Sixteen-year-old Peyton Thomas is rapidly developing a taste for business that is arguably as refined as her taste for baked goods.
Within the last year, the Wilkinsburg resident began a home-based baking business that has garnered rave reviews from family and friends to an expanding circuit of customers on social media which is to be expected given her talent for making irresistible baked goods of both the American and French variety.
“I’ve always loved cooking,” the Winchester Thurston student said. “It was very recently when I realized I could make a profit.”
For the sake of full disclosure, one of my earliest memories of Peyton Thomas are of her hovering by her mother at the stove when she was a little more than a toddler. She loved watching her cook.
“I still watch her in the kitchen sometimes,” she said. “When you’re cooking, you can do so much. I cook knowing I can make someone smile.”
Last summer, Peyton made Oreo cupcakes for her father’s birthday. She took the leftovers to her favorite hair salon as a treat. She had no expectations beyond satisfying the sweet tooth of the folks who would encounter her food that day. “A lot of people liked them and my hair stylist asked me to make her some [more] cupcakes,” she said.
That’s when the proverbial light bulb went on.
“I started to bake for more people and my stepmom really guided me towards starting a business,” she said. “My dad came up with the name — ‘Peytie Cake Bakery’ and the help of my mom posting about the things I made on her Facebook page and my sister making a beautiful list/menu of all the things I can make, Peytie Cake was formed.”
Peyton knew intuitively that she was entering a new stage of her relationship with food and cooking. Before it had been something she entertained herself with. Now, it was a business with expectations made of her and her finished product.
Asked if she was an outlier among her friends and acquaintances at Winchester Thurston, she said there was a vegan who took cooking as seriously as she did, including a robust social media strategy that includes Instagram, but that was about it as far as she knew. She’s well aware of how unusual she is at her age.
Like all teenagers, especially artists, she has her insecurities. “I’m always shy about letting people taste my food whether I’ve made it 100 times or [once],” she said. “Sharing something that you’ve put a lot of effort into is very vulnerable for me. I haven’t completely overcome my shyness, but seeing people’s smiles and getting tagged in posts definitely helps.”
But like someone many decades her senior, she’s learned to roll with whatever situation arises in the kitchen and to use it for the better.
“I’m a bit of a perfectionist,” she said, “but I’ve learned to be less hard on myself. Sure, something might happen that I didn’t like, so I might have to restart, but I’ve learned mistakes are part of the process.”
An example of this came in the form of two of her most popular dishes at this point. “There are two desserts that when I first made them, they completely flopped,” she said. “Most of the desserts that have been a challenge for me are French, so it’s all about precision. I tried to make cream puffs one time and something went wrong during the dough making process. When I took them out of the oven, they collapsed and became floppy egg discs.
“I tried at least four more times that night to get them right. I made macarons, the delicate and super difficult French sandwich cookie commonly confused with macaroons, the coconut and chocolate treat. It took so many tries to get it perfect. Luckily, even if something went wrong, it was still edible and pretty delicious,” she said.
Like many teenagers, Peyton Thomas has many role models. “In the culinary world, I love Claire Saffitz from Bon Appetit,” she said. “Outside the culinary world, my role models are [poet] Yona Harvey, [spoken word artist] Bassey Ikpi, [artist] Vanessa German, and of course, my momma [writer Deesha Philyaw].”
To achieve maximum productivity in the kitchen, Peyton has learned to work in a variety of modes.
“When I’m baking, I prefer to have music or a show playing in the background,” she said. “I can work in silence, but it has to be completely silent. That’s why I like to bake early in the morning or late at night. Either way, I’m ‘in the zone’ and definitely don’t want to be talked to or have to engage in conversation.”
She enjoys the possibility of being a famous baker one day. “To be the next Sprinkles Cupcake and Bakery doesn’t sound too bad,” she said.
When she thinks about the future immediately after high school, she goes back and forth between attending a liberal arts college or going straight to culinary school.
Asked to impart one piece of advice to young entrepreneurs like herself, she was ready. “Be prepared for the expense of inventory (ingredients, supplies, packaging). It’s easier to work if you have a goal other than making money.
“For me, I love to see people smile. I’m still learning as I go and there’s some things that just can’t be taught. You just have to experiment. Trial and error. Be willing to make mistakes and learn from them.”
Tony Norman: tnorman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1631. Twitter @Tony_NormanPG.
First Published: June 15, 2020, 12:00 p.m.
