Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Payan.
Hi Sarah, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The start of my business is actually simple. My husband(and business partner) does jujitsu and at his club Aces they have their own little 6am tribe. One of the girls Gen always made sweet treats for everyone and my husband had been asking her to make tres leches cinnamon rolls for over a year. They took a trip to Morocco for a camp and to compete and when he returned I finally told him I would try to make them. I did and he fell in love. My husband doesn’t even like cinnamon rolls but mine are different than the others. He brought them to everyone he could think of and every single time was the same reaction- these are amazing and out of everyone professor Mikal Abdullah loved them the most and these are the best cinnamon rolls they ever tried and that I should start selling them. This went on for a few months and finally one of his other 6am tribe members Jamie made me a logo with the name I chose- HoMade Baked Goods by Sarah. So many people love my business name and a few dirty looks I get but I chose that name because it’s catchy and draws people in. Two of my biggest supporters Caiti and Lucas who are also in the 6am tribe have been by my side since the beginning helping when I needed and Caiti even built me my own website. Now I make more than 10 different roll flavors, cookies, cakes, muffins, sourdough items and the list goes on. Our very first real event was at Cams Training Facility in Hutto and it’s what really put us on the map. We find that the car culture accepts us because they don’t mind our name and they love my treats. We are well known now in the drift scene and met some of our best friends this way.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has definitely been a bumpy road. When we decided to start this business I didn’t even have a real oven. Our oven in our house went out a couple years ago and we didn’t really feel the need to replace or fix it. When I decided to make the cinnamon rolls I bought a small countertop oven that only fit a small square pan at one time. We then bought a second countertop oven to be able to make double the amount. When we got accepted to do the event at Cams in Hutto, my husband decided it was time to upgrade and replace our oven. It was a struggle trying to learn a new oven and temps while also trying to make all my products up to my standards. I’m not a perfectionist by any means but when it comes to things that I bake, I have a hard time selling something I don’t feel is perfect and up to my standards. We went through many different roll containers, temps, times, oven settings and there were lots of tears and me wanting to give up. My husband was always there to pick me up and tell me try again and I could do it. After our event at Cams we had a huge event with 60,000 plus in attendance and we just decided to shoot for the stars. That event quickly humbled us. We lost our tents, and pretty much all our first days worth of product. We were defeated but decided to give the last two days our all. Going through the emotions that we did definitely made us the strong couple and partners we are today.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I am definitely most known for my cinnamon rolls. How I explain to people why my rolls are different than others is think of the center of the cinnamon roll. It’s soft and gooey and everyone’s favorite part. The way we created our rolls the whole thing is like eating the center of the roll.
What I am most proud of is the word play on our name. HoMade is just Home Made but with my own special twist. When someone sees one of our roll containers or cookie packets they automatically know “the ho’s made that”.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I feel that the most important quality to us is that our product is always consistently the same. Since the beginning I have used the same high quality ingredients and I have a very high standard that my products have to meet. Even as prices skyrocket for ingredients I cannot compromise my quality due to cost. I always want whoever walks away from my booth to take that first bite and smile just like in the beginning.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ho-madebakedgoodsbysarah.web.app/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ho_madebakedgoodsbysarah
