Today we’d like to introduce you to Christian and Cortney.
Hi Christian and Cortney, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
After four years as an on-air radio personality, I became a full-time stay-at-home mom in 2016 when my husband and I relocated to Dallas, TX from Tupelo, MS. I was enjoying the day-to-day housewife role and freedom but my passion is to serve people and live a fulfilled life no matter what I choose to do. Lucky for me I’ve been blessed with an extremely supportive husband and family. I have had three businesses prior to my most successful one, Vicky Cakes and that is where the beautiful journey begins!!
My husband, Cortney and I got married in 2009 at the age of 21. As most 21-year-olds, you aren’t cooking much from scratch or pulling out the recipes that your mother and grandma passed down to you and I was no different. It wasn’t until 2014, when my husband and I went back to my hometown of Gary, IN for the Thanksgiving holiday that he tasted my mother Vicky’s popular pancakes! We were sitting at the breakfast table and my siblings and I were eating them like it was “just another” pancake but Cortney was in complete shock at just how good they were. He emphatically stated he’d never had anything like them and we should be selling them and making a fortune. It was in that moment that he said, “Y’all should call these Vicky Cakes”.
We all laughed and thought it was cute and funny but it would take four more years before we’d actually take his suggestion seriously and start the business and family brand that is now known and loved all across America and four other countries, Vicky Cakes!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been a beautiful journey but I wouldn’t call it “smooth”. Ha! Mainly because we haven’t had any mentors or blueprints. Our greatest teacher is experience and we heavily rely on our faith and strong belief that we are doing exactly what we are called to do and making an impact. This has fueled us to overcome obstacles like COVID-19. We were at the peak of our success in 2020 after our first National feature on Good Morning America and three days after it aired, Cortney and two of our team members tested positive for COVID. I had to make the hard call to halt production for two weeks so that our team could quarantine and stay safe and I canceled over 6,000 back orders that we weren’t going to be able to fulfill due to the virus effecting us as leadership.
I’m talking $300,000+ was gone in an instant because of the pandemic. But God had a greater plan and it all worked out and Vicky Cakes is stronger than ever. We were able to get those customers back with the help of ABC and we received so much compassion, love and support from the American people!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Vicky Cakes Pancake Mix?
Vicky Cakes is a dairy free and vegan friendly pancake waffle mix derived from my mother, Vicky’s 40 year pancake mix recipe. As a single mother of four she wasn’t able to take my siblings and I out for breakfast often on one income but as southern native from Cleveland, MS she used her cooking skills to create this light, fluffy and delicious recipe that has been bringing families to the table for over 40 years and now it’s a household name and brand nationwide.
We are proud to be a brand that is inclusive for both vegans and non vegans as we do not include powdered milk or eggs in our products making them a high demand option for the dairy-free/vegan community to use their own non-dairy alternatives to prepare and enjoy with the same perfect results time after time! We pride ourselves on not including artificial flavors, preservatives and additives in our products and we also include real premium ingredients in our favored mixes. I’m talking, real blueberries, pecan and milk chocolate chips (not vegan friendly) none of the artificial things that most big box brands use to keep costs down. We believe in giving the best quality to our amazing customers.
We have been so fortunate to sell over 250,000 products since the pandemic and we have been featured by national and local platforms like; The Food Network, The New York Times, Pop Sugar, Delish, Cosmopolitan, Complex, Tabitha Brown, Good Morning America, and Good Morning Texas. We were aware the Beyonce BeyGood and NAACP Small Black Owned Business Impact Grant and we recently were the breakfast choice for a Google team working from home to enjoy a “Virtual Waffle Day”.
And as if that’s not enough, we are making history as the 1st authentically Black Owned Pancake and Waffle Mix brand to hit the shelves of major retail. We closed our first retail account with Jewel Osco for 156 grocery stores in the Midwest and we couldn’t be more excited! We are so grateful for all of the amazing opportunities we have been blessed with and we look forward to many more great ones as we continue to share our story and push our mission to bring 1,000,000,000 families back to the table with what we love to call “The Heart of Breakfast”!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I see the food and beverage industry making a shift to being more inclusive of a variety of dietary lifestyles that are healthier and consistent with the needs of the consumers instead of the less healthier things we’ve seen on shelves for so long. I also see is in thousands of retail locations across the US and abroad.
We are excited to be apart of the shift and trends as we understood you have to be willing to adjust and accommodate the consumers who are the very reason we’re in business. We will always listen to our customers and try our very best to implement and give the best choices to them and their families no matter the cost.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@vickycakesonline.com
- Instagram: @vickycakespancakemix
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vickycakespancakemix
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClh0_ERxt_a-VUShG2b2GBQ
Image Credits
@Cortneysargent @vickycakespancakemix
