Focus on Black-Owned Businesses: Copley Grad Meets Demand with Bakery Business

Savannah Griggs, owner of Sweet and Savvy, sells her baked goods at Market Day on Jefferson Street in Akron. Karen Schiely, Akron Beacon Journal.

Reprinted with permission from the Akron Beacon Journal

Savannah Griggs’ baking business started with a simple supply and demand problem. Despite her not being a baker, people kept demanding her baked goods. 

It began when she was a cheerleader at Copley High School.Each cheer member had to make goody bags for a number of football players. After buying her sweets for some time, a player asked, “Do you make brownies?” 

She didn’t, but her sister did. After she learned how to make them, it was all the players wanted until she graduated. 

Griggs enjoyed a baking-free life after graduating until a friend asked her to make cupcakes. That friend told more friends, and Griggs suddenly had cupcake orders for three months straight. 

She spent a lot of time at “YouTube University” as she moved on to other sweets. Despite making a cake she thought was“as average as average can be,” her friend thought it could be much more. 

“She said, I think you can really make something out of this,” Griggs said. 

Griggs, 24, of Copley, has turned that demand into a home-based baking business, Sweet and Savvy. The local, Black-owned business specializes in custom cakes, cupcakes and chocolate-dipped items and has a storefront on the way. 

Despite not having any bakers in her family, Griggs said she was always surrounded by business. Her father owns his own construction business, and she and her sister started making money off sweets at an early age. 

“Even as a kid, we used to sell candy on the bus,” Griggs said. “Making sales has never been something I've struggled with.” 

All programs are free and income eligible. To register for one of 10 food service programs offered by OPEN M, contact United Way of Summit and Medina County’s 2-1-1 service (dial 2-1-1 or 330-376-6660). To check eligibility for OPEN M’s medical clinic, call 330-434-0110. 

OPEN M serves the Summit Lake community around its headquarters on Princeton Street, but clients for the medical clinic and food services come from all over Summit County,  Curry said. 

A total of 40% percent of the clinic’s active patients are from the Summit Lake neighborhood and the other 60% are from greater Akron and Summit County. Among patients, 43% are white, 42% are black/brown and the rest identify as “other” or are unidentified, Curry said. 

"She was in elementary school when she and her sister started selling candy from the dollar store. Griggs said they sold 10-cent candies for 25 cents, and it was about three months before their mom noticed their huge bucket of change. 

Her father was proud they worked together and turned a profit. Her mom, the voice of reason, said they were probably breaking a couple of rules,Griggs said. 

Griggs went to the University of Akron after high school, but said she never really found what she wanted to do. She took a semester off in 2017, which is when she lost her on-campus job. 

Again, demand for her baked goods put her back into business mode, and she quickly replaced her income. 

“I was making more from the cakes and cupcakes than I was making on campus,” she said.

Griggs said what made her fall in love with baking was a cake decorating class she took in Cleveland. At the end of class, talking withthe other bakers, she looked back at all the orders she had done, and realized it had become a peaceful escape. 

She went back to UA, but when the COVID-19pandemic shut down in-person classes, she decided online learning wasn’t for her. Griggs focused on her baking and, again, the demand came. 

The next step, she said, is opening up a storefront. She said she originally found a location in Barberton, and was planning to open this past spring, but some obstacle shave them looking for a new location. 

a location had already been a struggle,Griggs said, and being a young woman didn’t make things any easier. 

When she was looking at locations, she was often meeting with men who owned the buildings. She'd get a price, but then her father would get a completely different quote from the same building.

“How can I open a business in my name, it has my name on it, my face, my work, but I have to hide behind [my dad] to get an accurate price of what the building’s going to cost?” Griggs said. 

Griggs’ father reassured her that she could still push through it and make something of her own. 

While working at another job, Griggs said she’s averaging about eight or nine cakes a weekend along with a few dozen cupcakes and other baked goods. 

Griggs said she used to be able to fill orders with a week turnaround. Now she’s booked about a month in advance, even longer for weddings.

"Her plan is to have a small team and to continue doing custom orders while selling baked goods and ice cream out of the storefront. Eventually, she’d like to open multiple stores. 

Griggs said it's been a roller coaster ride, but that the process of building her business during the last few years has taught her to be in the moment. 

“It definitely taught me patience,” she said.“I feel like every door that’s been closed, the next one that opens is so much greater.”