Kelsey Leland has always loved baking, so after graduating from Manhattan’s Natural Gourmet Institute in 2011, where she specialized in vegan and gluten-free pastries, she was ready to catapult her hobby to a business.
Leland quit her marketing job and hit the kitchen to “make something that would taste good and that everyone could enjoy.” In May 2012, Cake Bites, Leland’s vegan gluten-free truffle brand, officially became a business.
Leland changes her flavors seasonally. Her inspiration comes primarily from suggestions from her friends and personal travels. A trip to Asia, for instance, inspired a chai flavor. The current flavors available are peppermint, gingerbread, salty caramel, peanut butter and banana starting at $22 for a box of 8 cake bites.
“When you start a food business, you think it’s just an amazing recipe and making something delicious and then your realize, it doesn’t matter how delicious it is,” Leland said. “It’s really hard to get your product out there, to get past the red tape, to make sure people are aware of it, to make sure you can profit when you’re small and you don’t have a lot of seed money.”
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