Fast Company: Two FiddleCakes are Twice as Sweet!

When Tasha Ross made plans to meet Lindsay Beckner to discuss a mutual interest in opening a bakery, she didn’t know she’d leave that meeting with a business partner.

“I freaked out,” Ross says, laughing and explaining that she called the executive coach she’d been working with in a panic. “I had an hour-long conversation with him on the phone about the pluses and minuses.”

Despite her reservations, Ross, who admits she doesn’t like to depend on other people, took the plunge. In November 2009, just six months after their first meeting, she and Beckner opened FiddleCakes, an 8th Avenue South bakery, cafe and coffeehouse with vegan and gluten-free options. The pair turned a profit within three months, and in January, they opened a second location in a building across from Cummins Station in downtown Nashville.

Based on their success and their newfound friendship, it’s clear this duo makes a pretty good team. And while there’s no doubt that these women are hard workers who’ve created their own good fortune, there’s an element of serendipity in their story, too.
A California native, Ross moved to Nashville in 2006 to attend Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management. After graduate school, she accepted a position with a startup company, but when that job didn’t work out, she found herself trying to decide what to do next. She met a fellow Vanderbilt alum for coffee, and 20 minutes into the conversation, he suggested that she purchase a distressed business.

“The example he gave me was a bakery, and I just got really excited,” Ross says.
She discussed her plans with Germain Boer, Director of the Owen Entrepreneurship Center, and he ultimately suggested she meet Beckner. A Nashville native and Vanderbilt graduate, Beckner moved to Chicago and then to New York to pursue a finance career. But when her dad got sick, she decided to move home and accepted a position with a local financial services firm.

“It was bad timing in the market, and I just wasn’t enjoying the work any longer,” says Beckner, who, like Ross, aspired to be her own boss some day. “Germain and I are friends because I took accounting classes from his late wife. So, we went out to lunch, and I was trying to figure out what to do next, and I wanted to see if he had any ideas.”
When Boer asked Beckner what she enjoyed doing, she mentioned baking as a favorite hobby. “He said, ‘You should meet Tasha. She’s thinking about buying a bakery.’”

Though Ross put an offer on a distressed bakery right before she met Beckner, the deal eventually fell through, so the pair decided to start their business from scratch. They pulled together personal money, as well as funding from family and one of Beckner’s former clients, to collateralize a loan from CapStar Bank. They researched local coffee houses and bakeries, and then began searching for the perfect location.

After two potential locations fell through, they were starting to lose hope that they’d be able to open in time for the impending holidays when Ross spotted a “For Lease” sign on 8th Avenue. Within three days, they’d signed the lease, and five weeks later, they were up and running in the middle of an economic downturn. “We had no idea what we were doing, but for the most part we made great decisions,” Ross says.

They added services gradually, starting first as a bakery—touting gluten-free and vegan options for an underserved market—with regular coffee and tea service. Next, they added sandwiches, espresso and custom cake orders. “We didn’t come from a culinary or restaurant background, so we decided we needed to master something before we branched out,” Beckner says. “We knew that if we did too many things at once, it was going to collapse.”

With the first location under their belt and doing well, they saw the opportunity to open a second, and they say it’s likely that others will follow. In the next year, they plan to expand their operations by distributing their products to food service companies.
In the meantime, though, they’re both extremely happy with their positions in their ever-growing business. Beckner, who’s in charge of day-to-day operations and human resources, says she doesn’t really mind waking up at 3 a.m. “I’ve always been an early riser, so I enjoy the mornings,” she says. “I’m by myself, and I make myself a latte and get everything ready for the day. It’s just kind of my time.”

For Ross, who’s responsible for finance, accounting, marketing and sales, it’s exciting to watch the business grow. She also considers herself lucky to have such a wonderful relationship with the business partner she was reluctant to take on in the first place.
“Most days, it’s like we’re married, and half the time, we’re sisters,” Ross says. “Lindsay probably knows me better than most because we spend so much time together. It’s incredible to have that kind of relationship with my business partner. Like anything, there are days when we just need to walk away from each other, but for the most part, it’s a blast.”