Today we’d like to introduce you to Amber Grantham.
Amber, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I moved to Raleigh from the Charlotte area in 2012. If you’ve ever been to Amelie’s French Bakery in Charlotte, they have the most amazing pastries, especially their macarons! After scouring Raleigh in search of any macarons that even compare, and coming up short, I decided to try making them myself.
Macarons are extremely fickle, but I became determined to master the process. After many failed batches that went straight into the trash, I finally got the hang of it and started selling macarons at Southern France Bakery as a side hustles out of my home in 2017.
I would do custom orders and deliver around North Raleigh as well as popup markets. I love how you can turn any flavor into a macaron; my favorite and signature flavor is Earl Grey Lemon Lavendar- it’s so refreshing and light! In growing my macaron business through social media only.
I started seeing decorated sugar cookies from other bakers and became obsessed with how cute a cookie could be! Cookie decorating is also a very tricky skill, but I’ve come a long way in the last few years. Now, 95% of my business is decorated cookies.
I’ve worked full-time in pharma for over 10 years now, so I love how baking and decorating cookies is so different from what I do all day and is a unique creative outlet. I’m currently as busy as I’d like to be with my business while having a full-time job. I have porch pop-ups at my home for the holidays.
I love that I have so much support and local clients that I can have popups at my home, instead of having to travel to different venues and set up cookie displays of very fragile cookies! My baking business has introduced me to so many new friends and other awesome local bakers. It’s truly a great community and I’m so thankful to be part of it!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have definitely been struggles along the way; mainly just having time to fulfill a new and ongoing passion. The rewards always outweigh the struggles.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I think the flavors I choose to make for macarons set me apart from what you’d see in a typical bakery. I don’t do the normal vanilla, chocolate, salted caramel, etc. I like to do fun and/or intricate flavors such as hot cocoa (complete with mini marshmallows inside), cookie butter, bourbon praline, Cheerwine, and fruity pebbles just to name a few! As far as my cookies, I love bright colors and bold designs. I also enjoy a cheeky theme!
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I don’t think I’ve been that risky with my business so far. If I ever took the leap to go full time, that would definitely be a huge risk and one I’m not yet willing to take.
Pricing:
- Basic sets start at $45/dz for cookies and $22/dz for macarons.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: southernfrancebakery.com
- Instagram: @southernfrancebakery
