Lindsay Marie Morris

The deadliest hurricane to strike the mainland U.S. since 2005's Katrina, Helene caused widespread and catastrophic damage, wrecking thousands of homes in the Tampa area alone.

 

"Our whole home was flooded," says Tampa-area resident Victoria Mahdieh, who counts herself among the luckier ones. "Our cars were totaled, and we lost almost everything. It's been a journey, so I've had to start from scratch."

 

But she wasn't about to lose her business. For the past decade, the owner of SugarBar Tampa has baked and decorated custom cookies and cakes out of her cottage kitchen.

 

Sure, she had to buy all new appliances. And she's had to scale back a bit; she doesn't have the same room in her new space in Carrollwood.

 

But it's temporary, she says. "We're building it back little by little."

 

Victoria is used to facing challenges. She built her business from the ground up, doing everything from baking and designing to packaging. She's grateful for the help of her family, who has pitched in on many occasions, like that time when she baked 1,000 cookies for the Chamber of Commerce, and they acted as an assembly line.

 

She may have inherited her drive from her great-grandparents. All four came from Sicily. One great-grandfather became a land developer, learned English, and became Ybor City's first Italian councilman. And one of her great-grandmothers rolled cigars when she was 14, standing on a stool at one of the town's many cigar factories.

 

But it's her paternal grandmother whom she credits for shaping her into the baking businesswoman she's become. Victoria shared more about her hero, her journey, how she ensures her baked goods look and taste good (not an easy feat!), how she engages her community, advice for budding bakers, and what keeps her motivated.

 

 

Tell us about how your grandmother inspired you.

My grandmother was the best Italian cook you'd ever know. And I used to kneel on a chair, grating cheese, as she cooked pots of sauce and meatballs on Sunday afternoons. I always watched her in the kitchen and still have many of her cooking utensils. The most precious of which are the heart-shaped cake pans she used to make my birthday cakes as a child. I use them often.

 

She was a huge nurturer, and I inherited that gene from her. She always expressed her love through the food she served. So that definitely was part of our household and still is.  

 

She once made 2,000 meatballs for the Tampa Boys Club. She always baked cakes and goodies for the Catholic Women's Club and many school fundraisers and events. And I've always loved to do that kind of thing as well. And I always went in a little "extra" for my kids' birthday cakes when they were growing up or making pizzas with their classes on career day. So, it kind of went from there and developed over the years. Also, my husband and I were in the restaurant business for many years, so it's always just been in my blood.

 

Tell us about that journey from restaurants to baking.

It pretty much happened organically. When we left the restaurant business, my husband opened a small car dealership. My oldest daughter became engaged, and her friends started getting married. I would make their cakes and decorative cookies for showers and parties. At some of those events, people asked if they could order from me, and I thought, "Wow! People will actually pay me to do this."

 

Then we started doing markets and trunk shows, and it just grew from there. Now, it's a regular full-time business. I'm doing something I love to do, and I get to create and make people happy. 

 

 

How do you ensure your baked goods are both beautiful and delicious?

I just use the best quality ingredients and recipes I've developed that work best for me. With some designs, I ask myself, "Why did I say I could do that?" But somehow, with prayer and perseverance, it always works out. So, we keep on going through trial and error. When some things don't work, you just start over and do it again.

 

I've learned to say no to things I don't enjoy doing. Covering cakes with fondant is one of them. I love to make accessories with fondant, but I prefer covering them with buttercream. So, that's what I do.

 

The designs just come from the inspiration of the theme, methods I've seen and tried, the client's wish list, and what they envision it to be. 

 

What have been your most memorable creations, and why do they stand out?

There was one: a four-tier wedding cake that I had to deliver to a hotel in Channelside. It was pouring down rain, the wind was blowing, and the whole time, I was thinking, "Oh my gosh, how am I going to get this cake in there safely?!"

 

When I got there, the sun came out, and suddenly, a strong and tall valet was standing behind me and said, "Can I help you?" 

It was like God sent him to me that day, as he helped me carry that heavy cake all the way to the banquet room and even helped me situate it on the table. Mission accomplished.

 

How do you engage your community?

Just by putting out a good product and being approachable and friendly, I now have a great customer base who just keep coming back and referring their friends. The best way is word of mouth. So if you put forth a good product, business tends to come.

 

Several customers have been with me since their children were small. And one of them just turned 13. It's fun to watch how she's changed her style as she's grown up from a little girl to a teenager. It's also fun to follow people from engagement parties to bridal showers to weddings, baby showers, gender reveals, et cetera. 

 

 

What advice would you give someone starting in the baking industry?

Just keep trying. Go forward. Don't be afraid to take risks; just do it.

 

Things tend to fall into place. Do your best and use the best ingredients you can find and learn by watching videos and learning new and different techniques. Go to marketplaces and try to get yourself out there so people get to know you. Don't be afraid to give a few things away; it helps to engage people and lets them try your product. If I have a new product or flavor, I will offer a taste when they come to pick up their order. Nine times out of 10, they end up placing an order for it the next time.

 

I would also trade products at one of the markets. I would trade my baklava for organic honey from a local vendor and share things with others. It gradually comes together.

 

What keeps you motivated?

The joy it brings people makes all those hard hours worth it. There are many 14-hour days, Christmas, graduation, and other seasons that are so busy you barely have time to breathe. But knowing that it's bringing people joy and putting smiles on their faces makes me happy, too. That it made their event that much sweeter is the icing on the cake. 

 

 

 

 

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Between Sicily's cannoli, cakes, and gelato-stuffed brioche, the island offers plenty of tempting sweet treats. But not everyone can partake.

 

Kasia Bos, who suffers from gluten intolerance, was tired of the lack of choices for people like herself. So, in 2022, she and her partner, co-founder Diego Di Giovanni, launched Terved, a Catania, Sicily-based company committed to not only meeting dietary needs but also exceeding taste and quality expectations. 

I caught up with Kasia and Diego to discuss Terved and its inspiration, the challenges the young entrepreneurs faced, how they balance tradition with necessary ingredients, how they build relationships, what Terved's future looks like, and their advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.

 

 

What inspired Terved?

Kasia: I had gotten prescribed a gluten-free diet because of problems with my intestine. So my doctor advised me to go gluten-free, and from there, it started this new world of gluten-free. 

Diego met me a little bit after I had started this gluten-free diet. We were both young, and we wanted to do something. We thought, "Why don't we do something about the problem many people have, which is that it's still impossible to be gluten-free?"  We turned it into something productive and beautiful.  

 

Tell us about your product offerings.

Diego: We focus on the more regional and typical products, such as the cannoli and brioche we use for ice cream. But then the demand and the market also asked us for more and different products. We also developed products such as donuts that are more international. We made muffins and mini tarts with pistachio and apricot jam. Right now, we are trying to evolve and adapt to the market demand to satisfy and cover all the possible scenarios that we can. 
 

What challenges did you face starting your business?

Diego: We started very young. I was 22, she was 18. So, we both didn't have much life experience to deal with failures. So the first nos were very hard to take. Also, it was difficult to co-work and have two minds, two ideas that had to meld together at the end of the day. 

The most difficult, from my point of view, is the financial part because business knowledge is something that we managed to get from studying from other people as well as from experimenting, from failures, and so on. But the financial part is tricky because to make money, you have to invest money. And when you are so young, you don't have money. No one wants to give you money. 

 

Terved Co-founders Kasia Bos and Diego Di Giovanni

 

What is your process for developing products?

Kasia: When we started, we thought, "We are in Italy. He's Sicilian. So what can we do? Where can we start? What do people need?" So we came up with the concept of cannoli and the brioche, the most typical Sicilian products you can find. 

We already had a small community of people who followed us during the beginning of our journey. So we would try recipes with them. People who had celiac connected with us, and we asked them, "Is this an interesting product? Could this be a better product?" We did a little quiz. 

The difficult part was actually making that product happen. So we went from making recipes at home to going to specialists who could actually make those products last. From there, it's just been about spreading the product as much as possible. 

 

How do you ensure there's no cross-contamination?

Diego: All the products are individually packed. So even when they arrive from the laboratory to the final destination, we make sure that they are one hundred percent safe.

  

Kasia: At the end of the day, it goes from the laboratory to the hands of the consumer without getting touched by anyone. 

 

How do you balance traditional recipes with the need for gluten-free ingredients?

Diego: Of course, the flavor is not the same because when you change the flour, you change both taste, texture, the proofing of the product, the softness, the air—a lot of things. But our goal is to make a gluten-free version that reminds us of the traditional products. We are trying to develop a product that is as close as possible to the original one. 

 

How do you build relationships with clients, customers, partners, and distributors?

Diego: It depends on where these customers are located, but let's say that from a broader vision, we have a first approach on email. We use LinkedIn a lot. We introduce our company and what we do and send a catalog and a company presentation. Then, if we make a call, for example, to discuss a possible partnership, we send samples. If they're here in Sicily, we go meet them.

In our packaging, we include a little bit of our story and how we started. On social media, we try to entertain and talk about, for example, what we ate for dinner. We also try to attend events and fairs so we can meet customers. 

 

What's been the most rewarding part of this journey?

Kasia: For me, at least, it's actually having a face-to-face with the final consumer. When the actual client comes to you or writes a message to you and says, "Oh my God, your brioches are amazing!" 

The whole point of doing this is connecting with those people. In person, it's even better because once or twice, we were walking on the street, and out of nowhere, someone popped up and said, "Please never stop. You're amazing!" 

Diego: That's very heartwarming and beautiful. I would also like to add that I was astonished when a company reached out to us and told us they would like to bring our cannoli to Boston. 

We started from Catania, a small city of 200,000 citizens. Now, we are bringing our products to Boston, Australia, and the UK, and it happened so fast. We have another possibility for Miami and another company in Boston. Having your product so far away from your hometown is almost unbelievable.

 

Terved brioches on display at a supermarket.

 

What does Terved's future look like?

Kasia: We want to create more products and products that maybe haven't been seen before. We want to create more options. Right now, our focus is on supermarkets to really get in the hands of as many people as possible with higher quality products.

 

Diego: We have so many products that we could create. Another thing that we are trying to do is bring to supermarkets not just another gluten-free company but a premium gluten-free company. Our goal is to create a variety that is not currently in the market, at least here in Italy.

 

Kasia: The U.S. is way more advanced in that supermarkets carry 20 different kinds of gluten-free breads and 50 types of cookies. In Italy, it's really bad. You see two companies where there should be more options.

 

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Diego: We started with no experience, with no money, with nothing. We were very naive and a little bit reckless.

Surround yourself with experienced people. Try to listen because we gained knowledge from people who knew the business and knew more about life. Don't be scared of losing friends or sleep. Eventually, it's all going to be rewarded.

 

What experience do you want for your customers?

Diego: We just want them to feel listened to, not to be excluded.

Kasia: This is why we started, right? For them not to feel excluded. So when they eat, it's not like they have to think about it. It is just there. We want people to feel at ease.

 

 

 

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