Tizzerts Recognition
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WCNC News: Bakeries share space to expand in current economy
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Two local businesses are taking a creative approach
to battle current economic difficulties, and their battle plan is really bringing them together...
View video and read full story here. |
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Tizzerts is cooking up sweet
deals for wholesale growth
Tiz Faison Benson is celebrating the 10th anniversary
of her Tizzerts Inc. this month, but she isn't resting
on her dessert-creation laurels.
In a move to boost the company's
client base, Benson is ramping up her wholesaling operations.
Tizzerts wholesale clients already include Harris Teeter
Inc., Reid's Fine Foods, Dean & DeLuca, La Tea Da's
and Wolfman Pizza. "We
are growing," Benson says. "We are building
the wholesale side of the business so people can now
buy our products at 32 locations." She recently
added Caribou Coffee to her client roster, providing
the gourmet coffee shops in the Charlotte area with
baked goods.
Since 1995, Tizzerts has built a brisk business
making special cakes for customers and baked goods
for all occasions, with Benson estimating that she
has produced More than 250,000 cakes.
Individual clients have included local notables Hugh
McColl, Jr, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Allen Tate Jr.,
as well as late Dave Thomas of Wendy's Fame.
Benson's interest in cook
ing came from her mother, Natalie Faison, who was
renowned for her homemade goodies and cakes. But it
wasn't until after Benson graduated from Agnes Scott
College in Decatur, Ga. and spent time in France that
the baking bug bit. In 1991, she moved to New
York to attend Peter Dump's New York Cooking School
and earned a professional pastry degree.
Three' years later, she moved back to
Charlotte with her husband, Ben, and subsequently started
Tizzerts. "I knew that what we were selling was
good and that it would be successful," Benson says. "But
the business part has been hard — we just hung on and
rode it"
She says her husband has played
a key role in the company's success. "For the
10 years of Tizzerts, Ben has provided a roof over
my head, let me bounce ideas off on him, loaned Tizzerts
money to make payroll and more?"
To celebrate the anniversary, Benson hosted a brunch
party July 2 at Byron's South End, The Design Center
of the Carolinas, for 85 friends, supporters and clients.
Looking ahead, Benson sees a
wealth of opportunities for Tizzerts, especially as grocery
chains such as Whole Foods and Earth Fare enter the market.
"'People are going to want
high-end, good quality, fresh desserts", she says. "And
because of Johnson & Wales
(University)
in Charlotte, our wholesale side will really grow because
there will be so many new opportunities for new restaurants.
Success is sweet for Tizzerts
Benson takes the cake
business to a new level
Tiz Benson's cakes have been called more than just
dessert.
"They really are a work of art. With her floral cakes,
you don't need any other decoration," says Janet
Woodson, owner of uptown tea room La-Dee-Da's.
Goodies from Benson's custom
cakery, Tizzerts,
have garnered the attention of local followers who
put in orders for wedding cakes from the Charlotte
native up to nine months in advance.
And for good reason. Orders for wedding cakes, which
account for 25% of sales, are reserved through November
this year, with several summer months booked solid.
June brides who haven't already placed their order
with Benson will have to go elsewhere.
Benson opened her bakery in 1995, and with help from
six employees, a part-time bookkeeper and 1,200 square
feet of kitchen space on South Church Street (New location: 4245 Park Road, in the Park Road Shopping Center), sales
at Tizzerts have increased steadily to $250,000 in
1998, 20% more than the year before.
"I don't think we've ever dealt with an individual
with a higher standard of business than she has," says
Chuck Richards, owner of Reid's Fine Foods, which
sells 120 Tizzerts creations a week.
Benson, 36, credits her culinary inspiration to
her mother, whose recipe for coffee cake has formed
the core of her daughter's business. "Mom has always been
a very good cook, and I really grew up with that," she
says.
A 1984 Agnes Scott College graduate, Benson got her
first taste of professional baking in France, where
she studied in 1986.
A 1987 stint at New Market, now Arthur's in SouthPark
mall's Belk department store, and a pastry degree from
Peter Kump's New York Cooking School led Benson to
open Tizzerts four years ago.
Part of the bakery's growing popularity has sprung
from collaborations with local businesses, including
Reid's and La-Dee-Da's, where she provides cakes for
receptions and parties.
Woodson says as their businesses have grown together,
the two entrepreneurs have shared strategies that keep
both operations thriving.
"She's taught me some things in my business, and that's
to stay focused, do what you do and do it well. Don't
try to go off in 80 directions," Woodson says.
Benson says she's never considered growing beyond
her sweets niche.
"I knew I wanted to do desserts, and I liked the idea
of having one project instead of doing catering. Everybody
has a birthday, everyone wants a wedding cake," she
says, under a floppy white baker's hat.
Benson and her crew bake nearly 250 cakes a week for
custom orders, wedding cakes and wholesale to local
eateries including Jack Straw's, whose desert menu
comes directly from the cakery.
Included among the choices is the Chocolate Truffle
Cake, one of Benson's best sellers there. Pound cakes
are a hot item at Reid's, as well as her Sour Cream
Coconut Cloud cake. Ten-inch round cakes start at $35.
Benson's expertise has become noticed nationally in
Southern Accents' January/February 1999 issue, which
features a wedding in Charlotte and a Tizzerts cake,
its Almond Cream Cheese Pound Cake decorated with butter
cream lilies of the valley.
Wedding consultant Kitty Curran, owner of MerryMakers,
says Tizzerts has quickly become a force in the local
wedding industry.
"I recommend her at every opportunity I get. She's
always on my list because she does such a great job.
By the time she gets the flowers on there or the
decorations, it's a masterpiece."
And, Curran says, Benson is unfazed by difficult
requests. "She's
working with a client of mine copying a pattern on
her wedding dress on the cake."
Richards credits Benson's success to her drive for
perfection. "She does not compromise on her product
or service. She'll go to any length to make someone
happy," he says.
Richards remembers introducing Benson to his friend,
former Charlotte Hornet Mike Gminski, who has a passion
for baking. Richards arranged for him to spend a day
watching Tizzerts at work.
"Tiz took day out of her life teaching him how she
works, all because she has a passion for what she does," Richards
says.
Barbara McKay's Premier Bride
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Colorful Polka Dots Take the Cake
Written by Tiz Benson of Tizzerts, Inc.
Cross your heart and dot your dots, Ladies! The
polka dot trend seems to be everywhere: clothes,
kids rooms, accessories, invitations,
pet attire and, yes, even wedding cakes! Over
1 years of business, we bakers at Tizzerts
have seen simple pearl dots on wedding and
shower cakes evolve into big, happy splashes
of color!
The great aspect
of the "art of the dot" is
that
they can be petite or large, pastel or hold,
alone or In groups or any combination
these design idea Cakes with polka dot: in
soft colors more feminine, formal and
subtle look for a wedding like pearls, whereas
the current trend towards large, bright dots
makes for an event full of whimsy and wow.
Our brides often
choose varying designs on different tiers of their
butter cream Or chocolate
ganache wedding cakes for playful look.
The dots can be mixed with more geometrical
decorations also. as vertical stripes,
diagonal lattice and more. .We also can
alternate patterns of dots with groups of three
in a pyramidal shape with single, simple dots.
These collections of designs look especially
fantastic on 4 or tiered 'wedding cakes.
So if dots are your "thing", it will be
an easy trip down the wedding aisle. Just pick
your palate and go with it, for a few or all aspects
of your big day for a look of bright dotted bliss! |
 
Looking to make your life a little sweeter?
Satisfy your cravings for the rich taste of real butter
and cream blended with sugar, chocolate, caramel and
more with a variety of baked goods from Tizzerts. Located
in South End off Church Street, between Price's Chicken
Coop and Bank of America Stadium (New location: 4245 Park Road, in the Park Road Shopping Center), Tizzerts is
a unique bakery featuring beautiful from-scratch, custom-made
cakes, brownies and bars that will have your sweet tooth
begging for more than just one bite.
Owner Tiz Faison Benson first baked up her idea for what
she calls a custom cakery in
1994; her business plan became a
reality in 1995.
Longtime Charlotteans
will remember Benson's mom
who was a wonderful cook and phenomenal baker. Faison
was well known across the city for her from-scratch
baked goods like tea-time tassies, butterscotch brownies
and homemade coffee cakes. Benson, who doesn't remember
ever eating "boxed" cookies,
still uses many of her mother's much-loved recipes.
Small town, big-city
training
Early on, Benson worked for Harris Teeter in the specialty
bakery division of a restaurant and gourmet grocery called
New Market, a partnership between Harris Teeter and Belk.
Afterward, she went to the Big Apple and graduated with
a professional pastry degree from Peter Kurnp's New York
Cooking School, now the New York Culinary Institute.
When Benson's business plan became a reality, she hired
Anita Stack, her former boss at Harris Teeter. Benson
was the driving force and Stack became the business manager
and master cake designer.
Since the mid
1990s Benson's bakery business has grown by leaps
and bounds. Now, in addition to
Benson and Stack, six other employees, bakers
and cake decorators work in the
in the kitchen at Tizzerts, along with two
externs from Johnson & Wales University.
In addition to a thriving retail business, Tizzerts sells
cakes, brownies and bars wholesale to grocery stores
and restaurants throughout the area. Reid's, Dean and
Deluca and select locations of Harris Teeter carry Tizzerts
brownies and cakes in their bakeries, and Benson handles
all of Harris Teeter's local wedding cake business as
well. La Tea Da's in Elizabeth on Seventh Street features
Tizzerts' cakes and baked goods at all of their tea parties
while many coffee shops, sandwich shops, pizzerias and
restaurants carry the cakery's individually wrapped brownies
and bars.
Brownies and bars
also are available by the pan. Small square pans of nine
brownies each can be found at grocery store bakeries,
while large sheet pans of large and small cut brownies
are available made-to-order directly from Tizzerts. Turtle
brownies, cream Cheese brownies and the white chocolate
raspberry bars are their best sellers. My favorite is
Benson's espresso brownies, with the chocolate peppermint
brownies they make at the holidays being my top pick
in terms of seasonal selections.
 Design
your cake and eat it too
As popular as Benson's
brownies and bars are, Tizzerts is best known for its
cakes. Each is made of three layers of cake filled twice
with the customer's choice of filling ranging from riche
chocolate ganache and homemade butter cream to tangy
lemon curd and seedless raspberry. Pricing includes a
personalized message and standard or custom decorations.
Favorite cake flavors are the chocolate truffle cake best
described as decadent, rich and chocolaty; the lemon
raspberry cake, made with moist vanilla butter cake layers,
lemon curd and raspberry filling and butter cream icing;
the vanilla cream cake, a soft yellow cake layered with
smooth, vanilla pastry cream and iced in vanilla butter
cream, finished with rosettes and white chocolate shavings;
and the carrot pecan cake. iced with cream
Cheese frosting, this cake is so good that it's hard
to believe you're eating a vegetable.
Cake sizes range
from 6-inch to 14-inch rounds yielding six to 75 servings,
respectively. For larger crowds, tiered cakes
and large sheet cakes are available. As far as decorative
touches go, Tizzerts is well known for its confetti design,
where ribbons of colorful icing and silver or gold dragees
surround the perimeter of the Cake. Flowers are also
popular. Customers may choose pansies, daisies, violets,
sunflowers, hydrangeas and tropical flowers or a mixed
bouquet. The designers at Tizzerts can pipe out baby
booties and crosses on cakes for baptisms and christenings,
or an assortment of animals, balloons, package and ribbon
designs or big numbers with confetti for birthdays.
Creative confections
While the standards
are beautiful, my favorite cake designs are the custom
orders. I've ordered a beach scene with palm trees,
blue butter cream waves and graham-cracker sand for
the high school graduation of close friends; a Yankees
baseball cake with blue and white pinstripes and a
graham-cracker crumb replica of the diamond at Yankee
Stadium for my fiance; and for my best friend, a special
birthday cake surrounded by stick-figure likenesses
of all the friends attending her 50th birthday party. As
clever as my ideas were, they were not were not the
most creative designs ton ever come out of the Tizzerts
kitchen.
"We have one client who really got
into designing the groom's cakes for the weddings of
his sons and his nephew," explained Benson. "One
cake was a fly-fishing rod and reel where the cake
was the round part of the reel. Our client made the
pole to attach to the cake and then put it all together
at the reception site. At the second wedding, two cakes
placed side by side became the wheels of a speed bike;
and at the third, the cake became the round motor of
a chain saw They were all pretty incredible."
  
Tizzerts Inc., A Custom Cakery has been
turning out fantastical cake creations since 1995.
Founder and sole owner, Tiz Faison Benson, was raised
in a house where baking was done with love and skill
by her mom, Natalie Faison. Benson's sweet tooth became
even more well rooted after a stay in Paris, and, later,
training in New York City with Peter Kump's New York
Cooking School (now The Institute of Culinary Education),
where she earned a professional pastry degree.
With the help
of cake designer and manager, Anita Stack, Tizzerts
Inc. has established a reputation for some of the prettiest
and tastiest cakes in Charlotte.The Cakery manufactures
products for wholesale customers — Reid's Fine Foods,
Dean & DeLuca, Harris Teeter
stores at Morrocroft, Myers Park Express, and Cotswold,
and many other locations around Charlotte —as Well
as individual retail consumers. Tizzerts' specialties
include made-to-order layer cakes, brownies, Bundt
cakes, cupcakes, special occasion cakes, and elegant
wedding cakes.
For This Sustainer,
Volunteering is Easy as
Cake
Almost every time Tiz. Benson opens her mouth, it's
to give credit to someone else, usually a • woman in
her life. Benson is a humble person. A recent Junior
League of Charlotte sustainer and sole proprietor of
Tizzerts, Inc. cake designers, she knows a lot about
success and loves to talk about the many women in her
past who have led her there.
A Charlotte
native and graduate of Charlotte Latin, Benson says
her love of food started at a very young age. Her mother,
Natalie Faison, was a "wonderful
cook" who spawned in her a love of quality food
and a family tradition of wonderful meals spent around
the table. "I credit my mom with my success," Benson
says. "She taught me so much."
Benson also
spent quite a few years living outside Mecklenburg
County before coming home to join the JLC and start
her own "cakery." In 1980, she
left home to attend Agnes Scott College, an all-women
four-year college in Atlanta. "Agnes Scott taught
me that women 'can do what they want, and the experience
gave me confidence, and it showed me if I didn't have
an answer that I could find answers myself," she
says. After graduating with a double degree in psychology
and education, Benson accepted a job as a nanny in
Atlanta. "It was nothing like 'The Nanny Diaries," she
insists, referring to a recent bestseller. She praises
the parents she worked for. "That was one of the
best jobs I've ever had, and the family was great."
The family was so great that they took her on a trip
to France, where Benson learned a new appreciation
for food preparation. She loved the country so much
she decided to stay, quitting her Atlanta nanny job
and taking up residence with a family in Paris instead
of returning to the States. As a nanny in Paris, she
once again learned a lot from the woman of the house,
studying how she cooked in the French tradition.
"The French were much more concerned with digestion," Benson
explains. "They wouldn't think of eating a
bowl of cereal until the milk had soaked it into a
mush." A crunchy cereal person herself, this was
only the start of her French food education.
After a year, Benson came back home
to Charlotte. It was 1987 and she got her first cooking
job working in the food basement of Belk at SouthPark,
which was then run by Harris Teeter and called "New Market." She
made cakes and pastries and met Anita Connell, who
would later become her first employee at Tizzerts.
Benson's success at Belk earned her a promotion,
and she was transferred to the Harris Teeter headquarters
to expand her baking responsibilities.
It was during
this stint in Charlotte that Benson joined the JLC
as a provisional. Balancing her volunteer work along
with her job with a big company was a challenge, but
it was important enough that Benson donated her evenings
and weekends to her placements. The time spent was
worth it, teaching her skills that have been useful
in her current business.
In the JLC, Benson says she learned
key skills. "Be
on time; do what you say you're going to d6; groups
matter; relationships are important." Her placements
include Cookbook, Placement, Nominating, Kid's Cafe
and the 75th Anniversary Celebration. In typical style,
Benson sings the praises of the women she's worked
with in the JLC. "Lisa Bowers Smoots was an awesome
leader. I'm the kind of person who does well under
strong leaders ... It makes me thrive! DeeDee Dalrymple
was also really good."
While Benson doesn't suggest a favorite
placement, she loved Nominating. "It taught me
how the League worked and who the leaders were," she
says. Community placements were also valuable; she
cites Kid's Cafe, a partnership with the Metrolina
Food Bank, as a meaningful placement.
In 1991, Benson
went to New York, where she spent three years. While
there, she also enrolled in Peter Kump's Institute
of Culinary Education, her first lessons from a professional
cooking school. In 1994, she came back to Charlotte
to take care of her ailing mother. While she and her
family knew her mother was sick, her mother
refused to see a doctor. When she finally acquiesced,
she was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, and the
prognosis was grim. Weeks later, she passed away. Despite
her mother's unexpected death, Benson is proud of her
mother's strength and her ability to deny her pain
and suffering until so close to the end.
But Benson was happy to leave New York. "After
I worked in New York, a lot of people asked me why
I didn't stay there," she says. "It was too
big. I am much happier as a medium fish in a medium
sea, instead of a tiny fish in a huge sea."
Coming back to Charlotte still provided some happy
moments for Benson. She had begun to date an old buddy,
Benjamin Benson, while in New York, and the two had
begun to notice romantic feelings between them after
years of friendship. In 1995, they were married. In
April 2001, they welcomed their twins, Natalie and
Isaac (Zack).
In July 1995,
Tizzerts, Inc. was started with two employees, Benson
and her New Market coworker, Connell. Tizzerts, Inc.
was simultaneously named "A Custom Cakery," with
a selection including cakes, cheesecakes, brownies,
wedding cakes and coffee cakes. Her past cooking influences
are evident in the from-scratch ingredients which include
only fresh and natural foods. (In keeping with her
self-effacing, honest. style, Benson is quick to point
out that the raspberry filling is the single ingredient
not made on the premises.) Benson chose a location
near downtown Charlotte, where they could deliver conveniently,
while avoiding walk-in traffic. Her "bread and
butter," as she calls it, is through wholesale
sales, but individuals can order cakes directly with
4 to 7 days' notice.
Today, Tizzerts has 10 employees who
make over 15,000 cakes per year for individuals and
retailers such as Reid's Fine Foods, Caribou Coffee,
Dean & Deluca
and La Tea Da's. Her newest venture is a wholesaling
relationship with Harris Teeter Express on the corner
of Providence and Queens. It's a new twist on an old
connection.
Connections are a theme with Tiz Benson. From her mother,
her past employers, her teachers, her in-laws, her
current coworkers and her 10 years with the JLC, she
learned to value connections made and gives others
kudos for the success in her life. This fall, she'll
begin a new connection to the League as a Sustainer,
and the women with whom she'll interact will surely
benefit from their connection to her.
A Cast of Characters
As sole owner of a small, custom bakery
in Charlotte, NC since mid-1995, I did not expect
finding and keeping good personnel to be such an interesting
part of my job. But the continuous montage of
employees I've hired over the years could populate
a television sitcom.
When I started Tizzerts Inc., I thought
that after five years I would be able to sit back stirring
a drink with a petite purple umbrella in it and watch
my business (and money) pour in like a chocolate mudslide.
That didn't seem too much to expect in the beginning.
I started with a business plan, a Small Business Administration
loan, an architect husband to design the space (and
keep a roof over my head and to be my most constant
supporter), eight years of experience working in other
bakeries with hands-on knowledge of the necessary equipment
and ingredients, an understanding of the local market
and a lot of positive energy. Everything was in place
for smooth success.
My business
began with one other person on staff, Anita, to help
me bake, take orders, fill orders, find customers and
create the "Tizzerts image." She is unbelievably
talented and dependable. Because of her help, we have
built a reputation for the most beautifully decorated
and delicious cakes and brownies in town.
However, since
we started hiring extra help four years ago, we have
had more than 3o people work here, some lasting a few
days and others many years. The nature of the service
industry is that people tend to move from job to job,
and the job market in this area offers the roamers
more choices than ever. That increases the chances
of interviewing and hiring "interesting'
people to work for us—as a matter of fact, we've been
a magnet for characters.
We once had
a tall, beautiful dishwasher who could have stepped
off the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine. I could easily
picture her wearing a feather boa and high heels with
her rubber kitchen apron. Although I would tell her
to wear good tennis shoes for comfort, she continued
to wear fancy shoes. Needless to say, she lasted only
a couple of weeks.
I had a delivery guy with a thyroid problem who often
forgot to take his medication. Once, I found him in
the freezer screaming at the top of his lungs. This
was a concern, of course, because he was our primary
contact with customers.
Then there was the time I found another dishwasher
sleeping out back He was recuperating from a rather
active social life.
I've had many job applicants who seemed
incredibly excited and enthusiastic about getting a
job, but then would not show up to fill in the application
or even call. I've learned the most important
thing is to roll with the punches. Things are not always
going to go the way I plan. I've learned to rely
on my managers, who are good at spotting questionable
applications and reading people. It's always
best to have more than one opinion.
I'm grateful that the market for delicious
baked goods in Charlotte is incredible and my business
is booming.
Every day is still an exciting new experience. But,
one day soon I still hope to have that drink
with my cake and eat it, too.
Benson owns Tizzerts Inc., a bakery in
Charlotte, N. C.
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