Today we’d like to introduce you to Rickie Austin Jr.
Rickie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
In the fall of 2016, I was a home dialysis patient and I was bored. I had just completed my Hospitality Management/Culinary Arts degree the summer before and I needed something to do. I had been making cheesecakes for over ten years, perfecting my craft, and decided to try something! By that time, I had worked in various professional cooking/ catering jobs and even had minimal success doing small catering events on my own. I was no longer working because of dialysis and some other health challenges and I felt the need to push myself.
So one day, I made a flyer and advertised that I was going to be selling cheesecakes! I figured that I might at least have five or six orders that first week. Destiny would have it that I had over 30 orders my first week! Mind you, I had no plan on what to do should this take off but it did! For the next year and a half, I established myself as “The Cheesecake Man!!” I probably served hundreds of cheesecakes that year but what was so much more important to me was the fact that I was able to serve people a product I could be proud of and many enjoyed!
Not only that, I proved to myself that dialysis was not going to stop me! Towards the end of 2017, I began not feeling well dialysis was taking its toll on me and I was also going through some life challenges that caused me to take a break. During that time, I pursued my relationship with God and ministry like never before. Through some intense times of prayer and travel for ministry, God began to speak to my wife and me about a move to Greenville, SC.
Greenville was put on my radar by a particular ministry that was starting here and also happened to be the birthplace of my father. After visiting for the first time in 2018, I received a miracle in the way of a kidney transplant. After a few more visits between 2019-2020, we knew that relocation was on our menu, I’d tried constantly to find locations and commissary kitchens where I lived in Rochester, New York but it was not to be!
When we relocated last year, I found a commissary kitchen almost immediately and the rest is history. I have been blessed with the help of my amazing wife, Janelle to be able to serve Greenville County and the surrounding upstate region, one of the gifts God has placed in my hands, New York style of course!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It has definitely not been a smooth road! In the last year, I have had some issues with not feeling well as well as trying to build clientele. The one thing that I have never been being a quitter so I have been determined to keep pursuing my dreams and serving the great people here in the upstate! A big challenge first and foremost is coming into new territory where some are established in doing what you do and getting people to try something new. Another struggle is of course the financial component.
Being a new business means that you don’t necessarily have the credibility to get any type of financial backing from financial institutions. Selling cheesecakes is also a niche market in some ways. People are not always looking for cheesecakes. I have done some pop-ups and farmer’s markets to get our name and products out there but trying to balance that and a job to make ends meet can be a challenge as well but the determination in me is God-given and so is the gift and this is why I continue to forge ahead.
The biggest challenge now is figuring out the finances for our location whether we start as a food truck/trailer or a brick and mortar, we desire a place where our customers can come and shop daily instead of making orders as they come in. We want to give the people what they want!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Before I became ill with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and later End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), I worked at the University of Rochester in the dining halls as a cook and caterer. I also moonlighted as a professional caterer with my business at the time, First Love Catering. I am now a Patient Consultant for a Home Dialysis company, the same company where I did self-contracted advocacy work for approximately 3.5 years and also was a patient.
I speak to potential and current in-center dialysis patients about the home hemodialysis experience and help them get referred so that they too can experience the home dialysis journey. Home Hemodialysis (HHD) helped me get healthy enough to receive a kidney transplant and I have now been blessed to help many patients like myself. I am most proud of the journey that God has allowed me to take in the 41 years I have been on this Earth.
I have had many great obstacles to overcome personally with the loss of loved ones, my health, and the call on my life but through it all, He has always allowed me to be a fighter and persevere. I think what sets me apart from others in any regard is the compassion I have for everyone. First Love Cheesecakery is not just a business where I sell cheesecakes and cater food for people. It’s my way to spread the love of Christ to the masses.
My heart is so big for people. We are human and we are all having a human experience and we all need LOVE, especially God’s love! My prayer is that people will always experience the love of Christ through me and through the food I get the privilege to create and serve to my fellow brothers and sisters.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I see my industry constantly evolving and heading more and more towards the quick service market. I see food trucks moving into the forefront and taking over the fast food industry, especially here in the south. The one thing I am realizing is no matter what, people want a taste of home and what’s familiar.
People want interaction, personality, and relationships. So as things progress, I see the industry getting back to the days when people took time with each other and made one another feel special, and had an experience with every bite, every smile, and every laugh.
Food should take you back to a time when things were less complicated and a bit more simple. This is why we see the uptick in farm-to-table concepts, food trucks, and even the health conscious. This is a great time for the small business entrepreneur, especially where food is concerned and the next 5-10 years are going to be epic for us!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.firstlovecheesecakery.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/flcheesecakery
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/FLCheesecakery
- Other: http://g.co/kgs/HXNXwU
