Meet Jamie Cox: Baker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jamie Cox and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jamie, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
I’ve always enjoyed baking and creating. As a child I would use my mothers red Betty Crocker cookbook and scroll through the pages while she was away at work, to see what I could put together. She’d not always come home to something amazing as planned, but at least I didn’t burn the house down. As time passed I baked for myself, family and friends, never anything more than that. We would have weekly Shabbat dinner at my brother’s home and I was in charge of dessert. That gave me a weekly challenge of something to come up with to share and a large gathering of friends and family to experiment on. At this point I decided to focus on gluten free specifically for several people that were intolerant. I set out on this task with the mindset of, I will create amazing things that are gluten free. As you know it doesn’t have a good reputation and surely didn’t 10 years ago. In 2015 I decided to attend culinary school to expand my knowledge and love for baking. After school I was still working in the automotive industry and baking on the side. For many years I had friends tell me that I should be selling my baked goods, however leaving an industry of 20 years to start a new isn’t the easiest transition. My husband has been the most amazing and 100% my support. He and his brother have their own business for almost 3 years now. In January of 2019 we were able to make the decision for me to leave my job to help him and begin to focus on starting my business. By the end of 2019 my business was legal and nearly up and running. Unfortunately in the beginning of 2020 COVID came on to the scene and drastically changed everything for me and many others. Also, adding to the mix that we relocated. It wasn’t until August that I had the ability to really focus on my business and set forth a plan of action. Even though there has been many challenges from then to now, I have been so grateful for all of the opportunities and struggels this has brought me. With my business being so new, I have not let the negative experiences influence my drive to succeed, because I know I will. Just wait!    

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My business is currently a home based with hopes of a commercial location within the next few years. This way I can expand my abilities to serve more. I’ve always been a person that strives for providing excellent customer service. This is something I grew over time from my corporate office years of experience. I am 100% about communication and follow up. I don’t like to have any of my clients feeling “left in the dark” so to speak. I will walk them through every step and or question they may have. I may even over information at times. Being a newly business just starting up, I would say to anyone that is nervous or afraid, to just dive in. Never let the fear hold you back from doing something that you have a passion for. This is something I instill in my own child; telling her to follow her dreams and aspirations. I would say more times than not, being easy isn’t how things go. You have to have dedication, drive, follow through, and that “I can” spirit to push yourself. As long as you possess these, you will succeed; hard not to. What I have experienced so far as challenges I would say is being able to get myself out there and exposure so people know who I am and my time management. I have been working towards better marketing techniques and learning to say no and not over book myself. I love to do for others and have a hard time saying no to anyone. That’s probably a weakness many bakers have besides myself. Comes with the territory. I’d want people to know that gluten free isn’t scary. I spent the first 7 years really focusing on gluten free options and techniques to improve taste and texture. I have created my own cookie flour mix that is exclusive to my cookies that I bake. That is what my friends and family know me for especially. Since relocating and attempting to get the word out about what I do and have to offer, I have found that in general, people are not fans of anything with the word gluten free attached to it. This has pushed me to expand what I offer, which is great, but I don’t want to lose what I am best known for and that is my gluten free cookies.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If I had to write an itinerary for a week, I would start out with lunch at the Sun Dail. The clear glass elevator ride on a clear day is really cool as well as the experience up top where you can see all of Atlanta. The Atlanta Botanical Gardens is beautiful and always has really cool displays. Always great photography can be captured there. So many places I would go to eat. The Vortex in Little Five, hands down for their black and blue burger, but all of them are so good and it’s hard to pick just one. Just walking around Little Five and all it has to offer is exciting. Six Feet under, Atlanta location, is super tasty. The conch fritters would be my app choice hands down. While down there we’d have to stroll through IKEA and get lost walking around all day and naturally getting a cinnamon roll while we are there. Fox Brother’s BBQ has amazing brisket, so that would be yet another exciting place to visit. Most definitely would go to Stone Mountain and go to the top. It’s the thing to do. I’ve been there so many times as a child I can’t count. We’d take a day trip to Marietta and eat at the Big Chicken. It’s a landmark that is so well known, you just have to go. While over there we would visit SunTrust park area. There are many great things to do there. Pappaduex’s is my go to seafood restaurant. I love it and could dine there every day. I normally get the seafood grill or the seafood cobb salad. I love raw oysters and get them every time we dine there. I love to go to Phipps and Lenox to browse, because I do not live close so it’s always a field trip for me and it’s fun to kick around down there in Buckhead. Maggianos is my favorite Italian restaurant. I worked there briefly in 2005, so I am a little biased. We would take a day trip to Tallulah Falls and just spend the day enjoying nature. Then we’d dine at The Dillard House. It’s a must go to place when you are in the area. I have been there many times over the years. Good ‘ol Southern cooking all you can eat. I’d also go to Lake Lanier one day. The water park and Sunset Cove are a blast and dine at Fish Tails. I could probably go on and on about many different things to see and do. I just love Georgia so much and there’s no doubt about all the things it has to offer.   

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My husband. He gives me the most support than anyone. Without him, I would have never been able to leave the automotive industry to pursue what makes me happiest the most. Also, if it wasn’t for my friends Amy, Lillieanna, Kristine, and William pushing me all the time as well, I’d not be where I am today either. I have a pretty amazing support team from my friends, honestly. I kind of feel blessed in that way.

Website: www.yourhomebaker.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doughandbatterllc/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DOUGHANDBATTERLLC

Image Credits
I took all of the photos submitted