Meet Bonnie Brunt | owner and creative director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bonnie Brunt and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bonnie, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Personally, I think it is quality. Quality and generosity…. and leading with kindness. We are a small custom cake shop. We operate out of a commercial kitchen that has developed in the basement of my farm house in the middle of the woods in Calhoun County. Not much more remote than us. ALWAYS, quality of product, quality of customer service…ingredients… quality of people working here… quality of our level of determination to produce quality cakes! We focus on the end product and want that quality to be exceptional. Also, we are generous in our efforts to care for and service our customers…and everything relating to our customers is handled with kindness. We are nothing if we cannot be kind.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
We are 14 years old. I started this as a side gig when the economy was tanking in 2010. My husband and I were self employed at the time and it was tough. We were nervous financially. I started selling cakes to make a few extra dollars in my kitchen. People asked me to do a few crazy things, like make a cake to look like a fish. I had NO idea how to do that, but I said…”sure! I can do that”. I worked into the night, practicing, trying things until I figured it out. People asked for all kinds of different things after that and I continued to say “Sure… I can do that,” knowing full well that I did not know how to do that! Continuing to work all the time, learning as much as I could..experimenting, and figuring it out. I watched videos that I could find when I could not actually work in the sugar and was obsessed with learning and getting better. I enjoyed the process and the hard work. I still do. It was not easy… it was exhausting. It was long, long days and late nights. It was mistakes…trials…errors… and then successes. I still worked my full time job during the day…and obsessed over cakes every other hour. I was determined to learn and improve…and I did.

My father is a farmer. He would work from sun up to sun down and longer during the harvest season. My mother was always working. My grandparents were hard working people…working with their hands to make ends meet. I grew up surrounded by hard people. I knew hard work and it was not something I was afraid of. I felt I was designed to work hard… so I did…and I do. This is a hard industry to succeed in because it requires lots of hard work.

I am also creative. I have always been creative… I love the word thorough and I love a good system! That gets me excited! LOL.

I think lots of people can make cakes…and pretty ones…and delicious ones. But we make delicious and beautiful cakes day in and day out here. We deliver them all over the state and beyond. I do think there are a few things that set us apart.

First is our expectations. We accept nothing short of excellence. I will strip a cake in a minute and start over or require that of those that work here if it is not excellent. It is not a bad thing, but a necessary thing sometimes.

My personal greatest asset at this time is my staff. I have an amazing staff of terrific people. I have artists on staff who have the joy of creating new art every week. For an artist, that is a gift. My pastry chef is wonderful and works so hard. My office staff is kind to our customers, and thorough. Everyone respects our systems and follows them. Everyone is thorough in their efforts…and most importantly.. everyone here is kind. These are my people, who make each day better… and each day, though often full of hard work, not only bearable, but joyful.

I do think our systems keep us together and organized so that we can function at a high level every week. We provide excellent and generous customer service. We try to over-deliver in everything that we can. We do it with kindness. Always.

I guess the thing that I would want people to know about us other than the fact that we make great cakes is that this shop is full of beautiful people who make the world better every day by just existing in it. We really do love those that we are privileged to serve and serve alongside. We truly want to make people’s days brighter by the art that we create. And, we want them to remember that during the whole process…we were kind and caring and truthful. And, of course thorough.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Since I live in the country…in the middle of nowhere… I would spend some good time here…on our farm. I would be lazy on the porch and talk about life and family over good coffee. I would watch the squirrels and listen to the birds…and play with the dogs. There would be MUCH laughter and hearts full of love. we would walk to the pond and admire the trees and the beauty of nature. There would be a bon fire with fireflies and listen to the coyotes go off. It would be relaxing and lovely.

We would venture into Columbia, and likely enjoy a marvelous dinner at Terra. They make a killer Korean lettuce wrap and their steak is near perfection. A good glass or several of wine…and again…lots of laughter.

We might visit the museum in town, which we are so richly blessed by our great State Museum! Maybe catch a play at the Trustus Theatre. We would have a dinner for sure at Smoked and enjoy their oysters.

The river walk is beautiful and a great way to enjoy a different side of Columbia…so there’s always that.

Mainly, we would laugh and have a good time.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The beautiful southern women in my life that came before me… who taught me how to be kind and strong and courageous and how to work so hard. They taught me the value of patience, persistence, and the value of loving what you do…and sharing it with others. They demonstrated generosity in their lives and kindness in their everyday endeavors. When they were exhausted from a hard days work, they still smiled and asked what they could do for me. That kind of willingness to serve others is paramount to Bonnie Brunt Cakes.

Website: https://bonniebrunt.com

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