09/01/2026
🤯7 years ago, we unlocked the doors to our storefront bakery with a gym sign on the building and just $139 left in my bank account 🙃😩
On August 24th, Oliver’s Desserts quietly hit that major 7-year milestone—a number that somehow feels like both yesterday and an eternity ago.
💬Fifteen years ago, this business began in my home kitchen with a mixer, a dream, and endless recipe creations so everyone could enjoy treats and feel truly included- a value we still uphold.
I hustled for 6 years solo 💪🏼—making up to 30 custom orders a weekend while juggling a full-time desk job, a part-time job, and building my business at night. I said “yes” to almost every request, taught myself along the way, and failed forward until scaling into a commercial kitchen space we rented by the hour at Kickstart Kitchen. I hired a small but mighty team, and Mavis Linnemann-Clark helped me learn kitchen flow and encouraged me to go through Aviatra Accelerators, where I won the Fall 2017 cohort and built real plans and projections for a retail bakery!
Around that time, I met my mentor Janelle Copeland and built a cake sister community that still supports me to this day—many of whom flew out to surprise me and help with my grand opening. When we finally opened our shop, we didn’t even have a permanent exterior sign yet—just poster boards, a balloon arch, and our family standing on the sidewalk cheering. But this community showed up anyway, filling the shop and lining up down the sidewalk from minute one.
I remember the sheer exhaustion of permits,😩prep, baking, and logistics, along with the terrifying reality of having drained my 401(k) and entire savings to make it happen. I went all-in and was SCARED, but I was met with nothing but love, support, and kindness that day and every day since... though that’s not to say it’s ever been easy; in fact a global pandemic hit 6months later and we’ve been pivoting, innovation, and finding third doors ever since.
If I’m being completely honest, it has been hard to get into a celebratory mood this week. Behind the scenes, the stress of small business ownership—from tax season realities and lines of credit to the constant hustle to grow—can feel incredibly heavy. Taking a step back to look through photos and videos from our grand opening reminded me of why Oliver's Desserts exists in the first place: to help you find things to celebrate in the everyday.
🙏Life will always bring challenges, unexpected hurdles, and stressful weeks. But even in the middle of chaos, you still deserve sweetness, a moment to take a breath, and a reason to gather with the people you love. Good things always come.
So this post, as ironic as it is, is my gentle reminder to celebrate how far I’ve come and to keep looking for the good. Thank you for believing in us from day one—from when we were just a home bakery, to opening in a signless building, all the way to year seven here at the mall. We are so deeply honored and grateful to bake for you every single day, and I can’t wait to share what we’re working on next! 🎉
🪩Help me celebrate and take a walk down memory lane! Comment below with your favorite memory with us (whether that was from my house, a Party Source pickup, the downtown pop-up, our old Beechmont shop, or here at the mall) or your favorite item we’ve ever baked for you! 👇
