Today we’d like to introduce you to Tara Ferrara.
Hi Tara, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started “procrasti-baking” in college while I was studying psychology and philosophy. Specifically when I couldn’t pay attention to another word on the Socratic Method and needed a break. I baked random cupcake recipes from baking books my friends and I had thrifted. I tried new recipes and loved the act of frosting and decorating. There’s something about baking and using my hands that gets me out of my head.
A family friend had seen some photos of my cupcake creations. She was starting a production bakery and hired me as her first employee, with no real baking experience. I was their first baker, troubleshooting with the boss, then was promoted to the bakery team lead to oversee a team of bakers as they grew. At that point we were each responsible for a 40x batch of cookie dough. Mixing, scooping, baking, packaging, sealing and stickering. I learned so much through that job about how hard baking was, how much I loved being in charge, and how baking really brings the greatest people together.
Working there, I was able to save enough to take a trip to Paris, where my eyes were really opened to how incredible pastries could be and how much baking and pastry arts could be respected. I decided to leave college behind and focus on baking and pastry. I had an opportunity to work as a baker for a catering company, where I was able to play with every type of dessert I could imagine. The guidelines were very loose and I thrive in trust. I also learned how intense but rewarding the event side of food business could be.
They eventually closed and I was hired at a popular downtown restaurant as the pastry assistant. I had confidence in my pastry skills but I didn’t have any pastry schooling. This was such a great opportunity to hone my skills, learn from the pastry chef above me. A couple years into my work there, when the head pastry chef position opened, I was offered the position. At this point I had already started my baking company, Crumb Cakery, as a side gig. I thought “there’s no way I can take on more” but I said yes anyway, because who was I to turn down an opportunity that yes, I may have earned, but is literally being handed to me. I used the opportunity to create seasonal recipes. I was always researching ways to create fun flavor combinations and textures. The Chef absolutely trusted me to play and I’ll forever be thankful for that. We earned 2nd place for Best Desserts in Central Oregon, which was usually awarded to donut and ice cream shops, but never a restaurant, so it was a special award to me because I felt like I was helping to bring an elevated pastry scene to Bend.
Baking and pastry jobs in a small town don’t always pay well, so when my high school friends started asking me to create their wedding cakes, but the venues required a licensed and insured bakery, I went for it with the intent to keep it small. I searched for a kitchen space and started off by paying “rent” via dessert trade (I provided desserts for a caterer, they allowed me to work in the kitchen during off hours). Anything to make it work for the few cakes I planned to create each month. I am self taught and my recipes are artisan. I’m a details person though. I love an organized process and I also love art, so wedding cakes really spoke to me.
I started to attract attention for my artsy wedding cakes and dessert bars and by 2019, booked more than I wanted for my side gig. It was turning into a full second job. When 2020 hit and delayed all of those weddings to 2021, I almost quit. My entire business was accidentally build on dessert catering and big events were the way I actually had any pay after expenses and taxes. I was incredibly frustrated and felt like my progress was halted. But in 2021, all of the delayed weddings on top of new bookings created a season booked solid with 70 weddings. I was still working my pastry chef job and was working from 6am-9pm, then going home to eat dinner one handed while responding to new inquires. Around this time I was recording the process of every cake on my phone, but never posted any videos because I literally didn’t have enough hours in the day! When I made it through that season, I edited the videos and started posting to social media in early 2022.
In 2 months, I gained 10,000 followers sharing mostly before/after videos of my cakes. When I started sharing more of the behind the scenes woes that bakers go through with my own flare of humor, I rapidly gained followers and hit 100,000 that same year. My business really took off. I was sharing so much of my work and myself through my social media that I felt like I had created a real community of bakers and fellow vendors who were also burning the candle at both ends. I was bombarded with inquiries from customers saying “I love your Instagram!” and who trusted me because they saw me at work, having fun, complaining, creating. All of it. I realized the more “me” I am, the more people wanted to work with me.
I left the restaurant pastry job later that year and solely focused on Crumb Cakery as an event bakery and as a brand, selling online courses and expanding my social media. Owning a business is one of the hardest things I have ever attempted, but I feel like it’s made me a stronger version of myself.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
When I first started Crumb Cakery, I thought I’d just take a few friends’ wedding cakes and coast. I didn’t have a direction. I just had a few recipes and designs up my sleeve and a few years of watching my past bosses run their food businesses. Growth was hard. It’s tough as a creative entrepreneur because I started out as a hobby baker. But I quickly found out how many cakes my family can eat before hitting their limit. So I started selling cakes just to be able to do more of what I love. But once it turns into a business, there’s other components that come into play that I was not mentally or physically prepared for. Like how it felt when I didn’t book that cake order I really wanted to create. When someone had an issue with my pricing or contract. I kept thinking “Tara, you had a panic attack taking business 101 in college and always said you could never run a business” so who did I think I was now?
But then once I was successful, I was happy to be creating. However, it was incredibly hard to be creative on demand during consultations and to fulfill custom cake orders! Then came the rent hikes, kitchen availability issues, no-show customers, mean customers, the pandemic shutting down events in Oregon. I’ve honestly have blocked out so many negative things that have happened! It all adds up when you stew on it and starts to be too much pressure.
Once I acclimated to all of those struggles, I had to become accustomed to critique. I always thought that I’d be fine as long as my customers were happy. But, even when you’re getting 5 star reviews and repeat orders from my actual customers, I was not prepared for how mean people are on social media. Once I went viral, it was clear to me that I am indeed the sensitive Cancer crab my birth chart says I am. I couldn’t believe people could find ways to be harsh about wedding cakes, but I received atrocious, vile comments that lead to panic and tears pretty often. Now, my husband has trained me to care so little that I don’t feel the need to explain or defend, just delete and move on. As a recovering people pleaser perfectionist, some still sting.
People think I have everyone’s dream job, but running a cake business and being a content creator also have their tough moments. I am just lucky that I’ve learned that I can do hard things (after a good meltdown of course) and now I don’t want to give up every time things get tough.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
At Crumb Cakery, I specialize in wedding and event cakes and dessert tables. I’m committed to baking my artisan recipes in small batches fresh for each order and using high quality ingredients that I have hand selected. I am well travelled and I take pride in having tasted desserts at Michelin star restaurants in Europe to quaint bakeries in tiny coastal towns to help refine my own palate. My goal has always been to offer cakes and desserts that are flavorful, not just sweet, where you are looking forward to those second and third bites.
I am known for my mountain cake designs, which have been a huge hit here in the mountain towns of Central Oregon! I also specialize in vintage cakes, palette knife flower cakes, and more simple designs with fresh flower arrangements on cakes (my florist friends are like “If you want to do it, I’ll happily default to you, cake flowers are scary!” but for me they are so fun!
Crumb Cakery is me, so I am the one you’re emailing, I am baking your cakes, designing, and decorating. I value a personal experience. So while this may make my response times slower and mean that I can’t take a last minute order like a bakery with 10 employees, it does make the experience more thoughtful. I personally think it’s worth it to know exactly who is making your wedding cake VS having your order sheet passed to whoever is working that day. Keeping things relatively small scale in the kitchen and large on social media is what I see for the future of Crumb Cakery.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I think my determination and decisiveness have helped me succeed. I will absolutely complain about a situation being hard or complex, I am not stoic! But, I won’t give up just because something is hard and I’ve gotten good at doing things scared. I can’t deny how much of my success came from actively deciding to move to the next step, taking on too much, and learning to acclimate to it. I think that there is always something waiting for you past the limitations that you can think of. Thinking about things won’t get you anywhere. You have to take action to be successful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://crumbcentraloregon.com/
- Instagram: @crumb_cakery
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crumbcakerycentraloregon/
- Youtube: @crumb_cakery
