Microbakery Owner
Hard work turned a hobby into a career after reasonably moving on from unsteady and boring jobs. Now he defies the stereotype of a professional baker, noting “There’s not that many young Black male bakers that I’ve seen.”
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Ron Davis (RD) grew up in Philadelphia, PA, loving to bake – his mom taught him the recipe for devil’s food cake when he was still in elementary school.
FROM HOBBY TO BAKING CAREER
We begin this career story by defining some basic terms:
Job – a paid position of regular employment
Career – An occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life and with opportunities for progress
Hobby – An activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure.
Until his early 30s, RD supported himself financially through a combination of ‘jobs’ involving recording and producing music. Those activities didn’t provide a steady income, especially important when married with or without children to care for. So, RD found full-time employment in an office job within Philadelphia’s procurement department (purchasing equipment and services for the city).
RD didn’t consider either his music or office worker jobs to be careers. Most importantly, he didn’t love either of those jobs while he always enjoyed pursuing his baking hobby.
While working within his multiple jobs, RD continued baking at home almost every weekend. During the covid pandemic (2020 – 2022), RD’s wife said to him unexpectedly, “Cinnamon rolls are one of my favorites. Can you give it a try?” RD recalls his wife’s reaction as soon as she tasted his first cinnamon roll efforts: “You need to sell these!”
CREATING AN AUDIENCE OF BUYERS BY STARTING SLOWLY
Without a retail store with an established customer base, RD took to Instagram to see if there was an audience of potential customers for his cinnamon rolls.
(Editor’s note – There are arguably technical differences between cinnamon buns and cinnamon rolls – the dough for buns is generally braided instead of rolled into a log).
The giant swirled buns were an immediate hit. “Probably two weeks after the first time I’d ever made a single roll, I sold 30 boxes of four buns each, from out of my house,” said RD. He had so many customers rolling up to his block to pick up buns that his neighbors were concerned. “To see me walking out 25 times every Saturday with a box in hand, giving it to a car on the corner… just created this thing,” said RD – referring to – without specifically mentioning – the appearance of illegal drugs distribution. Fortunately, the neighbors soon learned about the innocence of RD’s labors and most quickly became happy customers.
EXPANDING BUSINESS TO MEET CUSTOMER DEMAND
Another definition needed for this story is “Microbusiness” – an entity (involving one or more people) defined by its small number of employees, small revenues and its start-up costs. (State laws recognizing microbusinesses for tax and other regulatory purposes often vary their definitions; for example, Connecticut defines a microbusiness as making under $500,000 annual revenue while in California, earning $2.5 million or less over the three previous years or a business with up to 25 employees, qualifies there.)
Most microbusinesses start with one owner, often called an “entrepreneur” which is a term commonly used to describe individuals who start a business.
RD named his fledgling microbakery business Hanks Cinnamon Buns – (“Hank McCoy” was RD’s stage name when he was recording and producing.) Within the first year of baking for paying customers outside his home, RD’s business attracted the attention of an area food co-op, which approached RD about baking buns for its stores. In turn, this potential to increase his customer base prompted RD to move production from his home kitchen to a commissary kitchen at the Enterprise Center in West Philadelphia. He then partnered with two different, established retail coffee businesses (Greenstreet Coffee and Valerio Coffee) to provide his cinnamon buns to them on a “wholesale” basis: at a quantity discount, so those retailers could “mark-up” the price and thus create a profit for themselves after paying RD at the discounted rate.
RD currently bakes out of the Artisan Exchange in West Chester (a western suburb of Philadelphia), home to a collection of food-based entrepreneurs. “Everybody calls each other by their products,” says RD with a laugh, “pointing out the ‘nuts guy’ and the ‘cheese girl.’ I’m the bun guy.”
TYPICAL DAY FOR A FULL-TIME BAKER
RD starts his ‘business day” around 1 a.m., mixing a brioche base and letting it rise before rolling it out to a thin layer that gets coated with a cinnamon-brown sugar-butter filling. He then rolls it into a long, buttery rope that gets sliced into hefty cylinders, about 7 ounces each. The buns rise a second time before they’re baked, cooled and frosted with cream cheese icing.
On days he attends a farmer’s market (as many as 10 a week in the spring and summer), RD is out the door, buns in tow, by 8:30 a.m.
RD takes preorders for farmers markets and offers home delivery to nearby areas. To help him cover all this territory, RD has a crew of four part-time employees, including some relatives. Sometimes his dad helps with cleanup but “the baking is still 99.9% me,” says RD.
CAREER SATISFACTION
Leaving behind unsteady or boring jobs for a career slowly developed from a hobby was a journey toward happiness, well earned.
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This career story is based on a newspaper article written by Jenn Ladd, Staff Writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, published February 20, 2025.
