An online bakery that takes custom orders, Mindy’s Bakeshop is founded and owned by Ms. Mindy Sepeti. Attempting to express her love for kindness, Ms. Sepeti has taken what she believes to be one of her biggest values and crafted her website to reflect it.
“I grew up baking with my mom — she’s a really good baker, and I always loved it, but it wasn’t ever something I thought I was gonna do,” Ms. Sepeti said. “[But when] I got to college in 2004, college and I just didn’t jive really well — we didn’t gel, and I ended up skipping a lot of classes, and I would just bake for friends.
Ms. Sepeti grew up in the Valley, but went to college at UT. Moving back to her hometown after leaving college, Ms. Sepeti started going to community college while working at a restaurant. She continued baking for friends and coworkers and taking orders from them. Continuing her multifaceted career trajectory for a while, Ms. Sepeti’s path changed when a manager suggested pastry school.
“I went home that night and researched [pastry school], and found out that I could go to Le Cordon Bleu in Austin, so I signed up that night. I moved back to Austin the next month, and then that was it. I went to pastry school in 2009 and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Ms. Sepeti said.
After pastry school, Ms. Sepeti started working in pastry kitchens. Once there, however, she began encountering lots of long hours with very low pay, eventually deciding to start taking personal pastry orders on the side for supplemental income.
“Eventually I just kept thinking, I want to do this for myself. I don’t have to answer to people above me, and I don’t want to work 80 hours a week for the rest of my life,” Ms. Sepeti said. “So in 2015, [my husband, Mr. Kenny Sepeti,] and I sat down and talked about it and decided, you know what, we have a little bit of savings — let’s take the leap, quit our jobs, and do this full time.”
Choosing a niche approach to the business, Ms. and Mr. Sepeti chose to work from home instead of searching for a physical location for the bakery. Ms. Sepeti notes one major benefit of this to be the lack of necessity to wake up early to stock a case or start baking.
“They can be long days. But the really nice thing about working for yourself is that I get to decide what orders we’re going to take and when we’re going to take a day off, and it just feels more rewarding,” Ms. Sepeti said. “The freedom of it’s really nice. It’s a lot [of work] but it’s so much better than working for somebody else and making $12 an hour.”
Many people say they would fight with their spouse too much if they were to work together, but that doesn’t apply to Ms. Sepeti. Her favorite part of owning her own business is being able to work with Mr. Sepeti every day.
“He’s a really calming presence for me, but he’s also grumpy and moody, and I just love that, because that is not who I am,” Ms. Sepeti said. “We just fit together really well.”
Ms. Sepeti and Mr. Sepeti met after the former took a job as a baker an hour away from where she lived, and encountered the latter in the kitchens. Mr. Sepeti quickly developed a crush on Ms. Sepeti, but they didn’t grow close until he had a medical emergency and had to be taken to the hospital after work. She volunteered to take him, and they got the opportunity to talk.
“Yeah, it definitely felt really providential. There was no reason for me to take a job an hour away from where I lived, and everybody thought I was crazy, but there was a reason,” Ms. Sepeti said. “It worked out really well.”
While Ms. Sepeti and her husband were both emotionally ready to take the leap and start a bakery, they found themselves a little challenged monetarily. Both wish they had saved up a little bit more before starting.
“The first year was tough. But other than that, I kind of live life trying to look forward. We’re all gonna make mistakes,” Ms. Sepeti said. “But I learned a lot from the experience. And so a lot of times, it’s good to take what you can from those moments and not dwell on them too much.”
Even through the long hours, Ms. Sepeti continues enjoying her work. Owning a bakery isn’t an easy job, but she stays because of her love of people. She loves making people smile and bonding with them over food.
“I love being able to connect with people in general,” Ms. Sepeti said. “We all gotta eat.”
For more information on Mindy’s Bakeshop, check out @mindysbakeshop on Instagram or mindysbakeshopaustin.com.
