From seeing her sister in the kitchen baking to now baking alongside her, sophomore Katie Crouch decided to start a baking business with her sister.
Crouch’s love for baking started at a young age when her sister, Courtney Green, would always bake desserts.
“Baking is something that I have in common with my sister, and she’s also really good at baking,” Crouch said. “When I was younger, she would bake all my birthday cakes, and she would bake them really cute for all of the themes that I wanted.”
Green started baking because of both her grandmother and her great aunt, who would also bake for her when she was younger.
Her great aunt at the time didn’t have a lot of money, but she always made the effort to make the best out of what she had by letting Green pick out the cake and frosting flavors.
“For me, baking was and is about sharing love and joy with others,” Green said. “Bringing them something they would/will remember and talk about later.”
In 2022, a close friend of Green had reached out asking if she and Crouch were willing to do a birthday order for her. The sisters agreed and made cake pops for the event.
From that day, they learned they enjoyed making the treats and spending their time and dedication into making their product together, which then led them to start their baking business. They were given the opportunity for a partnership with a locally owned coffee shop.
“I would say the best part about owning the business with my sister is it gives us more time together … ” Crouch said. “I feel like it also pushed us in our relationship to be more communicative.”
Knowing they had a different way of doing things, overcoming their differences was a skill the sisters had to learn. They always made sure to work together and never against each other.
“We know at the end of the day, we have a goal to meet for someone else,” Crouch said. “So it kind of pushes us to get over our disagreements and find something for the customer.”
As for Green, she views it as having fun with her sister, improving their recipes and making sure they collaborate their ideas together to make the final choice for their product.
“We are as handmade as possible for what we create … We mean that to the full extent of the word,” Green said. “Katie keeps me on task, and I’d like to think that I remind her to have fun while doing it.”
But a problem arose when their business account on Facebook got deleted out of nowhere. They were unable to recover it, and adding more difficulties for the sisters, they lost their partnership with the locally owned coffee shop in September 2024 after working with them for two years.
They had to start fresh with a new business account, leaving behind all of what they had managed to build. The siste
rs were devastated, but they always had their heads up and continued along with their business.
A big supporter for Crouch and Green in their journey is their mom, Cindy Shaffer. She has always been there for her daughters, always trying their cake pops, pretzels and other baked goods that they make.
“I wanna see them achieve something like owning their own shop,” Shaffer said.
The sisters want to expand their business one day by adding new items on the menu, which Schaffer is supportive of whatever they decide to do.
“I think any good business has returning customers, and if you can get returning customers, then I feel as though you have a good business,” Crouch said. “I think me and my sister would also like to make more cupcakes, possibly, and expand with that.”
