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Susan Sarich talks SusieCakes, childhood and sticking to her roots

Upon opening SusieCakes in 2006, founder Susan Sarich has brought buttercream-focused desserts to the table. Over the past 13 years, her creations have become favorites among locals and A-list celebrities alike.
Susan Sarich

Upon opening SusieCakes in 2006, founder Susan Sarich has brought buttercream-focused desserts to the table. Over the past 13 years, her creations have become favorites among locals and A-list celebrities alike. With five SusieCakes locations in Texas, Sarich is quickly growing her fan base throughout the United States.

Sarich grew up in Chicago, IL, where she spent much of her time with both her maternal and paternal grandmothers, who both lived across the alley from each other.

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“When I would come home from school, there was always an apple pie, or a pound cake or chocolate chip cookies,” Sarich recalls. “It was our time for us to sit together, eat and talk about our days.”

Sarich would later inherit all of her grandmothers’ recipe cards, all of which utilized ingredients frequently used in baking during the 1950s. She admired how straightforward the recipes were. Baking with her grandmothers was one of her favorite childhood pastimes and upon moving to Los Angeles, she wanted to bring to the neighborhood something she felt was missing, in terms of confections, as well as workplace culture.

“I had been in the hospitality industry, and I had noticed that a lot of women had been leaving the industry around the age of 30, because it’s hard to start a family when you’re working 24/7,” Sarich says. I wanted to form a business model where people can work in the hospitality industry without having to work painful hours; where they can see their families on Thanksgiving and Christmas.”

Sarich later opened the first SusieCakes storefront in Los Angeles.

“I found that the west coast was lacking in good desserts, and thought that the neighborhood bakery concept was something that people would respond well to,” Sarich recalls.

Since opening, SusieCakes has become famous for its Celebration Cake, a six-layer vanilla cake with confetti sprinkles baked in, and buttercream icing. For the Celebration Cake, the buttercream icing is dyed blue, replicating the color of one of Sarich’s grandmother’s Pyrex mixing bowls.

Image courtesy of SusieCakes

At SusieCakes, cakes, cookies and other confections are made on sight and from scratch daily.

“When people taste our products, it’s clear that we’re using real ingredients,” Sarich says. “If it wasn’t in the kitchen in the 1950s, we don’t use it.”

In the years since opening, SusieCakes has become a favorite among several high-profile public figures.

“I get a kick out of it more than anything,” Sarich says, “I think that my grandmothers would be thrilled about it, whether it be the Kardashians or Reese Witherspoon, they’d be so happy knowing people were enjoying their recipes.”

While Sarich has accomplished many a notable feat in the 13 years since opening SusieCakes, she still believes in maintaining a workplace culture in which employees continuously enjoy what they do. She believes that happy employees will produce the best results.

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“I’m really proud that we have a lot of long-term team members staying with us,” Sarich says. “It allows us to have a culture based on service and connecting through celebration. For me, the highest compliment is when our customers feel that our team cared about making their celebration.”

To find a SusieCakes location near you and to order some cakes or pastries for your next celebration, visit susiecakes.com.