Creative Couples: Making it Work in Love and Business
There’s an old cliché that you’re not supposed to mix business and pleasure, but the co-founders of a boutique “made to order” baking company called Drizzle by Snacks are also happily married which proves that’s just B.S. With the aroma of love and freshly baked cakes in the air, I reached out to Alex and Amanda Rivera to ask them about their secret to making it all work in love and business.
Q1. What is your definition or description of a successful couple in business and love?
Alex: It’s communication. When it comes down to it, every single moment of the day we have to
be open and honest with each other about plenty of things- what our needs and wants are,
especially in business. Our thoughts and visions have to be very clear. We cannot move forward
if we are not on the same page.
Amanda: Yeah. Definitely open and honest communication. It’s being honest when you don’t like
the other person’s idea or coming forward if you screwed up and taking accountability. It’s
patience and understanding in our both relationships-love and business alike.
Q2. In business, in order to run things efficiently everyone has a role to play, describe each of yours?
Amanda: I always say he’s the baker, and I’m the beauty [laughs] But seriously, I work on the look of
the cake and have an equal part in designing. Usually while Alex is baking, I am either
brainstorming the design or already working on pieces for the cake.
Alex: My role has to do with recipe development- making sure that our cakes not only look good
but taste good. We want to make sure people have the total package- look and taste. So, I’m
constantly thinking of new ways to think of those favorite flavors I had as a child and bring them
out into cakes. Also, structure and building the cakes internally. Oh! And washing dishes! [laughs]
Amanda doesn’t like that part.
Q3. How do you collaborate and brainstorm for ideas?
Amanda: We are really good at bouncing ideas off of each other. Alex may think of something I
haven’t thought of before and then that idea may inspire me to think of something else and so
on and so forth. It can be really exciting thinking of the many ways we can make this cake look
awesome. There are so many different ways we can design it and we really want to make it our
own, original look.
Alex: We go into our cake room, and we start to think of things that relate to the cake or the
theme and discuss how we can incorporate that into the design. We ask the client different
questions, like things that are unique to that person so that when they get the cake they are
like, “Wow! This is just for me?!” It is one of a kind. When we do custom cakes, we make sure it
is one of a kind.
Amanda: Definitely. I agree. We basically try to personalize it without just having to put their
name on the cake.
Alex: You can get a cake from anywhere, but we want to take it that extra step.
Q4. If you every disagree on a concept or idea relating to the design of a cake how do you prevent that from crossing over to your personal life and affecting what goes on at home?
Amanda: Alex knows how I am. I’ll tell him straight up if I don’t like something. It can be super
frustra-ng at -mes. We know it is not personal and at the end of the day we both have the same
goal.
Alex: Well, just like always, Amanda is always right. We’ll leave it at that! [laughs] No, but in all
seriousness we are really blessed that 99% of the time, we are on the same page, so there are
not as many disagreements. It’s the reason why we have been able to take on this business and
create these designs almost effortlessly. We have a lot of moments where it’s like, “Oh my God! I
was just thinking the same thing!” Now, if there is a disagreement, I look at what is prac-cal,
what makes sense.
Amanda: No, you don’t.
Alex: What do you mean?
Amanda: He says he looks at what’s practical and most of the -me I am pulling my hair out
trying to figure out how we’re going to make this cake work! For example, him wanting to have a
disco ball spin while stacked in between cakes!
Alex: Okay! I like to think outside the box and try to give people things they have never seen
before. Whether it is doable or not, we just have to try and that’s why I cause Amanda
headaches.
Amanda: Exactly! His moto is basically, “We’ll figure it out!” and I get 5 more grey hairs from it.
Q5. What advice would you give other hard working “hustling” couples when it comes to building a business together?
Alex: That’s hard. I would say, if it’s truly your goal don’t give up. There are going to be a lot of
hard -mes, because we’re going through it now. You may wonder a lot of -mes what you’re
doing this for. In our case, our ideas coming to frui-on and knowing that you just start with flour
and bu\er and eggs, and then you have an amazing cake is just mind blowing. I think anybody
who is hustling or crea-ng something knows the feeling of seeing the client’s face when they
finally get that product and there is nothing to replace that.
Amanda: Yea, I would say, just do it. If you love whatever the business is and you work well with
each other, just do it. It has been the best experience and has brought us even closer together
than I could have ever imagined. We are super lucky that we work so well with each other. Of
course there are -mes that are super tough, but those are the -mes we grow together and get
stronger.
Q6. Describe your most challenging as well as your favorite baking project? Why?
Alex: I would say the more challenging, the more -me you spend with it trying to figure out how
to do it. My favorite one had to be the barrel cake that actually poured liquor. I couldn’t believe I
pulled it off. It goes up on the list of favorites almost automatically because when it works out, it
is like you hit a milestone and achieved a goal for yourself. I thought something was going to go
wrong. I thought that I was going to build this cake and get ready to pour and nothing was going
to come out. That it was going to leak or spill, and I would have had to start all over again and it
was a waste of time. But it worked! My most recent favorite has to be the Nike themed cake. I
just like the look, I had to figure out how to make it two tiers and i just love the look of it. It was
so clean and so unique. Different than anything I have seen. I really like the Sonic one too. It’s
hard to say. Lol
Amanda: Definitely the barrel cake! He comes up with the wildest ideas and does not care. I also
think the crystal cake was fun and abstract. It was the first -me in a long -me Alex worked with
sugar like that. He created the most beau-ful cake topper. We haven’t posted that one on
Instagram just yet.
Q7. Do you have any special techniques that you developed or use as a baker to help you improve a recipe or design of a cake?
Amanda: We are always learning, always researching how to do new things. I’m having fun using
different color techniques and u-lizing airbrushing more. I am ge^ng into pain-ng on the cake
and molding more as well.
Alex: Once I perfected the chocolate cake I was like oh we can sell this. Then adding Nutella and
Oreos- I mean how could you not like it? Lol But, I would say I am inspired by so many artists in
general whether they are bakers are just artists. Finding this one cake artist, @by.aletoso, I was
inspired by the way he used his edible images and how he told the story. There was so much
ac-on where most cakes that use edible images, just place them on top. That’s its. It’s so plain
that way. But he actually placed the characters in a position where they were actually doing
something. He used them very artistically. Another favorite artist is @che`ennyrivera from City
Cakes in NYC, with his hyper realis-c cakes and just mind blowing perfection. His cakes look
perfect. Another artist who always has perfect cakes is @flourhousecakes. His work is just out of
this world beautiful. Getting support from an artist like that, definitely keeps us inspired.
Q8. How do you market your business and which tactics have been the most successful?
Amanda: Right now we are really trying to build out clientele through Instagram, especially with
reels and finding different ways to make our cakes exciting. The best thing though has been word
of mouth and we have gotten really lucky to have such amazing and supportive clients.
Instagram has helped us and bunch but word of mouth takes the cake! (See what I did there?)
Our clients are the most supportive clients ever! We also have had a lot of support from a
company we get our edible paper from: @paper2eat. From the minute we started tagging them
in our photos, they have been repos-ng us and showing us so much love! They even used our
“Friends” themed cake for advertising on their Amazon page. We have had returning clients,
referrals, support from businesses and people in the baking community and it is just the best
feeling.
Alex: We have been lucky enough to keep us really busy while balancing full -me jobs.
Q9. What next for Drizzle by Snacks? Is it a hobby you both love and enjoying doing together or is it something you would want to do full-time?
Alex: Full -me for sure. Yea, I mean what’s next for us? I mean if we can be the Chip and Joanna
Gaines of cakes, that would be awesome! Lol I don’t want people to just fall in love with our
cakes, but fall in love with us as people. I feel like we have a very fun relationship and we
definitely enjoy having each other around. We’re goof balls and anyone who is around us long
enough, knows that. I would like to share that special thing we have with the world.
Amanda: It’s definitely something we would love to do full -me. Our goal is to work for
ourselves but also have a family business that our future children can grow into. Success is more
than financial freedom. It is having the -me to spend with your family. The most important thing
to us is family. We put a lot of love into our family as well as our cakes and that’s what we want
you to feel when you buy a cake from us
They have really given new meaning to the saying, the couple that plays together stays together. You can find their business page at….
Instagram: @drizzlebysnacks
TikTok: drizzlebysnacks
Order all your customize cakes in the email on their bio. You won’t regret it
Sessi. Dancing Corners 