Exploring Life & Business with Maneeka Beasley of Cakes by the Jar

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maneeka Beasley. 

Hi Maneeka, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
With the stress of baking custom cakes and treats, I found myself wanted to continue and expand my love and passion for baking. I wanted to create an experience, something that can be enjoyed anytime anywhere. I’ve thought about all my experiences when making a cake, eating cake, and serving a cake. From the leftovers to the waste, to how a cake has a short the shelf life of a cake is in the fridge – that’s when we decided to just serve our delicious cakes in a Jar. I am Maneeka Beasley the owner and Founder along with my husband Randon Beasley of Cakes by the Jar, a small business bakery that specialize in making delicious, unique, and on-the-go cakes in Jars. Our business is known for making moist flavorful cakes that keep customers wanting to come back for more. Cakes by the Jar was originally established as “Flavorful Pound Cakes & Treats” but changed in Jan 2022 upon receiving a new LLC and becoming a fully License business through the state of Michigan. 

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?
The road to this new business venture has been enjoyable. There are highs and lows, but through it all it’s a teaching moment to learn and improve yourself as business owner. What CBTJ struggle most about being a business was learning the skills of marketing more to our target market via social media. We had to step out on faith to hire a Marketing company to assist us. CBTJ is learning every day you have to have systems and delegate task to be a successful business. 

We’ve been impressed with Cakes by the Jar, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Cakes by the Jar provides a delicious, sweet treat that keeps our customers wanting to come back for more. Our number one goal is to provide customer satisfaction in trying to make our community a sweeter place. We offer perfect portion-size ready-to-eat cakes that everyone can enjoy. Our standard-size cake jars are 4oz., with a catering packages that include 3oz. cake shooters. Our vision is to continually provide quality ingredients to our customers. Our goal is to satisfy our customers with great-tasting cake. Our customer satisfaction is our primary focus. Our achievements as a small family business we were awarded the Edith Raspberry Emerging Black Business Award from Grand Rapids Area Black Owned Businesses (GRABB) in Dec 2022: which recognizes a Black-owned business that embodies GRABB’s core values of stellar customer service, great products/services and community-oriented and has been in operation for one to five years. This award is well received as CBTJ exemplify these core values to set us apart from our competitors. 

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
What CBTJ has learned that crisis can be good. It can show you that most “crisis situations” are opportunities to either advance or stay where you are. CBTJ used COVID-19 Crisis to advance in new endeavors. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cakesbythejar.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/cakesbythejar0
• Facebook: Facebook.com/cakesbythejar

Image Credits
Stephen Smith
SMS Marketing