Today we’d like to introduce you to Salomae (Sal) Schroeder.
Salomae, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Born in Cape Town, South Africa. Been playing with food since the age of 10 and always dreamed of opening a bakery. Emigrated to USA in 1987 and always worked in the administrative/secretarial field but always found myself baking and cooking for friends on the side. I would attend a party and find myself “working” it (LOL). I am extremely altruistic and I always found it hard to be a guest.
During 2008 recession, I was part of a mass layoff. I cried on my way home but decided it was the perfect time to reinvent myself and decided to start a personal assistant/concierge business (thus, the birth of My Gal, Sal) providing secretarial, personal assistant, concierge, shopping and home organizing services to clients.
One client who I provided secretarial services to asked me to help coordinate a catering event at their home in Paradise Valley. I was not able to find a qualified caterer to fulfill their request, so, I offered to do it all. The client was so impressed with the setup, the layout, the presentation, the quality of the food and the desserts they had me do all their events from thereon out. Soon their friends started used me for catering and desserts and next thing I knew My Gal Sal Catering was formed. Clients would have me cater their holiday parties and then immediately after book me for the next year’s holiday party. All my business was referral based.
While providing secretarial service and catering services, I also baked custom desserts. In 2008, the cake pop craze started. I found out how cake pops were made and decided to develop my own healthier recipe (the original recipe is crumbled cake with canned frosting mixed in). I found myself selling cake pops under the cottage program at my local farmer’s market. My healthier cake pops became so well-known, I was forced to rent commercial kitchen space to keep up with orders. I advertised my cake pops as a healthier version and soon I was overwhelmed with cake pop orders. Companies approached me asking me to make them cake pops for client gifts and then took my cake pops to the next level and provided cake pops with company logos. I invested in an edible printer and purchased edible ink and printed company logos on edible paper and attached them to the cake pops.
Pretty soon customers were telling me their kids were allergic to certain ingredients and I found myself baking custom cake pop ranging from gluten free, dairy free, egg free cake pops and cakes. Soon, my cake pops were in being sold in coffee and tea shops in Phoenix. The orders rolled in and baking became a second job. At one point, I received a 6,000 (yes, six thousand) cake pop order from a well-known fast food chain for their employees’ holiday picnic celebration. At this point, I knew it was time to get my own commercial space (lugging supplies, ingredients, etc. and baking at a rented facility at others convenience was working harder not smarter and I needed to hire staff to help).
In October of 2016, I found a second-generation space (2,000-square foot commercial kitchen and a bakery storefront), took out a business loan and in November of 2016, I opened My Gal Sal Bakery & Catering.
We designed the facility so that we could prep our gluten free items in a separate room (to avoid cross contamination) and bake our gluten free items in a designated oven. We are open Tuesday to Saturday and serve breakfast and lunch. We specialize in European and American Desserts with gluten free, dairy free, egg free, Paleo and sugar free desserts.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I have OCD and I am extremely organized. This has helped me tremendously in running a business. We have passed every unannounced health inspection and I am proud to be able to open my kitchen doors during business hours, so customers can see how clean and organized we are.
Opening a new (first time) business is hard and difficult process.
Financing was stressful. I was lucky that I had a good credit score personally and had a legal business (filed taxes under the company name) so, financing was easy. It was getting the disbursement of funds and understanding the interest and everything that comes along with business loans and financing.
Starting from scratch with no experience is stressful. There is no “guide or book” that gives you instructions. From finding financing, to learning about deposits to utility companies, to insurance costs, operating permits, and more. The list goes on.
Everything we have done has been trial and error. Most of what I know is by searching on the internet, talking to other business owners or by research. There is so much to learn and so much to do to be compliant with the all the agencies. I am often faced with new challenges.
I find that the hardest part of the business is customers and employees. Customers are the ones who pays our bills, but some are very hard to please. There are customers (well people in general), who wake up on the wrong side of the bed and they find fault in everything that day. We had a customer leave us a one-star review. She said, her meal was the best but her review was because our COMPLIMENTARY coffee was not Decaf (we only provide regular coffee). Customers don’t realize that their reviews can make or break a business. Another customer complained that she did not feel the love in our bakery (she walked in on her phone) and was on her phone during her entire visit, so, we read that as not to disturb her. We are thankful that we have 5-star reviews on Facebook, Yelp and Find Me Gluten Free.com and that when we get an occasional bad review, that we need not to take it personally and we need to focus on our overall reviews.
Employees are the biggest challenge. Being a fun boss and creating a fun environment is easy until you must enforce something. Coming up with rules and ensuring that employees get along with each other is also a big challenge.
It is hard to find employees who want to work. Those who do, work because they must and not because they want to. They are lazy, they steal (I had to fire two employees who decided to shut the store down 45 minutes before the posted closing time), The employees who impress the heck out of you during the interview and the first week and then you see their true self. One employee came late, and I politely told me “you are lucky I showed up at all”. There are many days I wish I can clone myself.
Opening a business is very stressful. I have not received a paycheck (common with startups I am finding out) and I must work longer hours and work the hours employees are not able to work. As a startup, I am responsible for coming up with ideas, marketing, making sure we are compliant with the Health Department, making sure we have supplies and ingredients available to be able to produce products. Keeping records, staying compliant, marketing, keeping up with social media and managing finances are also big stresses.
On the spot creative thinking and not having the luxury of time (basically living at the business). Because I have not owned or managed a brick and mortar before, the more pressure I feel daily. Dealing with the unknown (will we survive?) dealing with this volatility is one of the hardest parts of being a new business owner.
I also feel very lonely. I work so many hours, I hardly see my family or friends. I even find my dog sitting and staring at me as if he is saying “you look familiar”. I find that because I am the boss, I don’t have a “team” to rely. I miss those 8-5 days of a desk job where you do the best job you can, go home. Have a weekend and go back. There is also the time management, balancing life, taking care of my health. One big challenge is also finding health insurance for myself (my employees are part time).
The employees who impress the heck out of you during the interview and the first week and then you see their true self. One employee came late, and I politely told me “you are lucky I showed up at all”. There are many days I wish I can clone myself.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about My Gal Sal Bakery & Catering – what should we know?
We are a one-stop specialty bakery shop. This means, you can come to our bakery and purchase dessert for everyone in your family. If grandma is a diabetic we have sugar free, if your sister is on paleo, we got paleo, if your child is allergic to eggs, we have egg-less desserts, if your sister is allergic to gluten, we have gluten free and if your aunt is vegan, we have desserts for her, too and if your son has a gluten and egg allergy, guess what, we have something for him, too. And of course, we have regular desserts. We are the ONLY Bakery in Arizona that offers these varieties.
We thrive on making people feel welcome. Our reviews reflect that. We greet everyone with a welcome and make everyone feel like family. We are very accommodating. I have customers come in or call and have special diet needs and I feel honored to make them a customized dessert. We are the ONLY bakery on the west side of Phoenix that offers a large array of gluten free desserts. We have tissues by our cash register. Why? Because customers cry, a lot. They cry because of the large selection. They cry, because our gluten free desserts taste like cake (not like sawdust). They cry because they haven’t had dessert in years and they come and see our open kitchen, the cleanliness, they see our gluten free prep room, our gluten free oven and they hear that we don’t bake gluten free items the same day, we bake regular items so there is not cross contamination. They have peace of mind that what they eat won’t make them sick. My motto is everyone should be able to have dessert no matter what their allergies are and that life happens and YES, we can make you that last minute cake. This is all reflected in the non-solicited public reviews.
We make custom cakes other bakeries refuse to make. We make custom cake from google photos. We make bachelor and bachelorette cakes. The greatest compliment is, when another bakery refers a customer with a cake request. We are also the only bakery in Arizona that makes LOGO cake pops and has a large selection of mini desserts for events.
Contact Info:
- Address: 15820 N 35th Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85053 - Website: www.mygalsal.com
- Phone: (602) 978-2479
- Email: info@mygalsal.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/319044538128777/my-gal-sal-bakery-cake-pops-by-sal/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyGalSalBakery/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MyGalSalBakery
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/my-gal-sal-bakery-and-catering-phoenix
Image Credit:
Amie Johnson, Emerge Artistry Photography
Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
