She got her idea for her dessert company from God. Tamara Turner recalls hearing God’s voice to start with cakes. In 2017, she launched Silver Spoon Desserts, and today, her confections are being served on American Airlines.
“I started my business in 2017 because I heard the voice of what I am going to call God, tell me to do the cakes first. I had been looking, hoping, and dreaming, and trying to figure out what I am supposed to do with my life, and I was told, ‘do the cakes first,” Turner tells ABC 7 in an interview.
She first started the company from home in Aurora, Illinois and within five years, expanded to a 16,000 square foot facility in Chicago, where she bakes her Bundt cakes for businesses and restaurants.
Her cakes gained attention after she personally went around restaurants and eateries to introduce her products to them. Impressed with her pastries, some of the companies placed orders, with some even requesting to know about her company.
Later, she got the chance to work with a catering company that provided food service for American Airlines. In May 2021, the airline company told her they would like to have her pastries served on their flights. And that was when she opened her own 16,000-square-foot facility in Chicago to meet the airline’s demands.
According to NBC DFW, the Bundt cakes are available in domestic premium cabins on flights between 900 and 1,499 miles.
Turner, a single mother, uses her family’s recipes as inspiration for her confections. According to her, serving her community is of utmost importance to her. As a policy, she hires single mothers thereby giving them a living wage. She also trains them to become economically independent.
“Being a single mother is painful, and I know the struggle. I said you know what, I can give back to other single mothers by offering them a living wage. But I can also teach them, train them, go them up and help them to become economically sustainable through working with Silver Spoon Desserts,” said Turner.
Considering the tough environment Black businesses in the U.S. operate in, Turner is not only making ‘Black history,’ but making ‘Chicago history’ as well.
