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Warren Brown
Founder & Owner
CakeLove
August 05, 2014

When did you know that you wanted to work in food?
I got the fever for the food business while working at a bed & breakfast in Rhode Island. I worked a variety of jobs - bussing tables, hosting, painting, and helping out in general. But I really enjoyed the creativity and intense pace in the kitchen.

How did you get your current good food job?
I started baking as a New Year's resolution, and things just started growing.

How did your previous work or life experience prepare you for a good food job?
I was an attorney working as a litigator for the federal government. It was a typical job where I lived in Washington, DC. A background in law helps in all of the predictable ways - contract negotiation, familiarity with legal principles and basic requirements in contracts. But the issue spotting and problem solving skills are what I didn't quite expect would be helpful. That is to say, I didn't quite expect to encounter so many problems in running a business. The list of things that go wrong, that require attention and minding, they are really something. There are just a lot of things going on, so both good and bad things happen all the time which require attention.

What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your Good Food Job dream?
Getting people to believe in the concept of a stand-alone cake bakery. I founded CakeLove before the cupcake boom and getting people to believe in a business focused exclusively on cake took a fair amount of convincing. I even needed a fair amount of convincing myself that this was a reasonable idea. With so many people asking me if it made sense, I couldn't help but doubt myself.

I've considered quitting many times. I don't know an entrepreneur who hasn't had doubts about what they're doing. But every time I walk myself through what I'm doing, why I'm baking, and ask whether or not the business makes sense, I somehow manage to keep myself convinced that it's still worth doing. That may sound like I don't believe in it much myself, but I do. I just feel that in business you really have to divorce your emotions from decisions because the business idea has to be well grounded.

What can you identify as the greatest opportunities in food right now?
Gourmet quality food that meets consumers on their own terms. The mobile, digital domain is forcing business to give consumers what they want. It's so easy to shop that if you don't have a way to give the consumer exactly what they want, they'll walk.  "Their own terms" can mean lots of things: size, flavor, location, delivery or pick-up, method of purchase, business hours, etc.

If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?
I hate litter, so I would ask for people to pick up trash that's not on their own property. How many times have you walked around your neighborhood with a bag and picked-up the litter? In some areas, litter is so common that it doesn't even register on some people's radar.

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