Today we’d like to introduce you to Tammy Duong.
Tammy, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Baking has been my favorite hobby since elementary school. My first memory of it was with my mom and a box of “Duncan Hines Butter Golden.” The results weren’t anything groundbreaking. It was just a buttery sponge cupcake, but I enjoyed the process so much. I asked her to make them more often, and we would substitute ingredients to give the cupcakes a more homemade taste. Even without frosting, I was thrilled to eat them fresh from the oven. That sweet, buttery smell was a guarantee for smiles.
At some point, I started playing around with different frostings and cake flavors. My mom found the idea for tiramisu frosting somewhere online, and we put it together with the sponge cake. This later became the base idea for one of my official flavors. Classroom parties and family events were always an excuse for me to whip up some cupcakes. I recall always being so happy seeing those around me enjoy something I had put together. My friends and family started suggesting I create a business out of this new skill, and their words developed a dream. I continued keeping it as a hobby because I was never sure how successful I would be. In middle school, I would make mini cupcakes and sell them for about 50 cents each. That’s when the entrepreneur in me began to evolve. Throughout the years, I kept baking and making up fun flavors to share, and again I kept hearing the same things from everyone. “When are you going to open up a bakery?” “You should make this into a business!”
It was fitting that my degree for college was in business and entrepreneurship since that’s when things started to kick off for me. I was in a space where I could learn more and apply my knowledge directly toward my success. I jumped at the opportunity to invest in myself and started a cupcake subscription to gauge my audience and allow me to test new recipes and more flavors. Keeping up with my baking, college, and work was difficult, but I kept pushing through because this wasn’t something I wanted to give up. After graduation, I got to make baking a bigger priority. I refined my cupcakes, figured out the administrative things, and finally turned the dream all those years ago into something more of a reality.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Any small business owner will give you the same answer regarding this question. There are so many obstacles when starting something on your own. Food-wise, everyone has their own acquired taste, and I was always afraid that mine wouldn’t appeal to enough people to keep me afloat. Other times, I didn’t know where to start. I was only a college student and didn’t have many resources. Google could only aid me so much, and I knew I could only learn as I went. I still needed to feel confident to go out and market myself or my products. A lot of the struggle came from my introspection on what I could achieve. My biggest obstacle was myself.
School and a part-time job required me to split my time and focus. As much as I love baking, I had to put it on the back burner to focus on other integral parts of my life. Finding a good balance for all the essential things took a lot of compromising and learning to adjust with short notice. Recipe development was equally a difficult obstacle to face. Finding the ideal composition of ingredients to get the best texture, taste, and look was frustrating. I never felt more frustrated than when tweaking just a smidge of this and that to get unwanted results. Meeting my expectations for my cupcakes took countless hours of research and many resources. Despite all the stresses, I couldn’t be happier with what I have now.
While my recipes are no longer a huge challenge, and I have a better grasp on the other obstacles, I know I have yet to conquer them all. Baking is a continuous learning experience, and every step is something new for me.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Tammy’s Bakery specializes and is known for its cupcakes. No matter the event, I will help you customize your order to meet your needs. I have all the basics, such as red velvet and strawberry vanilla, to more intricate flavors, like Vietnamese coffee or coconut cream pie. If cupcakes aren’t your thing, Tammy’s bakery also offers mini pies, cookies, and other baked goods, almost anything except cakes!
I’m proud of everything that I’ve put out for my little bakery. I’m the type of person that wouldn’t accept anything less than almost perfect. Each baked good has gone through numerous trials and errors, with me continuously testing until it’s just right. They say the harshest critic is always yourself. If it passes my expectation, I hope it’ll satisfy others about the same, if not more. I want my customers to know that the cupcakes they get are made with the most outstanding care. If they have a vision for their cupcakes, I will always take the time to research and communicate to execute it to their expectations.
It’s harder to differentiate yourself when you sell things based on personal taste preferences. What a handful of people might prefer from my bakery may be different for another group. The one thing I can ensure is different from them is the baker. I want my customers to get to know me, my personality, and my expectations for myself before anything else. My business stems directly from a hobby that I’ve loved for many years now. I want to facilitate and spread the happiness I get from baking to others, and it starts with more than them being able to eat the cupcakes.
Food was and is a significant part of my life. My grandma always made time to make food for us to take home. It was something that could never be replicated in the food and the love put into it. My favorite memories with my family always included being around a table with good food. When I eat those dishes now, it takes me back to those moments, and I’m filled with nostalgia. Others should be able to have that connection with food and memory like I do. Part of my goal with Tammy’s Bakery is to create desserts that have the potential to bring about an irreplaceable sense of joy. Knowing that someone took time and effort to create something delicious for you makes it just that much better.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I like Dallas because there are just so many opportunities here to experience something different. We have a large variety of food and activities that can fit everyone’s needs. They’re not extraordinarily unique or anything, but Dallas is the kind of city that has everything to make it easy for you to settle in and not feel out of place. It’s more of the ambiance of it all that makes me like Dallas for what it is. Granted, I’ve also lived here my whole life and established all of my connections here, so the sense of being at ease is a tad biased.
With what I’ve experienced in life, there’s nothing that I can say I dislike about Dallas entirely. The traffic can be horrible at times, but anytime I come back from California, I’m just a little bit more grateful for my city.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammysbakery_tx/
Image Credits
Marcus Mach
