Meet Jen Frank, the creative force behind Pretty Sweet Pastry Boutique, where art and dessert intertwine to create edible masterpieces. Jen’s passion for both art and baking led her to combine these two worlds seamlessly, drawing inspiration from her surroundings and turning everyday beauty into delectable treats. In this interview, Jen shares insights into her creative process, challenges faced as a small business owner, rewarding moments along her journey, and valuable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to embark on their own creative ventures.
What led you to combine art and dessert in your business model, and how has that fusion influenced your creative process?
Art and pastries are my two biggest passions, so it felt natural to me to try find a way to combine them. I studied art history in university, and I’ve always had a creative, artistic mind (I was also a competitive dancer growing up). I’ve loved to bake for as long as I can remember — I see it as an art form and the cookie is my canvas. I draw inspiration from my surroundings, and love to turn the beauty, nature, fashion, and people around me into a new form of edible art. It adds two more senses into the equation — now you can taste and smell what before you could only see or touch.
This is especially possible with our best selling item, the cookie gram (which is a customized, hand-iced cookie about the size of a large pizza). The client can list their favourite things, send pictures of their family members or pets, a picture of their house or car, etc. and I decorate those items onto the cookie. It’s cool because people love seeing an icing-version of themselves or a loved one, their favourite brands, etc. and getting to eat it, while I get to flex my creative muscles and vision.
Can you share a significant challenge or struggle you faced while starting or running Pretty Sweet Pastry Boutique, and how did you overcome it?
There are many challenges as a small business owner, especially one that is a creative endeavour and labour of love. It can be hard to balance wanting to be a perfectionist and give my clients something they’ll never forget with the realities of running a business, especially in a world of rapidly rising costs of ingredients, equipment, gas, and other overhead required for a pastry shop. I consider myself an artist who has to be a business person by default.
What has been the most rewarding moment in your journey with Pretty Sweet Pastry Boutique so far?
I’m incredibly proud of where I started versus where I am now, both in terms of growing the business and honing my craft as a pastry chef. If I looked back at the quality of my creations from when I started I would probably be pretty shocked! To also go from someone with no clients or brand awareness to being synonymous in my community as the “company who makes those cool cookie grams” is a nice feeling.
One particularly rewarding moment is when I get to create something for other artists or creators who I look up to. For example, one of my absolute favourite artists is Erin Rothstein, and this past year I was asked to create a cookie gram of one of her art pieces (her famous “toast” painting) for her birthday. It was really exciting (and a big challenge) to recreate a painting out of icing, but I was super proud of how it turned out and she reached out to tell me how impressed she was — that was extremely rewarding and special for me.
How do you balance creativity and practicality in your business decisions?
In a perfect world, I would just be able to exclusively focus on the creative side and let someone else worry about the business side of things. I sometimes struggle to remember that I can’t just spend as much time as I want on baking and decorating a cookie because that isn’t practical from a business perspective. For my business to succeed, I need to balance my desire for perfection with completing the order. Unlike other forms of art, I’m up against a timeline beyond just when my client needs their order for, because there is a shelf life to cookies and icing. It’s not a situation where I can create multiple drafts and go back and edit. There are no mistakes or second chances, I have to get it right the first time.
Have there been any particular lessons or insights you’ve gained from managing your own business that you’d like to share with aspiring entrepreneurs?
I’ve learned too many lessons to count! It can be really, really hard to do it alone. It can feel isolating and lonely. If something stressful happens, although I have people who will listen and offer their support, it’s hard to find someone who can truly relate, so it is critical to build a little community of entrepreneurs and mentors who are going through similar things who can support you in tough times and vice versa. Mentorship is important, and so is giving back to others who are going through their own entrepreneurial journeys.
It is also important to ask questions, keep learning, stick up for yourself, and to always show up for yourself — you are the person who will always care the most about your business.
Another lesson would be to celebrate the little victories. There will be plenty of hiccups along the way, so you have to make sure to focus on the wins too, even if they may seem small.
Set boundaries for yourself or you’ll burn out — it’s true that you can’t pour from an empty cup. Make sure to find time to eat, drink water (and coffee when you need it!), and get a breath of fresh air.
Another practical lesson I learned is to make sure everything is in writing. I have a firm policy that I don’t take phone calls — too much room for people to try take advantage of you, which unfortunately they will sometimes try to do.
Lastly, you need to really, really love what you do.
What inspires you to keep pushing forward during challenging times in your business?
I do my best to stay positive and remind myself that I can do hard things and that “this too shall pass”. I remind myself that I love what I do, and I’m putting something positive and joyful into the world. I’m creating happy memories for people, and brightening their day.
How do you approach innovation and staying ahead of trends in the pastry industry?
I am constantly doing research to see what’s happening both locally and in other countries in the pastry world. Social media is helpful to see what’s trending and what some of the cutting edge chefs are doing. I also try to make sure I’m not just blindly following a trend but putting my own spin on it.
It’s also important to know what is societal shifts are happening, for example there is a much bigger focus on gluten-free products than there was when I started, so ensuring I have those options available are important.
I am proud that I was an early adapter in recognizing that both cookie grams and personalization/customization would become a big thing in the pastry world. I also make sure I’m staying ahead of trends but also not following fads — for example there was a few months where everyone wanted to stuff something into their cookies — that was something I didn’t have any interest in pursuing because it seemed obvious to me it wasn’t a trend with much longevity to it.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to start their own creative business but feels overwhelmed or unsure where to begin?
Most importantly, you need to have a strong passion for it. Some days you won’t be in the mood to create something but you have a deadline and you have to — so you have to try find your why and get in the zone. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed at the beginning — you’ll have to wear a lot of different hats, some of which you haven’t worn before so they may fit a little funny.
Work on building your personal brand — learn how to tell your stories that make people care about them. The earlier on you can do this the better, it’s tough to do the longer you put it off. Having an online presence is pretty critical these days, even if your only followers are your mom and your dog to start, having that content there is important and your presence will naturally grow.
Be your own hype person even if that doesn’t come naturally to you. Beyond that, find champions who believe in you and your work and will say your name when you’re not in the room.
Learn, learn, learn. There is always something you can be learning, whether it is improving your craft, improving your business, a new emerging trend, etc. Stay curious.
Lastly, trust your gut and be okay with saying no to things that don’t align with your business or personal values.
Can you share a memorable experience or feedback from a customer that reaffirmed your passion for what you do?
One of my favourite and most memorable moments came from someone who wasn’t even a client and had no direct impact on my business: I was in line at a local coffee shop (I find myself in coffee shops many times a day!) and I overhead a woman in line asking the barista if they had anything they could write on a cake with, as she had just bought a cake from Costco and were heading to a retirement home for their mom’s birthday. She wanted to make the cake more special and personal for her mom but hadn’t planned ahead. The barista didn’t have anything she could use, and possibly not the skill set to feel comfortable writing on a stranger’s cake even if she did, so I couldn’t help but chime in and say that I was a pastry chef and always keep an ‘emergency touch up kit’ in my car. So I went to grab an empty piping bag from my kit, and got some whipped cream from the barista. We cleared off a table, opened the cake box up and I wrote the birthday message on the cake for this woman. It was a cute, fun moment that reminded me the difference a small gesture of kindness can make in someone’s life, and I’m sure made that person’s mom enjoy her cake even more.
I also get that warm feeling any time a client tells me something like “this looks too beautiful to eat!”, “wow it tastes as good as it looks!”, or when they tell me they refused to let anyone else eat a certain part of the design because they wanted to save it for themselves, or cut that part out and keep it in the freezer as a memento.
Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently when starting Pretty Sweet Pastry Boutique?
When I started, YouTube wasn’t really a thing yet and social media was still in its infancy too. I wish I had those tools at the time because I’ve learned so much from them, both in terms of baking and decorating techniques but also on the marketing/business side of things too.
When I started, I would do anything to please people, but I’ve learned there is a fine line between pleasing people and letting others take advantage of you.
I also wish I gave myself more credit when I started. I was so focused on building a client base that I set my prices way, way too low. Not only did that mean I wasn’t earning anything for all my hard work, but it also meant that when I subsequently did raise my prices, certain clients were upset because they were higher than they used to be. So I wish I knew my worth a little more back then.
