Today we’d like to introduce you to Mackenzie Dimatteo.
Hi Mackenzie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I started working in the food industry at 16! After 6 years I eventually made my way to Delmonico’s Steakhouse and after being a server for nearly a year, I was promoted to manager and sent to New York to train. A few short months later, was March of 2020 and the company informed us we would be closing for two weeks until everything blew over. I think we all know how that turned out. SO! They ended up shutting down completely and I, like so many others, was left jobless and stranded at home.
I tried a few things to keep busy. I grew up loving art and doing anything creative. I wasn’t necessarily the academic genius in my family. Out of boredom and my love of desserts, I started baking macarons at home and posting them on my Instagram stories! My friends started asking if I would sell them my treats and that’s where my journey began. I started selling on Instagram and Facebook and I was selling out every week. Although we were still in the midst of a pandemic, the outpouring of support that I received from the community was both overwhelming and what inspired me to continue! Now here I am, two years later as of this week, still selling out my pre-orders. Still working out of my kitchen and still loving it. I am currently booked all the way out until July, and I just feel really grateful. The people who ordered from me, in the beginning, have stuck around and have become some of my best friends.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I wish I could say it has been a smooth road! Starting a business and trying to operate it through a pandemic is the hardest thing I have ever done. Let alone a food business. There have been more shortages than I can count, price increases, and my own personal struggles that have made this the toughest and scariest time ever. I have worked literally hundreds of overnights, thousands of hours, through holidays, weekends, and my own birthdays to keep this going and I couldn’t imagine it any other way. The struggles are what have made me feel the most accomplished and pushed me to learn and create things I never thought I could.
My family has given me so much of their time, love, and support, too. Which is what gives me that extra push when I feel burnt out.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a baker through and through! My first love and staple product is the macaron. I create specialty flavors, designs, and shapes for holidays, events, and special occasions. They are what got me started and my favorite thing to bake. I find the entire process very soothing. I’ve made so many of them at this point, that it’s just muscle memory at this point. Although Florida weather makes them especially difficult to perfect, so I take great pride in the products I put forward since they are not something everyone can just pick up and do. They require lots of practice and love!
I have recently moved more into the cake side of things doing custom cakes for events, birthdays, holidays, and weddings! It has been such a blast and so exciting to be able to create fun themes and flavors.
I am the proudest of the time and work I put into everything I create. I think this is also what sets me apart from others. Anyone can learn to bake. It is a science and it is difficult, but anyone can do it! However, not everyone can or is willing to put in the time and energy it takes to do it solo, full time, and to the magnitude that I run my business and it’s something I take great pride in.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I don’t know if I would use the word lucky to describe how I started my business, but I do know that if COVID hadn’t happened, and I didn’t lose my job- I never would have pursued my dreams. I would still be working at the restaurant and not feeling like I had found my purpose or doing something that I loved. It’s a tricky thing because I know so many people were negatively impacted by the events over the last two years. In an effort to share some of my good fortune with those around me, I do fundraisers when I can, food drives for my community, and I do my best to spread awareness about how other people can help, too.
Pricing:
- Holiday Macarons $30- $35
- Cakes $50+
- Smash Cakes $45
- Weddings: Custom
Contact Info:
- Email: macksmacsoviedo@gmail.com
- Instagram: @itsmacksmacs
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/MacksMacsBakery
- Other: https://forms.gle/nN3PaRcVc43ihdkP8
