28 year-old Saraya Burke found her company SaySay Cakes four years ago by baking goodies for her dog. SaySay Cakes is an all-natural dog bakery. The treats are created using only all natural and organic ingredients and are hand-made from scratch. No artificial ingredients, colors, preservatives, or refined sugars are used. SaySay. The company was birthed right in her kitchen after noticing the reaction her dog received from eating the treats she bought. Saraya said;
“My dog (yorkie) Carter inspired me to start SaySay Cakes because he use to have horrible reaction to some of the treats I would buy him. So I did some research to find out that a lot of these pet company use artificial ingredients, flavors, colors, preservatives, and refined sugars, which can cause stomach issues in dogs, and also skin issues such as inflamation and scratching”
Before starting SaySay Cakes Saraya was and still works as an Anesthia tech. Starting her own business, especially to create doggie treats was the last thing on her mind. With 10 years of experience working in the medical field she always imagined herself as being a nurse.
“I always thought I would become a nurse honestly. But once I started to bake it gave me a happiness that my current job just couldn’t/can’t give me. I am my happiest while baking . I can honestly make a mistake while baking and have to start over and it doesn’t bother me at all. Baking is my passion!”
The name SaySay Cakes is after the nickname her aunt gave her SaySay. Saray and her boyfriend came up with the idea of using that as the name while on vacation in Puerto Rico, with adding Cakes at the end to make it cute and catchy as she explain. The concept of her SaySay Cakes started in May of 2014, but it really did not grow into becoming a real business until September of 2015. In the creation of SaySay Cakes she took many interesting routes to build her business from observing dogs at the doggie park, taking Wilton classes, attending pet expo’s to familiarize herself with the market, to showcasing SaySay Cakes live on Atlanta’s popular morning show. Saraya explained what makes SaySay Cakes different from other dog treats is;
“my pupcakes are very appealing to the eyes, human ask all the time if they are cupcakes. What also makes says cakes brand different is that I customize my pupcakes for dogs with diabetes, food allergies, stomach issues or that are overweight.”
“this was a big milestone because it let me know that I have something amazing, just have to keep pushing”
Interestingly, through this interview we found out SaySay Cakes was picked to audition for the popular show aired on the ABC network Shark Tank. Even though they only made to the 2nd round of auditions. Following this milestone she also completely sold out all her treats at the Pet Expo in Las Vegas earlier this month. She explained this as a huge milestone because the expo receives close to 15000 attendees per year. One thing I have learned doing this interview is consistency and perseverance are key to creating success.
