Three and a half years ago I was in the process of interviewing for restaurant Sous Chef positions and I made the decision to leave my career to go and support Rick and his dream of having his own cake shop. With the support of my husband, family and friends, I went from being the culinary meat girl to the cakelava "people person" (as in, "he makes the cakes, she's the people person"). Suddenly, there I was with a new career on my hands after 8 years in the industry, and a budding network of professional contacts and a file full of new clients. It helped of course, that prior to cooking, I had done some hard time in the corporate world with marketing jobs, and knew business etiquette which was definitely useful in starting off. I also believed tremendously in Rick's creative ability and didn't want to see him do this alone or with anyone else, and he felt the same way. We took a deep breath, said goodbye to leisurely (or regular) vacations, and opened cakelava.
One of the greatest rewards of owning cakelava is getting to work with Rick. I love to watch him in his creative element, and coming into the kitchen every time he finishes up a cake. The satisfaction of having our own business is equal to the biggest adrenaline dinner rush in my prior career. Owning a business can also be very challenging and even more so when you are married to each other. Patience is key and respecting each other's space is essential. Since we know first hand what it means to run a business as a husband-wife team, we have a great deal of respect for the vendors we work with who also choose to do it together and we wanted to acknowledge a few of them here:
-- Sandra and Marvin Williams: Finishing Touch and Blue Cheese Hawaii
-- Yvonne Chapman and Alex Garcia: Yvonne Floral Design
-- Cassandra and David Dieterle: Cassandra Dieterle Photography and
Honolulu Wedding Consultants
-- Bianca and Grant Gomes: Bianca Photography
-- David and Lupe Louis: Dynamic Sounds and Aloha Fountains
-- and the soon-to-be-husband and wife team of David Miyamoto
and Michelle Guda: Dave Miyamoto Photography
Take a little time to check out the sites above and get to know some of the best Teams in Hawaii.
Enjoy the weekend!
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