Before she even opened the doors to her Sweet Love storefront in 2012, Kelli Marks had loyal customers. Since she first started from-scratch baking and cake decorating as a hobby in 2004, Marks has tweeted, pinned, Instagrammed and posted her creations to Facebook, interacting with other bakers as well as current and potential customers daily. Her business has grown so quickly that she’s already added one staff member and is looking for another. And while the taste and look of Marks’ creations are what bring customers back, her Internet presence is making its mark, with photos of a cake shaped like a stack of polo shirts and a Starship Enterprise cake created for George Takei going viral. Going into her second year with the business, Marks hopes to translate all the online buzz into even more sugar-high customers.
Q: You’re extremely active promoting your shop and work online. Would your business be the same without Twitter, Facebook and Instagram?
A: No. Absolutely not. I really think that social media is key for small businesses. The changes that have come about in the past couple years have been game changers. You get the opportunity to talk directly to a customer that may not have otherwise known you were there. I had a guy who came in this morning because he’d been following my business on Facebook. Even people who haven’t actually come in yet, they’re familiar with the brand because of what their friends are sharing.
Q: How has Pinterest changed the baking industry?
A: Pinterest has been around since I opened, but its use has been a lot heavier lately. With weddings, people are coming in and just saying “here’s a picture of my wedding cake.” I’ve made the same cake, one that people found on Pinterest, at least five times. With birthdays, I’ve really seen a change. It really grows the party. It’s more than just an elaborate cake. It’s a cake and cake pops and cookies and macaroons. All kinds of crafting and cupcakes.
Q: How do you turn viral traffic, like you saw from the polo shirt cake and the Enterprise cake, into customers?
A: It’s not always an immediate thing. I did have a lot of people come in and order a cake they saw. And it creates an awareness of you, so next time they need a cake they’ll come to you. I had a lady come in who had pinned [a picture of the polo shirt cake] months ago. She started looking and found out it was local and came in and is getting it as her groom’s cake.
Q: Have you ever burnt out on sweets?
A: Right before opening, we took an order from Arkansas Children’s Hospital for 4,400 sugar cookies. After that, it took [my husband] a full year before he could eat a sugar cookie. Just seeing that many ... that’s a lot of cookies. But it helped me open my business in the black. We carry no debt and we’ve been profitable since our second month.
Q: What are you hoping people take away as your brand message?
A: The motto that I’ve started with, that I like and is kind of funny, is that pretty things taste better. So often, we eat with our eyes first. You’ll go in a restaurant and they’ll serve you this beautiful dessert, but you’ll take a bite and it doesn’t live up to what you see visually. So my goal is to serve people pretty food, but at the same time, it’s delicious.
Q: When you’re not pulling 60-hour workweeks, where do you like to go to eat?
A: My husband and I regularly go to Big Orange. We don’t really have what you might consider a sophisticated palate. So, I struggle trying to be a little more adventurous. Big Orange is great because it’s familiar and they do what they do really well. I love what they’re doing with their brands. It’s nice to see a local brand treating themselves like a national brand. Just because they’re owned by a small group, you don’t walk in and think “this is a local mom-and-pop shop.” That’s something I aspire to with my shop as well.
Q: When you crave sweets, what do you go for?
A: I really don’t bake at all at home. But sometimes I’ll really just crave a derby pie with a big pile of whipped cream. I’ll stick in the cooler if anybody wants it, but I’ll eat the whole thing.
Q: Is Little Rock supportive of small businesses? Enough to keep you open?
A: I think so. Especially in the food scene. There is a tide changing. If you look at the numbers, yes the largest grossing restaurants in Little Rock are Cheddar’s and Red Lobster and Chick-fil-A. People love their chain fast food. But there are a lot of people who are really embracing local. People are starting to take advantage of what Arkansas has to offer in terms of produce and that trickles down into the local food scene.