The way her customers rave, it is easy to believe that Mandy Field may well have cornered the local cheesecake market and is heading for total domination in that area.
The cake artist behind the mouth watering cheesecakes at Tootie Fruities, started her business almost three years ago by marketing through her personal social media pages, but last year she created a business page and has seen orders increase.
Mandy’s stellar presentation of her scrumptious cakes took years to attain. She studied at the Carnegie School of Home Economics and subsequently began working as an assistant to the executive chef at the Marriott Hotel in an administrative capacity. She later moved to the kitchen where she further advanced her culinary skills.
Her passion for working in the kitchen has always been part of her, she said. Born and raised as a city girl, Mandy said weekends were always looked forward to as that was when she and her father would cook up a storm together.
Even though the kitchen was where her heart was, Mandy saw herself in an office, working in the business administration field. This became a reality when she began working in the administrative department at the Marriott Hotel but it was there she realized that her heart was not in it. She was sure of what she wanted to do when she took up kitchen duties.
For many people, a meal does not feel complete unless it ends with dessert. Mandy’s nod to this is the cheesecakes she creates at Tootie Fruities.
At present, her most popular cheesecake is one that comes with four different toppings. Another favourite is her signature passionfruit cheesecake. She also makes no-bake cheesecake cups, cheesecake shots that come in little shot glasses with alcohol and no-bake alcohol cheesecakes. Her cakes are available in assorted flavours inclusive of strawberry, passionfruit, blueberry, chocolate, cookies N’ cream, cherry, rum and raisin, salted caramel, cream cheese frosting, butter pecans, and espresso among other flavours. Customers also have the option of deciding what flavour they want their cheesecakes to have.
Mandy accepts customers’ commendations with a great deal of modesty. She said they never make her feel like she has arrived and there is nothing more to achieve. On the contrary, praise only makes her want to learn more so as to widen the variety of what she offers.
“The most [incredible] feeling is knowing that I can share my art, my talent and my passion with the world for people to enjoy,” she exclaimed.
Mandy has customers in Linden, Georgetown, Lethem, and Brazil. There are customers who take back her cakes with them to New York, while some New Yorkers place orders for her cakes to be delivered as gifts for people living here.
Tootie Fruities has no shopfront, so all cakes are delivered. Customers pay on delivery; there are no advance payments to be made. Asked whether this has ever been a problem, Mandy said rarely, especially because her cakes are sold at affordable prices.
If there is a no-show, or a customer refuses delivery, there is always another person it can go to because orders are placed daily.
Because of the many orders, Mandy often works seven days a week. She also has duties as a wife and mother, so sometimes she tries to double up on baking to have a day or two free. She also uses this time to restock. When she can, she spends time with family and friends and reads.
Mandy sources most of her ingredients locally. At one point, she said, she used to get her containers from abroad, but stopped when she realized that if she began sourcing her containers locally, she would be supporting local businesses and boosting local revenue.
While she seems to have everything figured out, Mandy shared that she has had her share of challenges, noting that sourcing all of her ingredients locally was once an issue. Sometimes she found the preferred brands, but at other times she had to settle for whatever was available. At times, she could not find the ingredients she needed. She overcame such dilemmas by learning to substitute when ingredients were not available on the market.
Mandy has a number of plans for her business, but she is not yet ready to let the cat out of the bag. She will make good on them post-pandemic, she said. What she did share is that her end goal is to one day have an establishment that is big enough to rent sections to other local businesses.
Meanwhile, recently, Tootie Fruities began bottling salad dressing; there are currently two flavours, passionfruit and tamarind.
“Doing this, I’ve learnt to save a lot more. I am more structured and organized,” said Mandy, adding that she is also getting better at her creativity and variety of cheesecakes.
Orders for her cakes are to be placed within 48-24 hours before delivery. Tootie Fruities can be followed on Instagram and Facebook and contacted at 679-5111.
