Conversations with Francine Carter

Today we’d like to introduce you to Francine Carter.

Hi Francine, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am the Pastry Chef and owner of “The Cake Factory and more.” I grew up in the inner city of Compton, CA with a mom who was an excellent bread baker. At a very young age, I began to help her in the kitchen making bread and cinnamon rolls. Many years later, I began baking desserts for family and friends. Peach cobbler and lemon cake were my two most requested treats.

In 2009, I attended culinary school for a short time but life events prohibited me from continuing. At that time, not only was my heart into baking, but I desired more and envisioned owning a catering business. I am still striving towards that goal. In 2010 my husband secured a job working for the City of Los Angeles. After sending him to work with cake, his coworkers began to inquire and later began to purchase cakes and other sweets from me. He would sell out of lemon cake in less than an hour. During this time, I was working full time and making cakes and cobblers on the side. In June of 2016, I was able to walk away from my job to start my business and work full time doing what I loved. I put in many hours of preparation and worked very hard to make an impression and get my name out. I wanted a business that would take care of itself.

One of my first contracts was with a company named FOODA in Los Angeles County. This company connected small businesses with corporations who needed their services. This was a key factor in my startup and in maintaining my status as a new business. I began to get business contracts in the Inland Empire and my business took off. With the growth in business, time and distance restraints made it difficult to continue business at full capacity, serving multiple counties. I then focused on the business base that was closer to home, the Inland Empire, however, I still took the occasional order in LA due to faithful customers. Today, like many other small businesses, I struggle to survive due to the lack of frequency and size of parties within this pandemic. My love for baking and creating treats has not declined and I love what I do and wouldn’t trade it for the world.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road, especially this year. I have had to close up business twice so far due to COVID 19.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My ability to create items that are crafted after particular themes. I love baking custom cakes, especially monogram pastries. I make wedding cakes, custom cookies, birthday cakes, and the best whoopie pies around. Whoopie pies are a cookie cake with a cream filling. What sets me apart is my customer service. I pride myself on treating every customer like they are my family. This results in many return customers as well as referrals.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
In the next few years, I think this industry will boom. People want bigger and better with each event they have, so that will mean an increase in this type of business.

Pricing:

• Wedding Cakes starting at $5.00 per serving
• Whoopie pies – starting at $3.00 each
• Cake Pops starting at $3.00 each

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carterscakefactory/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecakefactory.carter/

Image Credits
Francine Carter