We had the good fortune of connecting with Brent Leach and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Brent, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Initially the business was just supposed to be a small venture for my autistic son Jack. He made a cheesecake with my mom and he asked her to buy him his own cheesecake pans. We started donating the cheesecakes he made to Oconee County Middle School’s Special Needs Program where Jack’s teacher Ms. Audrey Norman would sell them on her coffee cart by the slice to raise money for the program. The teachers started contacting us directly to get whole cheesecakes made by Jack so we started a home based Facebook Business for him.
What should our readers know about your business?
Jack and I bake homemade cheesecakes from our home and sell them at Pop Up Events. We set up our events at businesses, neighborhoods and farmers markets. My son Jack is autistic and non-verbal. He has an incredible talent for making cheesecakes. He loves to do it and I love to do it with him. We started by mostly delivering and shipping our cheesecakes. We soon found out that we could serve more customers by doing Pop Up Sales at different locations. The Pop Up Sales also helped decrease the cost of delivering and shipping. We want the world to know that being autistic doesn’t mean that you can’t become a successful business owner.
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We love to take our friends to Downtown Athens. It’s a very historic small town that still has the small town vibe. We like to see concerts at some of the historic music venues like 40 Watt Club and Georgia Theatre. This is where many bands got their start such as REM, B-52’s, Drive By Truckers, and Drivin and Cryin. There are a lot of great restaurants and breweries in Athens also such as Akademia, Terrapin and Creature Comforts.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to give a shoutout to Audrey Norman, Jack’s Middle School Teacher at Oconee County Middle School in Watkinsville GA. We would never have started a business if she didn’t introduce our cheesecakes to the faculty on her coffee cart, Brave Bean.
Website: jackscheesecake.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackscheesecake/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jackscheesecake
Other: Channel 2 Interview https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/this-takes-cake-15-year-old-with-autism-wins-1st-county-baking-competition/IZSXWUM3GRC2XJFXBBIF2IHWFQ/