American Airlines partners with Black-owned small business to bring sweets to the sky
Single mother Tamara Turner started off baking cakes in her kitchen when she founded her business, Silver Spoon Desserts, in 2017.
Little did she know, just a few years down the road, her cakes would be offered to customers in the sky.
Turner partnered with American Airlines to offer her Bundt cakes to customers on flights between 900 and 1,499 miles, elevating her business in a way she couldn’t expect, Turner said in a video announcing the partnership.
The idea of a dessert business first bubbled up in Turner’s mind at 4:30 a.m. on July 25, 2017, Turner remembers.
“I had been pondering, ’What am I supposed to do with my life?’ The answer came … as the reassuring voice of God whispered to me, ‘Do the cakes first!’” Tamara said on her website.
Turner first set sights on serving her desserts on a commercial airline because she enjoys flight travel so much, she told American Airlines. During her proposal, she presented different cakes to the senior board members and was later invited on board.
“There were changes quick and on the fly,” Turner said. “I went from 500 cakes to 100,000 cakes. ... We can’t shrink the goal, we have to increase the effort.”
Turner’s at-home baking business quickly moved to a 16,000-square-foot facility in Chicago, according to American Airlines. While the partnership means her business will be taken to new heights, Turner still has goals for how her cakes can make a difference on the ground.
“I want to give back to other single mothers. We will hire single mothers at a living wage … we will also have mentors for them ... so that they can become economically sustainable,” Turner said. “So they can take care of their kids.”
By offering such mentors as bankers, lawyers and more, Turner hopes to support single mothers, she told American Airlines.
“It means to me so much, because I was a single mother and I know that struggle all too well,” she said.
This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 6:17 PM with the headline "American Airlines partners with Black-owned small business to bring sweets to the sky."
