Starting from Scratch

Thomas and Laurie Pavlou have been baking cakes since 1988 in Cleveland, Tenn. From what began as a simple desire to go into business for themselves has since grown into the T&L Baking Company, built by Thomas himself with the help of a local contractor, housing nine ovens and the capacity to produce 10,000 cakes per week.

“We began production with one convection oven, one stainless steel table, a small mixer and several sheet pans,” Laurie Pavlou said. “Our initial operation included baking and delivering specialty Greek pastries directly to local grocery stores.”

Business jumpstarted when they began producing angel food cakes for an East Ridge distributor, and by spring of 1990, Laurie had one full-time employee helping her produce more than 800 cakes and 400 packages of pastries per week. After Thomas and Laurie found two more interested distributors in Middle and West Tennessee, Thomas decided to quit his job and work full time at the bakery. From there, T&L Baking Company began producing 3,000 to 4,000 cakes per week supplying three distributors and several local stores.

With the help of an SBA loan, Thomas and Laurie were able to double the size of their building and purchase additional ovens and equipment. “By this time, we were producing angel food cakes and pound cakes as our specialty and working with six main distributors. The bakery was outputting 4,000 to 6,000 cakes per week and we had two employees year-round with several temporary helpers during the busy season.”

By 2008, Thomas and Laurie applied for and secured a BERO microloan. From that, Laurie says they learned the value of creating and following a business plan, and recognized the value of access to low-interest capital which led to an increase in sales. “With the help of TNECD and the input of our local Tennessee Small Business Development Center, our company continued to grow in the past five years. We expect to hire at least two more full-time employees and increase sales by at least 10 to 12 percent this year with the help of a new BERO microloan.”

Working with the Tennessee Small Business Development Center has also resulted in the development of marketing tools including a brochure and company website to highlight and advertise their products.

While Thomas and Laurie pour most of their energy into growing their business and baking cakes, they are also focused on giving back to the community. Since they began, they have hired high school and college students, and local residents in the neighborhood surrounding the bakery.

“We are excited about the future as we plan for growth economically as well as having opportunities to touch lives daily throughout our local community.”