool or product that you couldn’t live without?
Definitely Instagram. A lot of our business comes through social media, so I’d recommend being active there. If we didn’t have social media, we wouldn’t be able to promote ourselves the way we are. It’s how we stay relevant for our audience. I’m also trying to grow TikTok now.
What’s one piece of advice you have for other small business owners?
For those who want to start a business: go for it. Just go ahead and don’t be afraid to fail. I started Fancy Flavors thinking if I failed, I’d just take what I learned and start another business.
For those that have a business but want to be successful - I don’t know! I feel like we’re still in the early stages. I feel like I’m still learning.
