A Hobby Becomes Sweet Cheeks Bakery Almost Overnight

One social media post can change your life, especially when the thing you’re posting is a tray of custom cookies you’re convinced are “hideous.” We talk with Eva Armenta-Ketchell, the woman-owned force behind Sweet Cheeks Bakery in Farmington, New Mexico, about how royal icing experiments turned into nonstop demand, a loyal local following, and custom cookie orders shipping far beyond the Four Corners.

Eva walks us through what custom decorated cookies actually require: a true multi-day workflow, drying time to prevent color bleed, and the constant balance between soft cookies and icing that will finally set. We also get into the tools and tech that make modern cookie art possible, including edible printing for logos and detailed designs, plus the creative problem-solving needed when customers request themes you’ve never heard of.

We keep it honest on the business side too: why Instagram and Facebook marketing works and why posting can feel like creating more work, how she tracks orders without losing her mind, and why “staying small” can be the smartest growth strategy when quality matters. If you’re building a local business, a cottage bakery, or any creative side hustle, this conversation is packed with practical lessons and a refreshing dose of reality. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves small business stories, and leave a review with your dream cookie theme.

Be sure to follow or subscribe!  And, if you're a local business owner who'd like to be featured - or know someone whose story should be told - get in touch at Ken@StrategicHorizonsConsulting.com

This show is brought to you by Strategic Horizons Consulting (a division of Ken Collins Marketing).

Transcript

Meet The Cookie Artist

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Eva Armentaketchel is the owner of Sweet Cheeks Bakery, a locally owned custom cookie bakery in Farmington that's been bringing sweet treats to the community for five years. Operating out of Fat Boys Deli, Eva has built a loyal following with her custom cookies, earning a mass impressive 4.8 star rating from her customers. What makes Eva stand out? She's a woman-owned business owner who's carved out her own niche in the Four Corners food scene. Whether it's special orders, local events, or just a craving for something sweet, Eva is the go-to cookie lady in town. Eva, welcome to the show. Thank you. How are you? I'm doing good. Cool. So we'll just jump in.

SPEAKER_04 0:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

So what inspired you to start Sweet Cheeks Bakery?

SPEAKER_04 0:49

You know, back when my daughter was in high school, we messed around with royal icing and made a few cookies. Oh, they were horrible. They were horrible. We could never get it down. We could never get the icing to harden. You know? Took a break from it, and a few years later I thought, you know, I'm gonna make I think it was Mickey Mouse cookies for I don't even know. I don't even know what it was for. Yeah. And I posted them. I can, you know, shouldn't have done that. Everybody started asking. I want those. Yeah. And I'm like, they're so ugly. How could you even? They were hideous. Yeah. I had no training. Like I just kind of did my thing. And I started following, you know, other people on Instagram. And it just started coming. People started calling, texting, messaging.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

So you kind of had no choice but to do the business.

SPEAKER_04 1:43

No, exactly. Every hobby of mine turns into a job.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Put it that way. Just to just

The Accidental Start With Royal Icing

SPEAKER_00 1:50

to keep everybody from continually bugging you. Yeah. About and now it hasn't worked because they're still bugging you.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

There's they're still bugging me.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

It's fine. It's easier now. That's awesome. So what were the the early days like when you were first getting started with this? And deciding it was gonna be a business.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

Oh, I don't know that I ever decided. It just be it became a business. Um I can't say no. So people would message me and I'd be like, oh gosh, I can't do that. What is that? You know, like characters and things, like games. They'd say, I this is the theme, it's Roblox or something, and I'm going, what is that? So I'd have to go online and check it out, and I'm like, okay, I need some younger kids here to help me out. Like, what are the popular characters? Translators. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, it just all kind of fell together, and internet helps a lot.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

It's a lot, it's a good reference point.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:47

So yeah, I don't know. I just started getting orders and they just kept going.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 2:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Very cool. So wouldn't was there a moment like in that it seems like kind of a chaotic this is happening, but how is this happening? Kind of thing. Was there a moment where you felt like this might actually work, like as a business? No.

unknown 3:11

No.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

I'm still trying to feel that.

SPEAKER_04 3:12

Yeah, I'm still trying to feel well, because when I started, right about, I mean, I can say I was doing it for about three or four years and then COVID hit.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:19

And then, of course, snow parties, whatever, but I was still getting a ton of orders.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:24

Tons of orders. And I thought, where what are these people doing? But they were doing those drive-by-oh parade birthdays type of things. So that I mean, hey, it worked. And you know, I've I've been to a lot of parties. Put it that way, but I physically no, but my cookies have, you know, I've been everywhere. I get orders from all over the place.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 3:45

Yeah, all over.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

So even outside of the four corners? Wow. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:50

I think I've shipped as far as New York.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Wow. Yeah. Oh.

SPEAKER_04 3:55

And they're the jewelry cookies. Oh wow. So I star I made those like I don't even know why. I think it was just for fun.

unknown 4:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:04

And I put them with some jewel, like some turquoise and stuff. Kind of took a picture, put it on Facebook, and Barry Digman, you know, Mr. Farmington, he um posted, he reposted

COVID Orders And Unexpected Demand

SPEAKER_04 4:16

on some New Mexico site, and it just blew up.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 4:20

It was like, oh my gosh, I'm getting all these questions and I couldn't, I couldn't keep up.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Thanks, Barry.

SPEAKER_04 4:27

Thanks, Barry. And I did. I was like, thanks a lot, Barry.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

That's amazing. So if you could go back to like when all this was getting started and tell yourself one thing, what would that be?

SPEAKER_04 4:45

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Keep it a secret from Barry.

SPEAKER_04 4:48

Keep it a secret from Barry. Yeah, because all those Santa Fe people were like blowing me up.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:55

And they come to Indian Market. And I'm going, what is Indian Market? And you know, you're researching, going, oh, that sounds pretty cool, but I'm not native, so I don't know that I'd be welcome. But I've I've never done it still because it's right around that time of like Connie Mac, and I just too much.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:12

Yeah. So no, I don't think I would have told myself anything. I just I still would have done it.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Maybe questions. What are you doing?

SPEAKER_04 5:20

Well, well, I I do kind of question myself going, do I really need another hobby? Because you don't know me.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

You absolutely do. Yes. So what's a what's a typical day in the in the business? What do I do? Okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:39

So say you put an order in.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:41

Like right now, I'm doing graduation orders.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:44

Takes about a week, and people don't realize that it's a process. Right. So I'll do a bake day. I bake all of my orders for the week, and they have to sit for at least a day. Let her bleed. I've got to let them all just kind of neutralize, do their thing. And then the next day I do my first initial base coat. So say it's you know all white or you know different color. I already kind of know what I'm gonna do because they've given me this is a I don't know, graduation salmon college, these are their colors, right? This is the name, um, what they're graduating, you know, what their degree is, you know, of course, barbers or hairs, it's easy to do. Yeah, but everything else I just kind of have to figure it out. Um, and then the next day, I will do some decorating because you've got to let it harden, dry. I don't want any bleeding of colors.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:36

So then I do um that'll be day what three?

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 6:40

A little bit of artwork, and then the last day, I'll

A Weeklong Cookie Decorating Workflow

SPEAKER_04 6:43

really get into detail. Like, okay, this needs this still needs flowers, this needs a bow here, you know, and then by the next day, I'm ready to package and go. And then I have an Eddie, my boyfriend Eddie. Yeah, he's a printer. And if there's anything special, yeah, um I will put I'll put it into the program and print it on my cookie. And then I add stuff to it as well.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

So they have like edible printable stuff?

SPEAKER_04 7:12

Yeah. So I started with like um it's an edible, I started with an edible printer that looks like paper, but it's actually sugar sheets.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 7:23

And man was those, those were so hard to do.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 7:27

Because I didn't know how to do them. I just print them, cut it out, and then I'd like paste it with there's actually called like glue for cookies.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

And it's I would say it's like carous syrup, sure, water-ish, you know, and you paint it on. And my little paper, my wafers would like start to bubble and bleed. Oh yeah. It was a nightmare. But then I got Eddie. Eddie was a game changer. He prints a lot, like I'm telling you, that machine, he's my little soldier.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

So at this point, he's not, he's maybe elevated a bit from boyfriend.

SPEAKER_04 8:05

Yeah, yeah, he's staying. He's paying rent. He's paying rent. Actually is, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

What so you might have just gone through that because you kind of went through your whole process. I was gonna ask you what part of the business like takes the most time or energy.

SPEAKER_04 8:27

I guess baking. I think that one's my pet peeve. Yeah. Because I have to go through all my cutters, and if you see my my room that I have all my cutters in, I probably have three, four thousand cutters.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

An outsider would think this is unhealthy, right?

SPEAKER_04 8:45

Yeah, they're categorized, but yeah, I have like girls, and it has like a box full of girls with like in that could say shoes, shirt, bows. Um, but that could be universal for a dog bone. So I have to remember like I have it here, yeah. Or I have to flip a cookie because I don't have the cutter, and I'm like, well, that looks like a girl, but it's really like a Santa Claus or something. But you flip it and you can do whatever with it. So that's amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:15

I was buying cutters like crazy there when I first started. But I pretty much have all of them. And if not, I'll design, you know, design.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

I'm a hinged cookie cutter collector. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:31

Yeah. Yeah. And not to mention, like when I bake, sometimes I'm baking six, seven, eight dozen. So that's my like the artwork, I love. Love to do the artwork.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Yeah, it's a creative process, it's designed.

SPEAKER_04 9:47

Tell me to draw something. Yeah, yeah. Tell me to draw like a stick figure or this.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:56

Can do it.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:57

But tell me to decorate a cookie and I can.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

That's awesome. Yeah. Do you have systems that like keep everything running smooth?

SPEAKER_04 10:08

No.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Just your brain.

SPEAKER_04 10:10

Just my brain. I really just think about it in my head, going, okay, this theme, oh, that looks cool. I could throw that in there. Um, I can mix this up with this color and just kind of just blend it instead of just doing like straight capping gowns. Sure. You know, I want to do a diploma. I want to do their name with like some confetti, yeah, you know, things like that.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

Sometimes they're going to college from high school and they want their new college on the cookies, you know, and those are so fun.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:40

Yeah, those are fun.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

How cool.

SPEAKER_04 10:43

So, no, I don't have a system.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

And how do how do people typically find you? I mean, especially you you mentioned the one like getting posted on a on a thing. Yeah. Um but that's continuing. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_04 10:55

So how do how Instagram and Facebook? Okay. I'm really t I don't know how to get myself out there on TikTok because I have a personal page, but managing all these platforms,

Marketing On Instagram And Facebook

SPEAKER_04 11:07

I just don't know. Plus, TikTok's like kind of, I don't know, I'd say people that don't live here. I do, I watch it because it's funny.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:15

You know, I don't watch it for yeah, I do watch it for recipes. I guess I do.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:20

But TikTok and uh, I mean Facebook and Instagram.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:24

Mainly.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Cool.

SPEAKER_04 11:25

Yeah, don't ask, but I haven't posted in a long time because I really am bad at posting. And when I do, I'm starting to get ding ding ding. And I'm like, yep, I just created more work.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

So it's probably the same answer to a different question. What what marketing works the best for you? Be the same Facebook and Screen.

SPEAKER_04 11:46

Both.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:48

Yeah. Those are my like number one.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:51

Yeah. People really don't know, like, they'll some of them will text me, like repeat customers will text me or they'll find my numbers somehow, and I'm good with that.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:00

But I have to be able to go back to like my platforms and look at the messages. Otherwise, it'll be scary because I'll be like, I know someone ordered cookies and I didn't write it down because I still keep a written book. And I'm going, I did that two weeks ago. And the girl texts me, hey, so when can I pay for my cookies? I'm like, oh no, when did you order new? Sunday and it's like Friday. Yeah. I said I'll have it done for you.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 12:28

Yeah. Figured it out.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

That's why I like email. Um people don't appreciate email as much as I appreciate email. Yeah. One, it stacks up in your inbox, right? And it's separate from all the other things. You know, you're using your phone all day long for various things, but you're not using your email necessarily all day long for anything but what that is. True. And so um it stacks in there and it's in order, you know, so first come, first serve type of thing. Yeah, they're they're right there. And so it's all ordered properly and it's documented. And I create folders for everything. I've got folders for every client, for every vendor, for every everything. Yeah. And all those messages, when I'm done with them, go they get stuck in the folder. Oh my god. I don't just delete them, they get stuck in there.

SPEAKER_04 13:15

So I have to look at my email.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

So yeah, when somebody texts me, it's way outside of the norm, and that's gonna disappear, and I start in panic mode because do you delete all your messages? No, but I don't, it's not a great system, it's not like the email. You're not wired like that. Yeah, it's too chaotic, it's not structured. And so they'll text me, I'll see the text message. If I don't act on it immediately, which that's a rare occasion, everything happens in the future. So if I don't act on it immediately, then there's a good chance I'm gonna forget about it. And then I've got other people personal stuff texting me, and it's just gonna keep getting buried, and I'm not gonna go back to it.

SPEAKER_04 13:56

What I do with at night in the afternoon, I go through all my messages and the ones I haven't read, because I won't read them on purpose. If I'm busy, I won't read them. Right. And I'll be like, okay, you know what? I'll deal with you tonight. So I go through them and I give myself an hour between four and five. My husband gets off at five. So I give myself about an hour to go through email, kind of unwind a little bit in my head, and then that's when I go through my phone. And if I've missed anything, that's when I know. And then I'll write it in my book. Okay. Because I'll always ask them a question. So I always have an email that has been unread.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:32

So if I if you text me and say, hey, I need to order two dozen cookies for May 20th.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

Um, I'll look at and I'll say, Okay, what is your theme? Okay, um, what are the colors? Is there any names, any details you want to give me? Is there an invitation that you want me to reference the cookies to look like? And then they'll text me back, but I do not read it.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Right.

SPEAKER_04 14:52

I've already touched them, right? So then I get with them in the evening.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Right.

SPEAKER_04 14:56

And then that's when I'm like nitty-gritty, I write it down, you've committed, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

That's the only way I'm able to remember is by not responding to not opening it. So it stays as a notification.

SPEAKER_04 15:08

And I'll get back to them. Yeah. But it just, it's one of those things, leave me a voicemail. No, I don't know. Because I don't even check the voicemail, it's spam half the time.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:17

And now with the new phone thing that you've updated, you it you get a call from somebody that is not, I guess, in your phone. And then it goes to that recording of who you are, and then by then they've already hung up.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:31

So I don't know, work on getting that off.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Yeah. Um, what's so what surprised you the most about running this business?

SPEAKER_04 15:42

Um, oh god, there's so many themes. The themes that they do, like the crazy yeah. There's so many different things out there that I never even knew existed. Right. Like the games. Yeah, you know, and Roblox. Yeah. And I'm going, oh my gosh, what is this? At one point I did call my uh grandson. Like, hey, Fortnite. Yeah. Okay, what are the most popular tools that they use? Like, what am I supposed to, what do you like that the kids are all into? Yeah. So then I kind of look at that up and all right, easy. But knowing what it is is my biggest challenge.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:18

Sometimes I have to ask because, yeah, I don't know. Um, especially with like um, say like native tribes. I don't know any of the right, you know, you're getting married, is there the traditional things? Yeah, I don't know that, and I don't want to bring up someone else's culture, you know, yeah, show up basically offend a whole group of it. And I'm like, oh wait, that's a baby shower one.

unknown 16:41

Oops.

SPEAKER_04 16:42

Well, that's coming. You're getting married, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:46

So

Wild Themes And Humidity Problems

SPEAKER_00 16:47

put those aside, save them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, what's what's been the the hardest part of the business to figure out?

SPEAKER_04 16:57

Um honestly my icing was really hard. Yeah, you mentioned that in the beginning. Yeah, it it it plays games with you. Depending on the weather.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 17:11

And I don't know. Changes everything. Um, there's a couple months out of the summer I don't do them at all because it's too hot or too humid, or if it rains, my icing don't dry.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Yeah, it's hard.

SPEAKER_04 17:25

Yeah. So, and I don't know. I've or I've got so many different brands, and I've tested them all out, and it just seems like it doesn't matter which brand you use. It's humidity doesn't help. A lot of people use dihydrators, and I'm like, that's just weird to me. Yeah, I can't figure that one out. I'm going, you want to dry out your cookie?

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:44

It'd be like hard.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:46

So I like to let them naturally do. But I don't know, I really haven't had too many bumps.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

I wonder if there's some kind of like like um clear paint for cookies. You know what I mean? Clear paint. I'm sure there's some kind of sugar-based thing that that's all it would be, maybe sugar and water or something, or syrup or water where it's clear and you can just like lacquer them.

SPEAKER_04 18:09

Oh, so you mean like a glaze?

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Yeah, so like glaze it and then the glaze hardens way easier than the icing hardens. Well, it's the meringue.

SPEAKER_04 18:18

That's the that is the icing that hardens the icing, it's the meringue powder.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 18:23

So and it depends on what brand it is, really.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 18:26

And how they taste. Some of them taste nasty.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:29

But then again, it's a lot of it's moisture.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Right.

SPEAKER_04 18:32

So you have to really know that I had to learn, okay, you bake one day, you let them sit a day or two at least.

unknown 18:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:39

You don't want too much too much moisture in the cookie because then your icing doesn't harden.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Right. Yeah. Yeah, because I guess the cookie's gonna like pull moisture from the icing if it's dry enough to do that.

SPEAKER_04 18:50

It seems like it reactivates, like it all could like you've got the icing, and then the icing's got water, obviously, and it's gonna try to dry out somehow, but then it gets back into the cookie.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 19:00

But then you don't want it hard.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:02

I like my cookies soft, so yeah. You gotta just time it right.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

I've just started trying to make cookies because I'm doing bread and whatnot.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

Are you doing the sourdough? No. Are you in their sourdough error era? No.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

I uh my my wife is adamant about the quality of food. And so we don't do boxes or cans or we don't do any of that stuff. And everything has to be natural, as natural as possible, and real, no list of ingredients. And so I've come up with a cookie recipe that is doing natural. So I don't I don't even use because we don't do sugar at all, like no sugar. And so um but for cookies there needs to be an exception. So instead of like using brown sugar, I'm using coconut sugar. Right.

SPEAKER_03 19:51

Never even heard of coconut sugar, but oh my god, it's sugar, like it's straight up sugar, and it looks and so the ratio though, is it less obviously than the regular ratio? Um because it's sweeter?

SPEAKER_00 20:04

I'm using one for one on what would be called on for brown sugar to use coconut sugar, but then I also use honey a lot to sweeten things instead. So anyway, but I wanted soft baked cookies and uh and and so I've been playing with that on just cooking time and the mixture. Yeah, it's like so many things, it's like a chemistry experiment doing that. It really is.

SPEAKER_04 20:30

Yeah, yeah. It really that would be interesting because I don't really get anybody that says no sugar because your icing is pure sugar, it's kind of all sugar in the icing, yeah. I'd have to research that. That sounds interesting.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:43

I do gluten-free ones. Okay, yeah, I've I've done those ones, I can do those.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

And of course, I'm putting chocolate chips in there, but they're dark chocolate. Yeah, just trying to minimize the amount of like added sugar in and if it is, then like natural sugar, like honey or coconut sugar or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 21:05

But yeah, so teach me your ways. I was told I was my sugar too hot.

SPEAKER_04 21:11

Yeah, I'm like, yeah, I need to figure that out, Ben.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

If you if you could solve one challenge in the business tomorrow, what would that be?

SPEAKER_04 21:19

In my business?

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:21

Uh time. Time. I need a machine to like bake for me. Now that would be awesome. They do have dough rollers, but I don't I don't even do that. It's it's it's really it's time. It's like people will want you to crunch in their order that week, and I'm like, I'm sorry, I'm booked. Like, I will only take so many because I don't want to disappoint people or have like ugly cookies. You know, they're like, ooh, I didn't like those. What were what are they?

SPEAKER_00 21:55

So maybe you need to start Frankensteining um what would what did you call them before?

SPEAKER_04 22:00

Oh, Eddie?

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Eddie, you need to start Frankenstein. Yeah, so they so that you can just come in and say, hey, Eddie, I need a hundred cookies, um, a hundred uh Fortnite cookies. Make it happen.

SPEAKER_04 22:13

In my next life, I'm gonna be a genius and I'm going to invent a machine that all you have to do is put the ingredients in, kind of like a dough machine. Yeah. Like a like a bread machine. Yeah. You

Time Limits And Saying No

SPEAKER_04 22:24

put them in and you say, This is this, this is the design. I want 10 of those, I want 10 of those, and I want 10 of those. And they just come out, boom, boom, like a little easy bake oven. Weird science. Yeah. Just scammer. Yeah, I'm gonna be a nerd, I promise. I thought about them like ding. This is I don't know how to even think about how to do that, but I promise I'll do that later. Because how that would be you'd be a billionaire. Right?

SPEAKER_00 22:48

All these people. Where's your next hobby figuring that out? Right there.

SPEAKER_04 22:51

Huh. No, I'm serious because that is the world. And then you make a mess, and the whole table was full of powder and just yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:06

Got it all going on.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

So where where would you like um Sweet Cheese Bakery to be in the next few years?

SPEAKER_04 23:16

Oh gosh, I don't know. You know, I thought about some, you know, hey, a little shop would be great, and then I see cookie dealer opened, and I'm thinking, poor girl, she's there all the time. I just know how long it takes. Yeah. You know, and the dedication, and people are just, and people can be cruel. You know, they just could be ugly, and you're just like, I don't know that I want to do that. I I'm good with where I'm at because I can control my orders, I can control the quality, quantity, you know. Right. I don't want to be right having 15 dozen orders and you know, it not come out. I have to be right. So I think I'm okay for now. Okay. When I get older and I don't want to do all my hobbies, yeah, and I just do cookies, different story. Sure. Right now, I'm good.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

Plus, it's not, it's not your your full-time gig. No, right, you're doing this on the city.

SPEAKER_04 24:09

Well, like I said, it was a hobby. Yeah, it was started out as making Mickey Mouse cookies, and I love

Corporate Orders And Scaling Fears

SPEAKER_04 24:15

slug bugs. So I made a bunch of slug bugs and they were so ugly. But at the time they were so cute.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:21

And you know, it's cool. I can probably do a nice one now.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:26

I think it's a detail, the tea tail work, you know? You just want to get it right.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Yeah, yeah. Cool. Are there are there if any opportunities that you've seen that you haven't been able to pursue yet?

SPEAKER_04 24:41

Um, yeah. Uh corporate orders. I've just not been able to. I've done a few, you know, 200, 300, 400.

SPEAKER_02 24:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:50

Um. But most of them have been like logo cookies. I can spit those out within a week.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

Right.

SPEAKER_04 24:58

You know, just depending on what the logo is, because they all want them on the eddy. Sure. So I do have to ice them and you know, obviously bake them.

SPEAKER_00 25:07

Right. Jeez.

SPEAKER_04 25:08

I wish I could just have a baking day and freeze everything. And just pull them out of the freezer. Just go, I need this, this, this, this. But I'm can't do that.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

Yeah. So I wonder if that would be a valid thing for like regularly occurring types of orders.

SPEAKER_04 25:25

Other people do it.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:27

Other girls on Instagram do it.

unknown 25:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:29

They bake like.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

You know you're always gonna get the bow cookies. The baby cookies.

SPEAKER_04 25:34

The baby cookies are always the same, no matter what it is. Boy girl. It's always the the word baby, you know, the baby blocks or you know, coming soon, or the bottle. It's always the same. So, yeah, that it would work for that. But I just wonder what it if they're gonna taste frozen. Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

That's what I'm wondering. Does that change the structure of the taste or whatever?

SPEAKER_04 25:55

I think it would.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:56

And I've seen that people actually decorate theirs and freeze them, and I'm going, oh gosh, whoof, that's a nightmare when you take them out. Yeah. And they start to unthaw, and you have to have the timing right to take them out of the bag and they don't sweat.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:11

Oh, that'd be a nightmare. That'd be like delivering a cake and tripping as you're walking in. I know. You know, if anything's done and you're just almost there, and then you just there goes your cake. Yeah. I don't do cakes. Yeah. I don't do not do cakes. They would not make it. Yeah, I don't know. Those people have talent.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:34

They have they have talent.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

Yeah, I've known some cake deck or others, and it's uh it's the same. I mean, it's it's the slog of like the whole process.

SPEAKER_04 26:46

You gotta know your recipe and it has to work out every time. And then they have different flavors to top it off, like strawberry and lemon, and this and fancy words, and I'm going, I don't even know what that is. You know, are you gonna get that type of people that are gonna ask for this high-class wedding cake, and I'm gonna be like, okay, ghoul. What is this? I need the recipe tomorrow. Yeah. Nah, I'll stick with cookies.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

Oh, I I I occasionally come across those um I don't know what their name is, chocolate like chocolate artists where they're doing these of like carvings, the whole thing is made of chocolate.

SPEAKER_04 27:24

They must be in a cold environment.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Gotta be.

SPEAKER_04 27:27

Have to be.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:29

No way. No.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

It's fascinating to me. I don't want to do it, but it's fascinating to watch.

SPEAKER_04 27:34

Pretty. It's like those uh Chinese furniture that they carve out, you know?

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Yeah, yeah. So if you if you had more time and resources, what would you focus on improving first?

SPEAKER_03 27:48

What say that again?

SPEAKER_00 27:49

If you had more time and resources, what would you focus on improving first?

SPEAKER_04 27:56

You know, I would go to a class. I've never done a class. Ever. I've just I have a few people that I follow. So I think I would go, I I would go to a professional class.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 28:08

And then I would go to a place called, it's called CookieCon, they do every year. And every, like, basically in the South, like, I'm gonna say I say south. My husband says east, but like uh Alabama, Louisiana, all that, they have like big classes and cool, cool things, you know? Awesome. We don't have that here. So I would go to something like that to improve my skills. I know I've been asked to do, can you do a class? Can you and I like to do maybe even focus on kids' classes. Okay. Because they think different.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:43

You know, and I want to see what they're doing. Like, what are you thinking? You know, what's your favorite thing to do? Because I don't know anything be 21 and below cannot tell

Cookie Classes, CookieCon, And Kids

SPEAKER_04 28:53

me. I don't know their lingo, nothing. Right. So if I could do like kid classes, I I would like that.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

That'd be amazing.

SPEAKER_04 29:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

I, you know, uh there's a a type of people that like to complain about young people. Um but what I have found is that yeah, there's some aggravation with with young people, there is, but but um their minds are like different, it's just brilliant. Like they can come up with ideas that I would never come up with on their own because I didn't grow up in the world they are growing up in. I didn't have the same experiences, like all of my training, my brain training came from somewhere that doesn't exist in New York, and they're developing that now. And so sometimes You're like, where do you get this from? I know I'm hearing these ideas, I'm like, that is actually brilliant.

SPEAKER_04 29:49

Yeah, my grandson comes over, he's 10, and he said on the counter, he's like, Can I have some fish sticks? Sure, if you want ranch, what do you want? Ketchup and mail. Yeah, and I said, mixed, yeah. Okay. So I'm like, where'd you get that? Like, you don't kids don't eat that stuff, you know? They would be like, no, I just want plain, you know, ranch or something. No, ketchup and mail.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

I'm like, okay, whatever. Tried it, it was pretty good. So I think you should go to a class.

SPEAKER_04 30:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

Because I think what you'll the biggest thing you'll learn out of there is that you already have most of the knowledge of not all of it that you need. So that might be the biggest thing you learn, but you'll also see how those classes play out.

SPEAKER_04 30:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

And then you can bring it here.

SPEAKER_04 30:39

Yeah, that would be really cool. And start doing that. No, it would be it would be fun.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:45

I like to do that, and I love to do different, you know, different things. Like I'll play around with I airbrush, so I'll do I'll do some airbrushing on the cookies, you know. Eddie's a game changer, so there's a lot of different technology things that I'd like to know. Like, what are you doing? What's the inside, you know, script of how you did this? Yeah. You know, because I follow a girl from Arizona and she does some really nice stuff. Yeah. And I'm going, how did she airbrush that whole cookie to look like that? Right. So I tried it. I did a Willie Nielsen. He kind of looked like Willie Nelson, but I don't know how she does it. Yeah. You know, it's like I'm gonna learn that, you know, technique.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:24

It's actually really cool.

SPEAKER_00 31:25

Very cool.

SPEAKER_04 31:27

So I would get educated. So you I'm going backwards now.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

Do it. You could be the Bob Ross of cookies. Right? Your own YouTube channel. Yeah, I'm gonna go buy that wig. Making happy little mistakes.

SPEAKER_04 31:43

Yes. Yeah, you're you got me going now. I'm fucking. My husband's gonna be like, that was the worst mistake to have that podcast with him. You're you're grounded. No more. You're not doing that at all. Oh, I'm growing out of my room. That's the problem. And he's already told me, like, this is enough.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:00

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 32:03

You know, they make sheds, like really big sheds.

SPEAKER_04 32:07

I just we we just built a pretty decent uh shop. It's like 3,000 square feet.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:16

And I have a craft room in there, and I have we have a commercial kitchen about probably about half the size of this um dining.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:26

And um yeah, we've because my husband does, he's uh licensed to do jerky. So he's got his permit and everything from the APA, yeah. So he's only he's one out of two in in town. There's one more, I think he's by KFC. So there's two of them, and so he has to have his you know, jerky room, whatever. Yeah. When he's not making jerky, I get to use it sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:51

So, but yeah, I mean, hmm, could do a class in there too.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

You guys just get bored a lot? What is the deal?

SPEAKER_04 33:00

I don't even watch TV. Like we, okay, when I was I was brought up, we didn't have a TV.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:07

Okay, so it was radio or you play outside.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:10

You know, you go to your friend's house, you do Barbie's, whatever you do. Um, you don't come home.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

Right.

SPEAKER_04 33:15

And then if you do come home, you're cooking or you're cleaning or you're doing that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:19

My mom's Mexican. You do not sit down.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

Right. You know? That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_04 33:23

And it's like, mm-mm. Yeah. You know, you can go to your grandparents' house, and my grandma had all her couches covered in plastic. Yeah. And you don't sit on her couches. It's like, what the what are they for? You know? So yeah, no, I've always been super busy body.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:38

Kids is still, are you kidding?

SPEAKER_00 33:40

Yeah, there's always something to do. Why are you sitting there?

SPEAKER_03 33:43

Yeah, there's plenty of time to sleep when you're dead, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:49

Oh man. So what do you think? Um, what do you think makes doing business in this region unique?

SPEAKER_04 33:59

I think it's the we have such a different culture. Yeah. Like everybody everybody's so different.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:06

So I get to learn so much about what they do. Like, I get a request for Baby's First Laughed. So I did a baby's first laugh, and it was also her first tooth. It was also her first crawl, and I think it was her first birthday at the same time. Wow. And I'm going, oh wow, you guys celebrate all that? Wow. Well, I'm lucky to celebrate my birthday. Right. You know? Yeah. When were you born again? The diversity that we have. We have so many different sports, and you know, kids are into certain things. So yeah, it's just a combination of people.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Yeah, and just cultures. I mean, so one, I grew up here. And so I understand this area, but I didn't know that it was any different from anywhere else. But then I left. Really? Yes.

SPEAKER_04 34:56

How do you not know it's

A Busy Life And A Shared Kitchen

SPEAKER_04 34:58

different from anywhere else? Because I didn't really go.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

You come here and it's when I was a kid, right? So we would go to Colorado, and I love that. We did one trip to California, went from like San Diego all the way up into Oregon. Oh fun. That was amazing. But um, and then Dallas and and um in Oklahoma. And so outside of that, it was like nothing. It and but you know, that was from here growing up here, and then um then I left and went to the military, and so then I'm exposed to people all over the entire country.

SPEAKER_03 35:32

You're like, wait, you speak what?

SPEAKER_00 35:33

Yeah, all lumped into one one team, one, you know, whatever, and then start traveling around and seeing other places, another states, another cities, another cultures, another everything. And um, and then I got out, and then I was doing the same thing. I was a consultant, I was traveling all over the country, and so been in every state except for Alaska and Hawaii, and so every one of them, and then several countries, several other countries.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

That's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 35:59

And this place right here is not like any other place anywhere. It's so weird. And even though I grew up here, it's sometimes hard for me to put my finger on, but part of those things are geographic separation, um, where you know, if you zoom out on like Google Maps or something and look at the interstates, you know, runs from from like Phoenix over to Albuquerque and then up to Denver and then over to like Vegas again, and then back to it. So we're like in the middle of this.

SPEAKER_04 36:35

We're so close, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:36

Yeah. So you can't get any closer to an interstate without getting further away from another one where we are. And so, and then for the longest time, not any really air service. We finally got that back, but no train, no nothing. So geographical separation, and then massive historically, that's changed now, but massive um revenue from oil and gas industry, and so that created a culture of its own in the middle of you know, a massive that doesn't happen anywhere else in the country. The Navajo Reservation doesn't exist like that anywhere. There are reservations all over, but you never know. You don't know they exist and you don't see the people that come from there, right?

SPEAKER_04 37:23

And back then you didn't have phones, so you didn't get to see all of that online.

SPEAKER_00 37:27

Yeah. And so here we're just right, we're sharing the same land, you know, and so um so that has a very definite cultural impact that you know, besides Gallup, they get the same thing, but most other places you get outside of this area and you don't have that cultural impact. So that's unique here. And then and then I don't know, just geography, yeah, and you've got desert and rivers and mountains, a lot of things, forests, yeah, and just so much to do. So many weird things, yeah. Yeah, and so this place is all of that plays into the same mixing pot of stuff, and it just makes it really unique. And somebody that doesn't come from here or has not lived here for at least five to ten years, does not understand. I have no idea, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:18

They come here and they're going, God, it grew so much. Yeah, it has, it's grown a lot.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

A ton. I left in 89, and when I came back, it was like I didn't even recognize, I can't find my way around.

SPEAKER_04 38:30

Wow, that was like when did you come back?

SPEAKER_00 38:33

Uh 2003.

SPEAKER_04 38:35

Well, well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:37

You did go through a little bit of a growth spurt here between now and then. 89 and 90.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

And then drove up from Albuquerque, yeah, of course, coming to Bloomfield, and then I'm taking the Bloomfield Highway, and I did not recognize where I was. I saw Butler. I was like, Arnold Butler, Arnold Butler. But I didn't recognize it. Even that route, and that's not where all the growth happened. So even that.

SPEAKER_04 39:01

Yeah. And then you came this way and you're going, oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

There's a mall here. Well, I was in grade school when the mall showed up.

SPEAKER_03 39:10

That's true.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

I think we actually got I think we got the day off.

SPEAKER_03 39:13

Yeah. I remember.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

Because it was a big deal. And it was all the way out here in the middle of nowhere.

SPEAKER_04 39:19

It was far.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

Yeah. It was way out there. It was like, oh, I don't want to drive all the way to the mall.

SPEAKER_04 39:25

But that's how I feel now with Holly Hobby Lobby. I'm going, I don't want to drive all the way to Hobby Lobby. It used to be so convenient for me, but now it's like, really? I don't want to cross the street.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Because now it's way more convenient for me.

SPEAKER_04 39:40

So it's awful for me. And then I can't find anything, so I'm like, okay. I have my usual route that I take in Hobby Lobby, and then I get to all the houseware stuff, and I'm going, mm-mm. Don't I want to be here for hobbies.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:55

Not for Tupperware. Sure. You know? Sure. Give me some more beads. Give me some more stuff that, you know, bring some stuff in.

SPEAKER_01 40:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:03

I don't want to Amazon everything. I know that I do. Exactly. Amazon's like, those guys get a workout at my house. Yeah. Between me and my husband. Oh. I mean, he's even gotta order his waters.

SPEAKER_01 40:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:17

Because they don't have them here. They sold them like once or something, and then he got hooked. And of course, everything he likes, they take away. Of course.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

You know, that's how it works.

SPEAKER_04 40:25

Because he's an ink hat buyer. He's one of those that, like, ooh, that looks good. Oh, that's a new package. I wonder if they changed the flavor.

SPEAKER_01 40:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

So he buys a bunch and then they go into a drink fridge that we never even opened. And then that goes into like UPS fridge. The stuff he's like, nah, I didn't like that. Raspberry Dr. Pepper. Who likes that? And you buy like three cases just in case. Just in case. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:52

Maybe try it first.

SPEAKER_04 40:54

Yeah. Yeah. No. And then he'll he'll say, Well, I gotta, I gotta get a few because they're gonna discontinue it. Everything I do, they discontinue.

SPEAKER_03 41:06

Yeah, we're weird people. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 41:10

So, so being that this is such a weird and different place, um, what what advice would you give someone starting a business here?

SPEAKER_04 41:21

What kind of a business? Yeah, that makes a difference. Yeah, it does. It seems like food sorta kind of works out here, but then it's like you got I don't know. In this area, I always thought food was the game. But with prices right now and everything going so high.

SPEAKER_02 41:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:44

What would you do?

SPEAKER_00 41:46

I think I would what kind of a business would go good here? What what advice or like what advice just somebody starting they want if they came to you and like hey, I'm gonna start a business. What would it advise you? Stay small.

SPEAKER_04 42:00

Yeah. I think that I'm a firm believer of what goes up comes goes, you know, comes down. Sure. And I if you I I feel like if you stay small, you can control it a little bit. Otherwise, you just get too webbed out, and it just you're you can't, you have no control over anything. Right. Your people, your product, your inventory, you know, it's just hard to manage.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:24

Hard to manage.

SPEAKER_00 42:25

Yeah,

Four Corners Culture And Staying Small

SPEAKER_00 42:26

there is a benefit to um smaller businesses can uh change, pivot and a dime, like much easier than a large business.

SPEAKER_04 42:35

Yeah, and you have less overhead. Yeah. You know, if you can stand up, I mean we have the delis little, like 900 feet, and I'd say 600 of it is actually lobby, and the rest is like little kitchen, and the bathrooms are bigger than the kitchen. Yeah, they're just they're big. They had to make make us do the ADA, so those two combined are pretty big.

SPEAKER_02 42:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:58

So I would say keep it small. Yeah, you know, offer some custom stuff like the delivery or you know, little caterings, but more custom to them, and I think they'll like that.

SPEAKER_01 43:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:09

Versus mass quantity and you know, no, stay small, I think.

SPEAKER_01 43:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:16

Then you can open another little small business and another one and another one. Just saying. You can manage all the little ones yourself. You you can never put enough eggs in all these baskets, you know? Yeah. You have to. Yeah, spread them around. Yeah, because if you're one directional, this is the only thing you do. Sure. What if that goes south?

SPEAKER_00 43:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:41

Then you're in trouble.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

Yeah. It's the fire extra.

SPEAKER_04 43:44

Because people like me do not have an education. Yeah. No, I graduated high school and I ditched the first year of college. Yeah. And it was fabulous. Look at me now.

SPEAKER_00 43:56

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 43:58

Yeah, I was not a student. Yeah. Just didn't like C's were my favorite letter. And if I did it anything better than C, I was so excited. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:09

I I I did the same thing. I was not a fan of school. I love education. I love learning things. Me too. The school structure.

SPEAKER_04 44:17

I can't learn that way.

SPEAKER_00 44:18

Yeah, yeah, I don't like it. And so um I pick up on things really fast. And so I refused to do schoolwork. Like none. I got zeros on every homework assignment. All my schoolwork, I got zeros on, and then I would just ace the tests. And I would average. Well, then you were one of those. Yeah, I was.

SPEAKER_03 44:40

Jeez. I would just average the case. You're the one I sat next to.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

Like a C or a D, and I'm like, awesome? That's passing. You move perfect. I can get out of here. I don't have to stay in this class anymore. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 44:50

So I always sat by the nerds, so I had a we I always sat by my my special nerds, and I would just be like, oh my goodness, what answers do we have today? Because I don't retain like my ADD so bad that I just I have projects everywhere. That's just how I run. I work that way really well.

SPEAKER_00 45:12

I don't think they listen to my show, so I'm gonna tell them my dad a little bit. Okay. Um his advice to me when I was young in school, he was like, Because you want to know how to get how to get you get through school, sit behind a girl. They're real smart. And not me. He said that's how I got through high school. I said that's how I got through school. I said, I'm a job behind you, mama.

SPEAKER_04 45:33

And then I married her. Oh gosh. Well, he knew how to play that game, to me. Smart one.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

So you were picking the nerds, he was picking the girls.

SPEAKER_04 45:42

Yeah, I was picking I eyeballed them. I knew exactly which ones to sit by.

unknown 45:46

Right.

SPEAKER_04 45:47

Yep. And I don't know. I got away with it. I'm here. I'm I passed. I think my diploma somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:54

Do they even ask for that anymore? Like when you don't, I don't know that anybody does.

SPEAKER_00 45:58

Maybe college? Maybe records. Hey, we didn't go to college. Maybe college asks for it. I don't know. Because again, I didn't do that. Didn't like the school.

SPEAKER_04 46:07

Because like these days you could totally hate AI because you print me out a diploma.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:13

I'm a nuclear scientist. Can you imagine?

SPEAKER_00 46:18

I was just watching a comedian who was talking about booking flights, and you can pick like your prefix. Is it doctor? Is it whatever? He's like, No, I'm not ever putting doctor because my luck. I'll be on that flight. Oh yeah, someone's dying to look at you. Yeah, he's like, so why put professor? Oh. He's like, no one ever needs a engineer.

SPEAKER_04 46:40

Just an engineer. They'll never talk to you.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

We're not even gonna understand that guy.

SPEAKER_04 46:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:49

Yeah. Is there a local business that you admire?

SPEAKER_04 46:54

As in? Any at all.

SPEAKER_00 46:56

Hmm. Like just some local business that you're like, you know what? They're like really doing that right.

SPEAKER_04 47:03

Let me think about it. There's so many. There's so many. Um Bat Boy's Deli. Just kidding. I'm thinking. Let me think. Um. Well, we really like TJ's diner.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:24

And if you ever look at their lobby, it's always full. Like their dining area is always full, and they're always so nice. Um, we go there every Saturday, Sunday, when when we can't, when we get up early, you know.

SPEAKER_00 47:40

Um and it seems like diners, in a way, are kind of a dying breed. Right. And it may or may not be tied to box stores like franchises. Right. Like taking market share from them or whatever. And

Local Businesses Worth Celebrating

SPEAKER_00 47:55

they're just killing it downtown. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:57

And they're downtown. Yeah. Like literally, you have to go down there. You know? And we do. And and they don't even take like reservations or call in on like, hey, we're gonna have a party. Nope, you gotta wait. But we're here all the time. Wink wink. And no, no, I'm telling you, there's someone in front of you. Okay. You know, but they they've always got busy, busy, their food's good.

SPEAKER_00 48:21

Every time I go by there, I haven't been in in a while, but um, every time I go by there, it's it seems like it's packed.

SPEAKER_04 48:27

Yeah, it's packed.

SPEAKER_00 48:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:29

Yeah. They're doing they're doing a good job.

SPEAKER_00 48:32

I love that. Good for them. I'm a champion for local business, you know. So so I love to see that. That it hasn't become a franchise.

SPEAKER_04 48:42

And we don't eat out often because we cook. Absolutely. So we don't. We don't like. I can tell you the last time I've been to Red Lobster, maybe, and that's probably been pre-COVID.

SPEAKER_01 48:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:57

Like we've not, we don't really, I've not been to the Taco Libre yet. Um, we just don't. Yeah. We don't eat out.

SPEAKER_00 49:04

I don't even know half the restaurants are in town. I really don't. I counted, um maybe back in 2012, at that time, there were over a hundred. Over a hundred restaurants in farming. Wow. Just in farming. And it's gotta be well over that by now. It's just a massive thing for restaurants of whatever type. So most of them I just don't even know that they exist. We just cook. And we do, we we like to cook. I was telling you about my wife. She she is really particular about the food.

SPEAKER_04 49:39

And Shane watches way too many TikToks on how this like fast food's made, and he's like, don't ever. I'm like, okay. So we don't. It's it's hard, but yeah, I don't know. You just learn to do it yourself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:55

Exactly. I've actually learned to cook because of because of my wife, because she doesn't really go out. And and so um, I'm like, all right, well, I gotta figure this out. And and then she lets me just completely mess things up. Yeah. So we've had to choke down a few meals.

SPEAKER_04 50:13

Uh-huh. And you're like, this wasn't really the best.

SPEAKER_00 50:16

And that helped me learn, and so now I do all the cooking.

SPEAKER_04 50:19

And so it turns, right? Shane actually he would cook steaks and potatoes because that was his staple. Um, but he, when I first we first got married and all that fun stuff, um, cleaning out the cabinets, you know, his bachelor, bachelor pad. Kind of like, oh my gosh, we're never gonna survive here. I mean, he has sardines from his grandma still. Right. And I go, these are from the 80s, dude. When are you gonna talk about my oh they were my grandma? They said, Shane, are you gonna eat them?

SPEAKER_03 50:51

No.

SPEAKER_04 50:52

So my daughter and I went through and threw away all this old stuff, right? He had not anything but salt and pepper. Yeah. Where's your spices? Yeah, he didn't have that, and he should see it now. He has spices, he's got a big um toolbox, and it has nothing but spices in it. Yeah, all in there. And if he doesn't use his spice, because he'll tell me, use this, and I'm like, no, you can use it when you cook. I'm cooking. I have my own way of cooking, but he he doesn't cook Mexican food either, so he doesn't know how to season that.

SPEAKER_00 51:26

Many men, a lot of men, when left to their own devices, just don't realize they're doing it, but they kind of live in survival mode because I mean, I have salt and pepper, what else do I need?

SPEAKER_04 51:38

Well, he would go and order.

SPEAKER_00 51:40

Have a towel over the window, a sheet? What's serving a purpose, it's fine.

SPEAKER_04 51:45

Yeah. He would go and pick up like two burgers from like Blue Moon. And one for tonight, one for tomorrow lunch. And I'm going, gross, how'd you warm that thing up?

SPEAKER_00 51:55

And the fries? Ooh. Just stick in the window of the car. No. Yeah. Men are kind of in survival mode all the time, too. I mean, he's the hot dog person.

SPEAKER_04 52:08

He can eat a hot dog every day. The guy, you could just be like, okay, I made your meal. Here's hot dogs, and he'd be like, thanks.

SPEAKER_00 52:14

Legitimately ate Taco Bell every single day, seven days a week for decades. I did.

SPEAKER_04 52:21

Well, we grew up with that.

SPEAKER_00 52:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:23

That was our what 59 cent, 49 cent burrito or something? 29.

SPEAKER_00 52:28

Yeah, I think it at some point it was for like 49 cents. They were cheap. Super cheap.

SPEAKER_04 52:33

If I go by and get like two bean burritos, we used to ditch school to see if the barley tend to have like, okay, we're gonna miss fifth hours so we can go and have Taco Bell. Who wants Taco Bell? We're bringing back Taco Bell.

SPEAKER_00 52:48

And now I'm cooking stew. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:50

Now you're cooking adult food. Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_00 52:53

And it it and I I don't just like throw a stew together, like all these layers. And I've been learning like French cooking techniques and all these things. And so one of them, I just tried this. One of them was I was, you know, I did the meat in the pot and then I took it out. And then and then I put the aromatics in there, the the the leeks and the the garlic and all that kind of stuff, and was cooking it. I need to deglaze the pan. And so I wanted it to be whiskey, but also I don't

Home Cooking Lessons And Kitchen Chaos

SPEAKER_00 53:20

want the whiskey, I don't want the alcohol soaking into the vegetables so you can burn it off. And it just leaves the flavor behind. Oh, interesting. And so I my wife was very nervous, and I said, just relax, it's gonna be fine. And I threw that cup of whiskey in there and immediately lit it, and it was like a bonfire coming out of the pot. So you're like chef over there.

SPEAKER_03 53:49

What kind of whiskey was this? It was Everclear?

unknown 53:53

Gosh!

SPEAKER_00 53:54

So yeah, I almost burned the house down. I had to take it off the stove and hold it down by the floor so it wouldn't cut hit the sleep until it burned off. But it oh now you need an outdoor container. So she told me, okay, that stew was amazing, but you have to do that step outside. You can't do it.

SPEAKER_04 54:15

So then at what point do you put the meat back in?

SPEAKER_00 54:18

Um it was I think after almost after that.

SPEAKER_04 54:23

So literally you kind of like let it rest per se. Sort of because that's what my husband says. Oh, I gotta take the meat off the grill, it's gotta rest. I'm like, for who?

SPEAKER_00 54:32

Well, I'm part of it, stoomy can sometimes be tough. And so I also learned it was I think it's called dry brining. So just completely coat them in salt, all the little pieces of meat and then lay them out on the tray for at least 24 hours. Just put it in the fridge, not cover it and you take the salt off and then cook. No, it soaks that salt in. Really? It's not too salty. It's called a dry brine, so it just soaks everything in there. I think Shane's done that before, and I'd be like, hmm.

SPEAKER_04 55:05

Have you ever cooked on one of those salt stones?

SPEAKER_00 55:08

No.

SPEAKER_04 55:09

You heat it up, super, super hot. We did it once, and he actually put seasoning on, I don't remember what he cooked, steak. And oh, it was so salty. We were both like, but I think the point is, is you don't salt your food. I think you just cook it on there. Yeah, okay. Yeah. Well, it's pretty cool. I mean, I think it'd be like a date night thing. You like you put the little hot thing in a hot plate, kind of and then you just kind of yeah, yeah. I think so.

SPEAKER_00 55:38

Yeah, from Taco Bell and Wendy's, those are my two news. Yeah. Well, you're fancier than we are. I mean I just like trying things out, so it's not always a success. So in fact, if I would have burned the house down, that would have been a massive. Oh, yeah, you would have been done. No more cooking for kids.

SPEAKER_04 56:00

Yeah, no more cooking going up. Yeah. Interesting. Well, you gave me a lot to think about. This has been fun. Yeah. Yeah, here goes my brain.

SPEAKER_00 56:11

Right?

SPEAKER_04 56:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:13

So you have at least five more business ideas in there, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_04 56:17

Yeah. I dissect my brain does just it dissects everything. So I'm going, hmm, okay, well, that's time-wise, I'm gonna go like maybe five, six years from now.

SPEAKER_00 56:27

That'll be a good so I think we need to get Fat Boys Delhi on here.

SPEAKER_04 56:31

Okay. Let's see who we're gonna get to do that one. Well that that would be a different, a totally oh tell you what, that was a whim. Uh it was one of those whims that you just never think you're gonna even do.

SPEAKER_00 56:52

Yeah. I love that you um like with this cookie business, with I'm sure several other things that you just like I'm just doing. It's kind of access. And then all of a sudden you're in a business and you're like, I guess yeah, this is what I'm doing now. And you didn't overthink it, you didn't sit around for five years planning it and

Late Night Ideas, Candles, And Closing

SPEAKER_00 57:10

you know, doing all that kind of stuff. It just we don't have time to do that.

SPEAKER_04 57:13

Like, no, you just do it. Yeah, you know, I like to see what things I'm the type of person that I have to know how I was the why person in school. Why is that? Well, right, how come? Yeah, you know, because in my head it didn't make any sense. Yeah, you know, don't tell me that birds can fly. Well, how do they fly? I want to try to fly, right? You know, that kind of person. And when it comes to this kind of stuff, it just happens. Yeah, it just happens. Yeah, ask my husband, and he's like, How do we get into this? I don't know. It just happens. I have no idea. No idea. You just roll with the punches.

SPEAKER_00 57:48

We're three years in before I realized it was even happening.

SPEAKER_04 57:51

Yep, and I wonder why I don't sleep. It's like 3 a.m. I'm sitting here waiting. I've had to stop though, because I can get myself into some really big trouble at that time of the morning. Yeah. Yeah. Amazon comes the next day and is like Wait, what did I do? Didn't order more things to do.

unknown 58:13

Right.

SPEAKER_04 58:13

Yeah, did not order anything to do. I just um my husband just looks at the packages and I'll tell him, because I I make candles too, right? And I had all these scents that I had just ordered, and I'm trying to master a green chili candle. Oh yeah. I've tried to formulate it. I just I'm not that smart. So I ordered all these scents the other day, and just different. You know, I wanted something different. And I'm smelling them, and he's just looking at me like you ain't gonna touch that box to September. I'm reading, I'm doing telepath, what is it? Telepathic things here. And I'm I'm going, I look at him and he's just looking at me. I said, smell, smells good. Mm-hmm. I ordered your favorite cherry almonds. And I'm like, fine. I put it all in the box and I took it to my room, right? And I kept thinking, he really doesn't think I'm gonna make candles now. I know he doesn't. I'm gonna show him. Because he literally was just like, yep, another thing gonna be piled up over there till fall, until she gets her downtime. Yeah, yeah. He he's a trooper. He gets things in that I'm like, why? Yeah, you know, or he's the type of person that'll go to Sam's on a Saturday.

SPEAKER_02 59:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:32

Because, you know, I need salt.

unknown 59:35

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 59:36

Dude, really order it, have it delivered. Well, you want to go party with all these people in the parking lot trying to fight him to get in the parking lot, and then you take the long route and he has to park far. Yeah. I mean, we literally walk from Sam's to Walmart. Yeah. You know, because oh, we can't park. Right. It's it's it's fun.

SPEAKER_00 59:59

You've been a blast. Welcome to come on the show.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:01

So thank you for coming. Oh, thanks for inviting me. Yeah. Now I'm off to go list a house.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:06

Very cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:07

Another hat. Another hat.