Today we’d like to introduce you to Joseph Hamilton.
Joseph, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started out like everyone who comes to LA as an actor. There would be many ups and downs and some opportunities but not enough. Eventually, I would find my way into the food service industry. With over 15 years of food and beverage service, I would work among the industries best professionals.. A-list, celebrities and multi billionaires are common in this part of the country. You really get a sense of how the service industry works around some of the most powerful and influential people. I would spend the days chasing the dream and the nights working private events in celebrity homes and corporate locations. You make enough to get by and maybe a little extra to have some fun but it certainly wasn’t enough. You compare that with wanting to be a homeowner and raise a family and you realize you just need to change. I didn’t quite have enough money to put a down payment on a condo, but I did have enough to invest in a business. So I took what I had and gave it to somebody who gave me an opportunity to do so. With that investment, which was essentially my entire life savings I would run operations for this company for seven years. Hoping to see some return on my investment along with any sort of financial gain to achieve my goals. it became clear that this would not be the case. I worked every single day for seven years. Seven days a week on average 12 hours a day. There was no life outside of this and I was completely miserable. My father died the very first year I invested in the company, and I had little or no time for anything privately in my own personal life. I wasn’t exercising anymore. I wasn’t eating right. I had zero energy for anything else when I’d come home at the end of the day. Both my family and my friends wondered what happened to me. I then decided to leave the company and pursue my own business for the first time in my life. It was a major mental threshold to walk through. Leaving my investment and all the hard work I had done for the last seven years. Only to start something on my own. After contemplating on what I would do, I kept thinking of an idea that my late father once had. He always wanted an old turn of the century 1920s style Pharmacy. The kind where you see the powders in the glass medicine jars and the pharmacist fills the pill capsules by hand. In the front, you have a soda fountain with candies almost like a speakeasy bar. My father was in the pharmaceutical industry and eventually settled in Park city Utah, where he managed and ran the Pharmacy up there at the local market. So as an homage to my father who passed in 2019 from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, I decided to create the Pharmacy Dessert Bar. The Pharmacy Dessert Bar is a private catering company geared towards private events in a person’s home, corporate functions, and studio locations. We love to do weddings, birthdays, and holiday events. Our speciality is freshly baked and warmed glazed, donut buns pressed in a machine stuffed with your choice of flavored ice cream. We are also known for ice cream cookie sandwiches and our donut sundaes. Our dessert bars can be specially themed out with toppings such as fun candies and candy bars, nostalgic, cereal, and various other traditional drizzles. We love creating spectacle and fun with each treat that we serve.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Fortunately, after helping run a company for seven years, I learned the certain basics of what to do and what not to do. I filed for an LLC right away. Made sure I had all the proper licenses and liability insurance. Purchased all the equipment I would need. And I even had tailored uniforms made. I set up a simple website and started my social media accounts. Every other week, me and my wife will shoot and film content to slowly put out and edit for Instagram and TikTok. I did all of this in three weeks. Now I had everything ready to accept clients, including a business bank account, a sales tax permit and a merchant service. I was super excited and ready to go! Then I realized nobody knew I existed. It does take time to build clientele and that’s what I’ve slowly been doing. I work with a great Baker and I know how to run these operations blindfolded. Starting a new business, big or small costs money. And it’s something you have to be ready for. I was ready. I had a proof of concept that I knew worked and the motivation of my family behind me. Every new client and every new event always opens new opportunities.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
The business I created stems from wanting to treat people in a way that is exciting and new. I mean who doesn’t like a hot glazed donut ice cream sandwich? Or a candy topped donut sundae? I could eat an ice cream cookie sandwich every day all day! For me, I really enjoy watching people get excited about something that they’re going to partake in. It’s the most brilliant thing ever to witness somebody who looks like they could serve time in jail, but they become a child and smile the biggest smile you’ve ever seen when they’re getting a dessert put in front of their face. I love making people happy I love giving them something to make their day better. When you do these kind of events at various locations, you realize how special it is to be a part of their unique event. It energizes you and motivates you to want to do this all the time. Especially when the world can be chaotic you in a small way can brighten people‘s day. Typically I’ll have my machine with a themed out menu displayed table side with various decor to make it fun for the guest. Once they choose their flavor of ice cream cookie and or doughnut, I can build their dessert for them in seconds. Watching them walk up to the table with giant eyes is almost as good as watching them walk away with giant smiles on their faces.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
You always hope for luck with that random call or that random email or that random regular client that pops their head into your life. But I’m also a firm believer of working hard and making your own luck. It’s been my experience that people who invest their energy and time into a business will receive it tenfold back. So I guess you could say I’m an optimist with being a grounded realist. You never know what’s gonna come out of left field so you got to be ready for it when it does.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pharmacydessertbarca.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pharmacydessertbar
- Other: TikTok: pharmacydessertbar
