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Meet Fawn Reed of Mama Baer’s in Gilbert

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Fawn Reed.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Fawn. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I have always wanted a place of my own but it just never worked out. While taking care of my grandbaby for a year I had determined store bought jam was not acceptable and he needed something homemade. I had never made jam before so this was a first for sure but how hard can it really be? We made our first batch of strawberry jam together and it was really good. We ate four jars of it within a week. After that, I made some other flavors. Each one was as good as the last. I had given some to my son who took forever to try. When he did his first words were mom you need a label. I then developed the look for my label. I learned photoshop to then make my label. I approached my favorite local coffee shop to sell on consignment of which they agreed. My jam turned into my pumpkin bread during the holidays. After the holidays, it turned in to our signature Rolled Oat Cake and then Homemade yogurt, and other baked goods. They gave me my proof of concept so when the space I am currently residing came available we jumped at it. We developed our product in 2017. Launched in the coffee shop almost exactly a year later in 2018. Opened our Brick and Mortar store almost a year later in 2019.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In some ways, everything went off without a hitch. It went smooth enough that when everything was moving along you felt it was meant to be because we weren’t butting up against any real issues that would make you stop and think…. This isn’t the right time. However, it has not been easy. This is probably one of the hardest things that I have ever done. It is easy to open up a franchise. You have the money and you buy someone else’s concept. Coming up with your own and hoping it is going to be what people what is a whole other game. Even though I have stuck pretty close to my original concept which was Jam and homemade unprocessed goods. I have had to adjust my menu to accommodate the wants of the public. Such as we added Biscuit’s and Gravy because there were multiple people that wanted more breakfast foods. The space really is not equipped to serve a full breakfast so I added what I thought was a favorite of many. Opening in a space that had been empty has been a challenge. I still get people who ask if we’re open even though we opened July 22nd almost four months ago. I set things up so that one person (primarily me) could run it by themselves. Just because something works in your head one way, it doesn’t mean that is how it is going to work in reality. Things are still pretty close to how they were originally set up but there have defiantly been tweaks made.

As ready as you think you are to open, your not LOL… I wanted the opening date of 7/22. The number 22 is a thing in our family and I didn’t want to wait till 8/22 so I pushed and I wasn’t ready. Fortunately, I didn’t have a line at the door waiting for us to open our first day. I am still glad we opened when we did but I could have defiantly used that extra month to settle things in. It is like moving into a new home. It takes a lot of time to settle in. I would say one of my biggest struggles was working with the Subcontractors. They lie… they are not going to have things done when they say they will LOL.. Give yourself an extra couple of weeks on top of what they tell you on each step. My flooring was supposed to be done in a week and it dragged out for almost 3. I had to push off my counter guys because of it and I just never got that time back it just snowballed. I believe they were finishing the tile in the bathroom up to days before we opened. Again I had to have that date. When I do it again. Which I am sure I will because I want more stores I have a laundry list of what I will not do next time around.

Mama Baer’s – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
What we seem to be known for the most would be our Jam. First, it is jaw-dropping that we have 22 flavors. Everyone of them is as good as the next. There is a flavor for everyone. Our signature and most favorite would be the Bourbon Peach. People who don’t even like peach love this Jam. When I started creating this concept there were multiple things that were important to me right off the bat and then things that became important to me along the way. One of our most important things is making sure we give back… Just over a month after we launched in 2018 with the coffee shop we did a fundraiser for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I found a wonderful program that we donate the money to. I make baskets with our treats in them. Sell them for 10.00 and 100% of the money goes to the Ironwood Cancer Center Pantry Project. The other things that became important along the way was continually looking at ingredients and making sure anything we make is a pure as it can be. Things are so over-processed now that everyone is noticing all kinds of issues health-wise that we never used to have.

So we offer products that are wholesome and unprocessed. Everything is made by me and is all made from scratch. We also have introduced items that are Gluten-Free and Sugar-Free. Reducing sugar even in our jams is another thing that we are consciences about. We reduced the sugar in our jams by 1/3 almost immediately. Our frosting and other things are also sweetened as little as possible. Our coffee line up has concentrated flavors you can choose from that have no sugar in them. Not sugar-free… There is no sugar at all. What sets us apart from other companies? My love for what I do. You can feel the love when you walk thru our front door, you can taste it in our food. We have a sign very visible when you first walk in that says…. Let all that you do be done in love. This resonated with me the minute I saw it and I will have it up in every store we open. My goal and hope is that we touch everyone in some way everyday that we are in business. Spreading the Love is what we are all about!!!

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I have lots of proud moments. I haven’t had one in particular that stands out. I would have to say that everyday that I can converse with a customer make a sweet lil older lady or gentleman smile and feel warm for that short time they are in my presence that is the proudest moment I have. This whole process has made me miss my dear father so much. I know if he was still with us he would be in there working with me and conversing with the customers the same way. Which is probably why I love the older retired customers so much. I get to give them warmth that I can’t give my dad anymore or at least not in the physical sense.

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