Baton Rouge Chef Amanda Schonberg is expanding her offering of sweet treats with a new line of spirit-infused cocktail cake jars.
Schonberg will roll out her new product line this month and hopes to add it to local grocery shelves.
“The cool thing about being a cake baker and decorator is that you can put your personality behind whatever it is you make,” she tells Business Report in the new Entrepreneur feature in the current issue.
Schonberg is the owner of Chef Schonberg’s Sweets, a dessert catering company specializing in custom cakes, cupcakes, sweets and dessert tables made with high-quality, local ingredients.
Schonberg, who has a degree in culinary arts and occupations, began her career in food service management with companies like Great American Cookie Company and Sam’s Wholesale.
But her career path took an unexpected turn while working as a baker at Costco Wholesale. A customer requested a cake Costco didn’t make and Schonberg jokingly offering to make it herself. The patron took her up on the idea, and Schonberg continued baking for family and friends. She received so many calls that she was inspired to start her home-based bakery and launched the company in 2015.
From colorful cupcake towers and fluffy, booze-infused pound cakes to chocolate covered strawberries and intricately designed floral confections, Schonberg fills her Facebook and Instagram pages with daily photos of her creations.
And while social media is considered the lifeblood of most culinary entrepreneurs, Schonberg knows a baking business has to be more than just pretty pictures.
“I think it is not so much what you see but how you make people feel with what you do,” she says, adding that the product is only half of it. “Great customer service goes with it, everything from being on time when I deliver to how I look when I show up at someone’s desk in my chef jacket.”
Read the full Entrepreneur feature. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
