Meet KT Blackmon | Pastry Chef

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

Hi KT, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
When restaurants closed at the start of Covid, I didn’t have another option. I was living paycheck to paycheck and knew exactly how many days I had and bills I could pay before I would be in the negative. It was difficult to find other work and I felt a little hopeless. I made a birthday cake for a friend in early April, mostly because I felt bad for him that he couldn’t really celebrate. He liked it so much he said I should consider doing it for money. I asked around to a few more friends and the support poured out. Before I knew it, it was a full realized business. I was making ten or more cakes a day, and even delivering them all over Atlanta (If you can even recall the eerily empty streets when we were still under stay-at-home orders). I never imagined it would pick up so much that I could not only pay my bills, but was making more than I did cooking professionally before closures. I had always dreamt of owning a bakery/bar/coffee shop combo, but this was different. This was just me and my oven out in the world, trying to put a smile on peoples’ faces. The future was gloomy and people were too; making cakes brought a little brightness to everyone’s lives, including my own.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The thing I have always loved about food service is seeing how happy you can make people with something you created. Food is ephemeral. It can be expensive and indulgent, nostalgic and comforting, or simply fuel that sustains life. It is difficult to make consistently and is deeply tied to memory, so when we experience something special we may never have it exactly that way again. When it is right, it is absolutely unforgettable. That has been a driving factor for my entire career in the industry, front or back of house. One of the things that motivates me now is hearing peoples’ responses to my food. People have told me they still dream about something I made them years ago, or crave it, or chat with loved ones about how it was the best they’ve ever had. It’s that satisfaction and lasting memory that makes me feel successful and fulfilled. There was nothing easy about how I got where I am today. I spent all of my teens and twenties working my way up through front of house, I did every job imaginable. I decided I wanted to cook and in 2015 enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu. I worked tirelessly and graduated with a 4.0, and immediately took an internship at one of the best restaurants in Atlanta. I quickly worked my way up in many fine dining kitchens in the city, right up until they all closed in 2020. When I started baking, and finally worked for myself, my priorities changed. I suddenly found that 5 am wasn’t that early, and 2 am later that same day didn’t feel so late. I was living the paradox of “time flies when you’re having fun but slows when you aren’t wasting it.” I worked relentlessly. I accepted every order. I learned quickly and found that my skill level in pastry was imporving rapidly, it had to when I was teaching myself. Later that year my grandfather’s health declined rapidly, and I made the difficult decision to put my business on pause and move back to my hometown to help my grandparents during covid. I use the word “difficult” lightly, I didn’t realize until much later how excruciating it would be to stop doing what I loved every day. I don’t regret any of the time I got to spend with them, but that year certainly was a rollercoaster. In late 2021 I moved back to Atlanta, and worked as a pastry chef in a restaurant I helped open in 2019. This year, I decided to take a huge step towards re-establishing my business. I renamed it Sweet Butter, after my rescue dog and of course, the dairy, both of which always “make it better.” I made a website myself, which was a non-stop 30 hour ordeal because I am not great with computers, but incredibly self-disciplined, so I was very proud of that accomplishment. Once again I am accepting every order and working relentlessly, hoping that word will spread that I am back at it. The country is different, peoples’ economic status is different, and I am different, having been through a lot in the past two years. I just want to put the smiles on peoples’ faces again, and subsequently my own. I hope to one day have that bakery/bar/coffee shop concept as a reality, and make that dream come true. It seems very far away, but I’ve come to believe anything can happen.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’ve recently gotten into outdoorsy sports, so I spend a lot of my free time at state parks hiking, bicycling, or kayaking, so that would definitely be on the agenda. I spent 7 years in Atlanta before I really noticed how beautiful the landscape is. A trip to Sweetwater Creek State Park would be necessary for anyone who visited. I live right near Piedmont Park and I like to take my dog walking through all the parts of the park, so that would be a nice activity to enjoy some good southeastern weather. My favorite restaurant is Little Bear, I loved and followed them through all the Eat Me/Speak Me phases and locations, and Chef Jarrett Steiber has always been kind and deserving of every accolade he has achieved. Lee’s Bakery would definitely be on the list for bahn mi and pho. I love Perc, and have been a fan of theirs since my Savannah days. I also like to support chef friends who are operating their own pop-ups. There is definitely a culture of “passing the money around” when it comes to chefs and small business owners in the industry. The flip side to having your own business and working all the time is that there often isn’t time or extra income available to “go out.” I cook at home a lot so if someone were visiting, they might get the at-home chef table treatment. People from out of town are usually in awe if I take them to YDFM for the first time- with the head’s up to walk quickly and stay out of the way(!) When I do go out I like to try new places and see new things so I follow a lot of blogs and lists about new experiences in Atlanta.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
When I was first starting out, I was on the phone with my Papa every day while I was baking. My grandfather operated his own printing business for many years after branching out from the company he started at after printing school. When I was a kid he taught me how to run the presses myself. He worked hard and was very successful, and was able to retire at 45 and live a very fulfilled life. He always encouraged me to chase my dreams and be strong and never give up. He sourced a lot of my equipment for me in the beginning, and even got me my first nice turn table from an elderly baker he knew from his hometown who was getting rid of a lot of her supplies. A lot of the advice he gave me resonates today, and has been useful in creating strong relationships with clients who have continued to support me years later.

Website: sweetbutteratl.com

Instagram: sweetbutteratl

Other: sweetbutteratl@gmail.com