Sunday Inspiration: Baking with Sydney’s Sweets

Welcome to our Sunday Inspiration series where we feature inspirational individuals living out their dreams in the worlds of food and travel.

Join us as we discover the passions, challenges, and motivations that drive these unique creators to quit their 9-5s and embark on their entrepreneurial journeys.

Today we’re in the kitchen baking with Sydney’s Sweets. A husband and wife owned bakery run by Sydney and Jermaine in Long Island, NY. Sydney’s Sweets creates custom cakes and cupcakes for all occasions: from 1st birthdays to weddings, and more. Their culinary creations are whimsical, vibrant, and extravagant. Prior to their leap into the culinary world, they held full-time jobs in the Media and Engineering industries, respectively. Please see our conversation below.

Food Inspiration Travel: Your pastries are like works of art. Where do you get the inspiration to come up with your amazing culinary creations?

Sydney’s Sweets: “We like to use Pinterest and Google, but also many clients come to us with a theme in mind, which helps guide our creations.”

F.I.T : We know that you have backgrounds in engineering and media. What was the turning point for you to decide to become full time bakers?

Sydney’s Sweets: “It was all or nothing. The business was getting to a point where we couldn’t maintain our full-time jobs and run the bakery simultaneously. The bakery chose us.”

F.I.T. : Who are some of your inspirations in the culinary world right now and why?

Sydney’s Sweets: “Ron Ben-Israel for his attention to detail. His cakes look perfect.”

F.I.T. : What are some of the challenges in running a bakery?

“Challenges operating the bakery center largely around time management. In our business we are dedicated to supplying fresh products, so we can not start too far in advance. Also, most custom cakes are ordered for the same days (sat/sun). This leads to baking/decorating marathons and very late nights.”

“In any food business there is the challenge of managing waste. Our products have a shelf life so we have to balance having enough cupcakes to supply our walk in customers without overdoing it and throwing too much away.”

“The biggest is managing all the business that is not baking related. Answering emails, marketing, social media, paying bills, buying supplies, the list goes on!”

F.I.T. : What advice would you give to someone with a passion for baking who would like to open up a bakery?

Sydney’s Sweets:”Start with what you have. You should bake for family and friends even it’s for free. See what type of responses you receive. This feedback will help you determine if the business is viable.”

Sydney’s Sweet’s #FITip: “[In order to quit your day job…] First you need to calculate how much income you need to live on without your day job. Develop a strategy to get there. Next, would be to do a trial run, meaning save your income and live off of your business or other income. Lastly, be ready to work twice as hard being an entrepreneur than you ever did working for someone else. ;-)”