Having one’s cake and ‘drinking’ it too

Thirty-three-year-old Tramaine Griffith is the owner of Bread Abode a company that offers boozy baked goods.

The creative concept which involves adding alcohol to the bread and cake loaves was founded back in 2020 and currently offers lemon, chocolate, and or carrot cake in their cocktail and mocktail menu as well as four types of beer breads which are a beer cutter, beer belly, Guinness cutter and choconut as well as her founding product Bajan sweet bread which is available with or without a rum sauce.

The former Ellerslie School student said her business began back in 2020 but she has rebranded and has been operating her business on weekends steadily for the past three months.

“The company has been in operation from August 2020, and it has taught me the value of having a primary and secondary income.
What would have started as a way to pass the time with my son during the first COVID-19 lockdown coupled with some influence from my colleagues and friends slowly grew into the Bread Abode brand,” she said.

The owner of Bread Abode who offers an islandwide delivery service said she realised her passion for baking during the lockdown as she began making her own sweet
and savoury treats to avoid the long lines at the bread shops and supermarkets.

However, her unique idea to add alcohol to her product line came as a way for her to stand out.

“I always wanted my company to stand out. I originally included rum sauces as an option to accompany our initial product; Bajan sweet bread.
When I decided to offer additional products, I again desired to offer unfamiliar baked treats and through research and many testing phases our first beer breads were introduced,” she said.

Griffith said after creating the beer breads many persons began to request it, therefore, she began to make cakes for her clientele maintaining the same loaf profile that she used for her beer breads.

“The introduction of cakes to the brand was inspired by numerous requests for cakes as I was known for baking boozy bread. The loaf profile used with the bread was maintained in the cakes and has become the signature style of the brand.

“In addition, the incorporation of booze into the cakes was initiated during my first consultation with Bijou Media shortly after relaunching. During that meeting, we explored my vision for the future of Bread Abode and its niche market.

As Bread Abode already carried savoury boozy bread and at the time had begun offering mini loaf cakes with boozy drizzles, it was an obvious decision to remain consistent and add boozy cakes to the expansion of our product range,” she said. The small business owner said she has had an exhilarating feeling since launching her brand.

“I have grown fond of the brand and the amazing experience it has afforded me, the creativity it exposes, and even the challenges I have encountered so far, I have embraced fervently.

“I must admit that the initial stages of rebranding were tedious as the perfectionist in me wanted everything to be flawless. However, I had to quickly accept that perfection is not always attainable, plus, many times those detested imperfections gave way to my creativity or introduced new ideas,” she said.

Griffith said that as her products contain alcohol, she advises persons to eat responsibly. However, for persons who are not “boozers” she has a virgin and or mocktail menu to accommodate them.

The small businesswoman’s word of advice for young persons seeking to enter the world of entrepreneurship was to maintain consistency in their product or service.

“Without your customers, there is no you, always strive to maintain consistency in your product and or service, understand that you are the business and will have to occupy the role of every employee.

However, do not be afraid to outsource help when needed, as attempting to manage every aspect of your business is hard and can lead to burnout very quickly causing your product and or service to lack quality,” she said.
(Write Right PR Services)