011 - The Evolution of a Cake Artist with Melissa Gray (of Cakes By Gray)

“You do it for passion, you do it for love." – Melissa Gray In this episode, we sit down with Melissa Gray, the founder and artist behind Cakes by Gray, to find out how she started and grew her cake business in Asheville.

Melissa was a long-time food service veteran who decided to follow her passion for pastry and head to culinary school. In the years since, she’s grown to become one of the premier cake artists in Asheville — a city with a booming wedding industry — and grown her business from her kitchen, to a shared wedding space, and then to a brand new brick and mortar.

We think you’ll love her straight-shooting discussion on being a business owner (and her trifle cake shooters, too).

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How Melissa started and grew her cake business, Cakes by Gray
• The importance of choosing the right business name (and domain name)
• Why Melissa chose to specialize in pastry and not cooking
• The inside scoop of Melissas soon-to-open dessert and cocktail bar, Rosabees
• Melissa’s favorite restaurants and things to do in Asheville (and the greatest ever from the Biltmore Estate)
• The worst days for eating seafood in a restaurant
• Advice for aspiring bakers and why she thinks going to culinary school is crucial

Curious to learn more about what we do? Making It Creative is a boutique marketing agency in Asheville. We are dedicated to working with small business owners that are deeply passionate about what they do by helping them build and improve their sales and communication strategies. Learn more here.

For show notes, including some supplementary information from this episode visit: MakingItInAsheville.com/011

To recommend an interviewee, visit: MakingItInAsheville.com/podcast

Music by Commonwealth Choir

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, like, review, and/or share! It helps to spread the word and get more eyes on Asheville's makers.

Check out Making It in Asheville on other platforms!
https://www.instagram.com/makingitinasheville/ https://www.makingitinasheville.com/youtube/ https://makingitinasheville.com/subscribe/