Mandy Phillips, formerly a baker at The Cabin Restaurant in Loudon, ventured out on her own to develop MandyCakes at Carmichael Inn in downtown Loudon despite the location’s reputation for business turnover.
Rick Dover, general manager of Family Pride Corporation, which owns the Inn, said about four businesses have come and gone from the spot in the past five years. He doesn’t know why turnover has been high at the location.
Phillips said she doesn’t plan on joining the businesses that passed through without success.
“I think it’s lack of marketing, and I’m on top of that so I don’t think that will affect me,” Phillips said.
She plans to make the Inn a hot spot for local families.
Phillips bakes sweet treats like cobblers, pies, cookies, cheesecakes, cupcakes, brownies, peanut brittle and candies. She said she may also incorporate breads after the new year.
Custom cakes have been Phillips’ specialty since she found her talent for baking three years ago during a Wilton cake decorating class.
After falling in love with decorating cakes, Phillips stopped working as a paramedic in Roane County and took a job as the baker at The Cabin Restaurant in Loudon, which her in-laws owned at the time.
“I kind of outgrew them, and they kind of outgrew me,” Phillips said. “So I was looking for my own place. And this, the kitchen was ready, and I was ready.”
Phillips rents the space for events and already has Christmas parties booked for the holiday season. She said she hopes to add rehearsal dinners, wedding receptions, birthdays, baby showers and any other type of party to the list in the near future.
She said most of her “good customer base” comes from her Facebook page. Phillips said referrals keep her business steady and bring in new customers. She also distributes fliers and uses other marketing techniques to get the word out about the business.
Phillips said she printed about 2,000 fliers for Loudon County Schools to encourage families to gather at the bakery for “old fashioned board games and card games.” She prepares to teach cupcake decorating classes as well.
“There’s so much space here,” Phillips said. “I’d really like to put it to use for good old fashioned family time, quality time away from the video games and TVs of the world.”
Phillips said MandyCakes differs from other bakeries because customers are invited in by the smell of old fashioned baking from scratch instead of the modern day grocery store bakeries that use boxed mixes.
She set a goal to continue growing the bakery and maintaining its “niche” of “100 percent made from scratch” desserts.
Ten Mile resident Patricia Barron, a MandyCakes customer, said the desserts are “absolutely fantastic” and Phillips has a “terrific personality.”
“I’ve seen pictures of her special occasion cakes, and some of them are just unbelievable,” Barron said. “Starting a new business is hard at any time, but particularly for a young lady at her age to strike out and start a new business, I would really like to see her be successful at it.”
MandyCakes opened Nov. 17 and is open 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
“I really want to make a go of this place,” Phillips said. “I think it’s a beautiful place. Unfortunately, so many things have come and gone here. There’s so much history here, and it’s funny because I hear so many different stories from everybody that walks through the door. But I really just want to make this a place that is, that takes you back in time.”
