Life & Work with Rachel Altiere-Cohen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Altiere-Cohen.

Hi Rachel, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Even as a little girl I can remember how much I loved doing crafts and entertaining. I always handmade the invitations for my parties as well as select and prepare the food I wanted to serve. I had hand drawn the birthday cake that I wanted the bakery to make for my party…and my mother still has the drawing to this day. I didn’t set out to own a bakery and it wasn’t a dream of mine yet one I kinda fell into. 10 years ago, I moved back to Ohio from NYC to be closer to my family. I was working as a realtor and didn’t have many friends in Columbus at the time. I took to baking at night and brought my creations into the office the next day. My coworkers encouraged me to pursue selling my sweets. Real estate wasn’t really a passion of mine so I thought I would jump into this next adventure and that’s where Sadie Baby Sweets was born. The name comes from my beloved Weimaraner Sadie or as we called her “Sadie Baby” and also a play on words of the individually portioned mini sweets we make “Baby Sweets”…Sadie Baby Sweets.

I love that every day with my business is different and exciting. I am learning and growing with every decision that I make which makes me stronger. It isn’t always the easiest to navigate new waters but with the support of my husband Ryan and my family I know I can be resilient. My daughters Reagan (3) and Remington (2) love going to my bakery… it like a giant candy land playhouse to them.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being an entrepreneur can definitely have its struggles. Within 3 months of opening my bakery we joyously found out we were going to have our 1st baby. As a business owner, I didn’t have maternity leave aside from immediate 2 weeks after giving birth that I allocated for myself. Fast forward to bringing a newborn to work with you for the 1st year of their life and imagine how much work you get done! We don’t have family in town and daycare wasn’t an option we wanted to pursue. I wanted to save money where we could and be able to spend time with my daughter. Not long after welcoming our 1st daughter…Oops, we did it again and welcomed our 2nd daughter 6 weeks after our oldest celebrated her 1st birthday. Did I mention I love to multitask!

Just when I thought I could actually be pretty good at balancing family life and owning a business the Coronavirus entered all of our lives. I remember not thinking about how this would affect me or my family but how it would affect my staff financially. I wanted to make sure that they would be taken care of. Our shop closed for only 1 week while at the same time it seemed like the rest of the country was closing for business. During that time, I pondered on what we could do to keep employees working and my business afloat. We were considered “essential” since we provided food services. We learned to pivot from our “bread and butter” catered wedding dessert tables and corporate events to cake and cookie decorating kits knowing that parents were looking for activities to brighten their children’s days. Birthday party celebrations and graduations looked different but our individually wrapped items were a hit and Covid friendly to pass out during drive-by celebrations. The business was flourishing during a time of uncertainty. In the fall of 2021, a product we were making in previous year became huge due to Tik Tok videos. The Hot Chocolate Bombs were all the rage and we were the main supplier in town. We had lines out the door from Halloween until NYE. 2020 was such an uncertain year but it felt as though we were all in it together…

2021 has been the hardest year of my life! In short it was the year I lost great employees and then struggled to hire new ones. Unfortunately I had to work so many extra hours due to being understaffed that it put a strain on my marriage. I felt as though I was missing precious moments with my littles ones and the overload was taking a toll on my physical and mental health. The greatest loss was when my mentor of over 25 years had passed away. I had lost a true friend and supporter. I felt such grief knowing that I wouldn’t get to see or speak to her ever again. I find strength in the fact that I know I’m not the only one going through these hardships and that it will not last forever. The world as I knew it had changed… here is to a prosperous and joyous 2022!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We bring Pinterest to life! If you can dream it, we can create it. We have so much fun creating edible art. We are challenged every day by our clients with unique requests such as Turkey-shaped chocolate-covered strawberries to wedding dress chocolate-covered Oreos to hedgehog smash cakes. We are known in Columbus for having the best cake pops in town! Cake pops are cake and frosting combined and rolled into a ball and dipped in chocolate with a truffle like consistency. We offer them in a variety of flavors and designs. Some of our other most popular sweets include caramel-wrapped pretzels, french macarons, peanut butter bars, and rice krispie treats. What sets us apart from the rest is our attention to detail and superior customer service. We are so grateful the for continued support of our local community and our fantastic clientele. We are constantly strategizing and looking for ways to be better and grow. We are so honored and thankful to be a small part of so many wonderful celebrations.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
One of the best things to come out of 2020 was a Facebook group called Support Central Ohio Restaurants. The founders started it within days of the initial shutdown. The group has around 48k followers and it has been a fantastic group to promote and give shout-outs to the amazing food scene we have here in Columbus.

I also love that Columbus is a super-fast growing metropolitan city yet I still feel a sense of local community.

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