In the RBA Member Spotlight series, we'll be profiling valued members of the Retail Bakers of America community.

This week, we're looking at Gourmet Guam in Tamuning, a village located on the western shore of the United States territory of Guam. Baking fresh home-style desserts, this shop's passion is to bring back homemade quality and classic flavors in today’s dessert market.

Get to know Gourmet Guam more below.

How many years have you been in business?

Gourmet Guam: Eight years.

What made you want to get into the baking industry/why are you passionate about baking?

We got into baking desserts and feeding people something delicious makes us happy. Also, coming from a big family meant lots of parties, party favors and feeding, so we found desserts to be easiest to make for our family events.

What are your top-selling products/what product do you consider to be your specialty?

We sell Guam's largest variety of desserts and snacks. Our top selling cake product is our strawberry shortcake. Our variety cream puffs and mini tarts are also very popular amongst our customer base. A product we consider to be our specialty is our Biscoff cake. When our island had no fresh strawberries available for our strawberry shortcake, we were compelled to come up with another flavor and that was how our Biscoff flavor came to life. We expanded our cream puffs and tarts to add a Biscoff flavor as well.

What do you see trending in the industry?

What we see trending in our market is that our customers demand a product that is not as rich and sweet in flavor but also does not lose the savory taste of the item being purchased. At our bakery, in baking our products from scratch, we have been able to adjust our products to a standard that is unquestionably preferred by our customers.

How has your RBA membership made a difference in your business?

Being a member of RBA has undoubtedly helped us learn more and understand the market trends and the many challenges that the baking industry is faced with. Being located on an island that is over 3,300 nautical miles from Hawaii certainly has its inherent challenges; however, RBA has provided our business with critical access to a wealth of information and access to our peers that has certainly brought the industry in general a lot closer to our island,

What have you learned from customers over the years?

We have learned about the importance of product quality, variety and consistency and that when you can master these values, it not only reflects on your "bottom line," but it also contributes to the organic growth of our customer base by employing a very powerful marketing strategy in "word-of-mouth" advertising.

What are your plans for the bakery in the coming years (expansion, digital, new offerings, etc.)?

Our short-term plan is to first adapt to the inflationary costs of doing business as a bakery. Our mid- to long-term plan is to open at an expanded location that will allow us to transition from a carry-out dessert shop to a dine-in dessert shop and cafe.

What do you look for when hiring staff?

In hiring staff, we always prefer employees who have a passion in learning to bake and who want to grow with our company. We try to filter out those applicants who are just looking to work just to collect a paycheck. We look for applicants who have a demonstrated ability to always go that extra mile and who can contribute to our business philosophy of "Baking Happiness." 

What would you have done differently in starting your business/what do you wish you could tell your past self when starting your business?

What we learned is that as our business grows, that we cannot do everything on our own and that we cannot stress over perfection all the time. Every day provides us with an opportunity to learn and grow so we need to be somewhat flexible with our expectations. Basically, we always advocate that we do our best today so that we will be better tomorrow.

Interested in learning more about becoming a member of the Retail Bakers of America? Click here.

Current RBA members, email Marlene O’ Connell (marlene@retailbakersofsmerica.org) to learn how you can be featured in an upcoming member spotlight.