Meet Kristen Fisher-Friedman

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kristen Fisher-Friedman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kristen, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
This is always an interesting topic, as it’s always changing. When we first opened our store, no doubt about it, the business tipped the scale, it was all-consuming. We felt the need to say yes to everything, as we felt the pressure from old-school ideals of businesses and how they *should* operate. All that lead to was constant burn-out and stress, that wasn’t serving us, it didn’t allow us time to rest and recharge. We realized the irony that we were running a business where we catered to everyone else’s celebrations, and we weren’t able to find the time to celebrate ourselves. Covid however was a major reset. We were forced to sit down and streamline everything, our ingredients and menu, our time, and our workload. We also decided to be closed on Sundays in addition to Mondays, which freed up so much time for us, and our productivity improved. Most don’t realize the amount of physicality, energy and endurance this business requires. Not to mention the mental stamina. It’s a very detailed, fast paced business with a lot of moving parts, and like any other job, a curveball can be thrown at you at any point throwing you off schedule. We have a full case of desserts everyday, we have accounts with large catering orders, and of course, the cakes, so the coordinating of our weekly schedule has to be made before we enter our work week, to keep us on track. Since the cakes take up the most amount of time, we decided to implement a minimum of 5 days notice for cakes, and 2+ weeks for custom cakes. While this is mainly to ensure availability, it’s also conducive to scheduling due to the many phases and time limitations in a production-based business. It has also helped us in not having to stress over telling someone “No.” week-off, because we know the work required to make all this happen. The more you get to know your business, the more your confidence develops, and when you know that you’re doing your best, establishing your boundaries comes easy. Your true clients will respect them, and don’t worry about the ones who don’t.

Even these days with a much more appropriate balance, it still consumes us! As a business owner, you’re never really removed from your business. We will be on a mountain top taking in our view and I’ll be thinking about a cake that’s due the following week! But I’m just glad I’m at the point in my business where we have the time and opportunity to be on top of a mountain.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
It’s funny, I never considered myself an “artist” when I was younger. Perhaps my understanding of the definition just didn’t translate to me fully; but I was always creative, and I soon realized that actively creating was a touchstone to my happiness. My recipes, are so much more than just items to be sold. So many of them are family recipes, which sparked my initial love of baking. They are connected to memories of holidays, of my family preparing them in the kitchen. These recipes then inspired the countless others I created myself, or with my Dad, who is no longer with us, but I know he is cheering me on from the other side.
So I can’t get over how lucky I am that I get the opportunity to create and be creative everyday: from each of our items I create, to the art I create on your cakes, and the clients of whom I create relationships with over time. Creation, in all its forms, is the heart of being an artist for me, and keeps me going, especially when it isn’t easy!
While we’ve had many challenges, the universal lesson in business is that you have to be able to learn to adapt, to see changes as they’re coming and get ready to ride that wave. Get rid of the things that aren’t working, no matter your attachment to them. If it’s a service or a program, consider the lessons you learned from it and apply them where it fits. Or, if it is an item that just isn’t selling as well everyday as you had hoped, you can still offer it as a minimum order for those who loved it, or bring it back as a specialty holiday item when sales surge. Pay attention to the ways your business is evolving and start taking steps to keep things more streamlined, know your strengths and weaknesses, and, I can’t stress this enough: don’t be afraid to say no! 99% of the time, my reason for saying no to something is simply to eliminate the opportunity for disappointment from a client, and have the confidence to explain that to them.
As long as you know you are always doing your best, and being honest with your clients, your intentionality will show, and everything else will fall into place.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
As born and raised Miami natives, we have a few special spots! We’d likely first head to Coconut Grove, our favorite neighborhood in the city. After starting off with lattes from Panther Coffee, we’d walk around the grove, visiting its many small businesses and shops. Burgers from LoKal is a must for lunch. I’d then want to be sure to venture down to Matheson Hammock Park’s beach, it’s so quiet and peaceful there, complete with a view of our Miami skyline. After having a wonderful experience at Noma at Red Fish recently, I’d be sure to go there for an incredible dinner (get the Diver Scallops!).
Other favorite Miami spots are Finka, Daily Bread, Sarussi’s, Brewing Buddha, Alaine’s Osteria, Apocalypse BBQ, Pummarola, and Sushi Rock.
I know there are so many places that have opened up recently that we haven’t had the chance to visit yet, being a small business owner has it’s price! But whenever we do get the chance to go out, we are sure to visit our fellow small businesses, we appreciate and support them as much as we can.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
That’s easy, hands down, my husband and business-partner, Josh! I could talk about him all day if you’d let me. We were so lucky to have found true love and partners in each other. We met at 15, in 10th grade at Palmetto, and were instantly drawn to each other. Funny story, we were put together in a group project in which I took the lead, and when I asked him if he was a creative person he nervously told me no! We still laugh about that to this day considering our business and the role he’s naturally fallen into doing the majority of the fondant work. Josh has been supporting me in this dream way back to when I first started it in 2008, working out of our condo. He learned recipes and started baking to help me out if I was busy with something else, he would come home late from working his restaurant job and start doing the dirty dishes in the sink, he would help me to craft emails, manage clients, do deliveries, he consoled me when I cried, helped to try and solve what went wrong in a certain situation, he has been with me in this, going through every experience with me since day 1.
I have always said that I couldn’t do any of this without him. We are a true team, and we balance the other so well. I could not have asked for anything better in a partner.

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