Blue Earth Area senior Mya Steinhauer is the owner and operator of her own bakery business, Sweets By Mya.
How can your favorite hobby become a profitable business?
For Mya Steinhauer, it all started with the coffee crew’s sweet tooth.
A few years ago, a senior in the Blue Earth area was asked to serve cookies to the coffee crew who regularly meet at Frost’s Jurys Bar and Grill.
The coffee crew expected Steinhauer to probably make standard cookie dishes such as monster cookies and sugar cookies. Throughout the month, we brought elaborately decorated cookies to Jurys Bar and Grill.
“I loved seeing how much they loved[the cookies].” Steinhauer recalls that the coffee crew wrote her a thank-you card at the end of the month. “Food is my favorite and I love making it for people.”
Sweets By Mya was born when Steinhauer discovered his vocation.
Up until this point, Steinhauer had mostly baked bread for his family: his parents, Dan and Danielle Steinhauer, and his brother, Mason. She has truly begun to test the limits of what can be done during the long, empty days of COVID quarantine.
Steinhauer now bakes bread in her family’s kitchen, but she does so as an established business owner and operator.
Sweets By Mya already gets a lot of traffic from community members looking for sweet treats. Steinhauer says he gets asked to make birthday cakes and cupcakes two or three times a month, and during the most festive times of the year he bakes large holiday-themed batches. I am also making
Last Thanksgiving, Steinhauer hit a home run with his pumpkin-themed batch bake and received rave reviews from customers who sampled a bite of his famous pumpkin pie.
Steinhauer also created a cupcake sampler last Easter, offering five flavors of cupcakes in one box.
On some holidays, Steinhauer teams up with her mentor and employer, Lacey Hushing of Lacey’s Catering in Wells, rather than making the treats herself. Recently, Steinhauer has been supporting Hassing’s biggest holiday his rush for Christmas and Valentine’s Day.
Hassing then helps mentees by offering pricing advice and renting Steinhauer kitchen space when the Sweets by Mya order grows beyond the capabilities of the Steinhauer family’s kitchen. reach out.
So far, Steinhauer’s most demanding project has been the wedding.
“I had to use Lacy’s kitchen for that.” she laughs
In Hassing’s kitchen, Steinhauer made 500 cupcakes and a wedding cake.
“It was really fun,”Steinhauer says. “I also helped cater weddings. People would come up to me and say how much they loved cupcakes.”
Steinhauer estimates her cupcakes are one of her most popular items, but Thanksgiving pumpkin pie bites were also in high demand.
Looking to the future, Steinhauer recently added to its repository of decorating techniques. She practices the intricate piping required to decorate cakes, as well as the trendy “flood icing” technique on Sugar Her cookies.
Her goals for Sweets by Mya include expanding her marketing efforts and hopefully keeping it as a profitable side business for years to come.
But Steinhauer’s plans for the future go beyond baking. Next year she plans to study nutrition at Iowa State University. Her nutrition science – the study of food and nutritional sciences – has attracted Steinhauer, who expresses an interest in both food and health.
But she definitely keeps grilling on the side.
“It’s a fun way to be creative and a fun way to make money.”Steinhauer explains. “It’s definitely my creative outlet.”
Steinhauer is taking orders on their Facebook page @Sweets By Mya and can also be reached by phone at 507-525-8762.