CULLMAN, Ala. – April 1 was supposed to be the ribbon cutting and grand opening at For Goodness Cakes in Cullman. Jazz Johnson is the owner and baker of the new custom cake shop, and COVID-19 put her entrepreneurial skills to the test. With weddings, graduations and other special events put on hold, she wants everyone to know, she is still open for business.
The pandemic and Stay at Home Order put an immediate halt to many of the orders Johnson was already planning to do.
“I had started contracting out cupcakes for some of the schools for their graduations,” she said. “Instead of giving flowers, they would give cupcakes. I came across an order I had placed for the individual cupcake boxes. It just hit me that it’s several thousand dollars I lose right off the bat because I don’t have those graduations this year.”
Johnson said people are still purchasing birthday cakes but doing smaller cakes at the last minute rather than larger cakes planned for weekend parties. As a new business owner, Johnson had a creative way to bring customers to her cake shop.
“We came up with the cupcake kits,” she smiled.
Thursday, the cupcake kit was “spaghetti and meatballs.”
“I do a new one every day,” said Johnson. “I make a video tutorial on how to do it. For $25, you get all the materials you need to make the kit, and then the tutorial, we email it to you. You can either teach your kids how to do it or let them watch the video on how to do it. It’s been a huge hit.”
On Wednesday, Johnson offered Earth Day cupcake kits and during Easter she put together bunny cupcake kits.
“Easter was huge,” she said. “I couldn’t tell you how many we sold, but it was a lot. We bought every bag of marshmallows at both Wal-Marts, Warehouse Grocery and the Dollar General right here had. Every single bag.”
Johnson said she knew she had to think of something to offset the cost of opening her new business and the income she was losing.
She has the kits planned for the next several weeks including rainbow cupcakes, sprinkle cupcakes, mermaids and unicorns, apple pie and Taco Tuesday for Cinco de Mayo. She has cupcakes planned for the boys, too, such as galaxy and fishing cupcake kits.
“We haven’t been able to have our official grand opening. It’s just been, well, ‘Here we are,’” Johnson said. “People who are stopping by have just seen the sign or they have seen how hard we’ve been working to turn this place into this. They’ll stop by and buy something.”
Johnson has cookies and pre-made cakes available, as well as the kits she makes for each day except Monday. Normally she would be booked to make wedding cakes every weekend, but with weddings on hold she hopes the Stay at Home Order and rules on gatherings can soon be lifted. She is still taking special order cakes. Her plan to put her display case in the store has been put on hold as a safety precaution.
Prior to opening For Goodness Cakes, Johnson worked for six years at her father Ron Foust’s business, Stone Bridge Farms.
“Dad gave me a kitchen and allowed me to work there in a place outside of the house to make cakes,” she said. “I worked under him and it was a five-year goal for me to have a storefront. The Lord provided that.”
Although it’s a tough time for those in the wedding business, Johnson said the wedding business is a fun business.
In the meantime, she said, “I get the question a lot about whether we are still making cakes right now. If it wasn’t for my food permit, I wouldn’t be allowed to, but I am a category 3 which allows me to stay open. A lot of bakers, in-house bakers, baking from their house are covered under the cottage food law which is not essential so a lot of people weren’t able to stay open.
“I am so thankful for the people who have supported me. I am just blown away by how well it has taken off. Just the support that, I can speak for Cullman and not anywhere else, but us Cullmanites rallying together and taking care of each other. I see people sharing on Facebook all the time saying, ‘I want to support small business today. Drop your business name and I will do a drawing.’ I am just so grateful for all the Cullman people supporting. It’s just great.”
For Goodness Cakes is located at 1101 Swafford Road SW in Cullman. Find the store online at www.forgoodnesscakesjazz.com/ or www.facebook.com/forgoodnesscakesjazz/.
For more information, call 256-531-6440.
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