SweetStacks

In keeping with the entrepreneurial spirit of this blog, we have two awards: the Golden Apple for achievement and the Apple Seedling for startup. Today, I want to recognize Elaine Babauto for taking the first step and launching a business that is positioned to succeed. The first Apple Seedling Award goes to Elaine Babauta, President of Sweetstacks.

I met Elaine just over a year ago. We sat next to each other, hungrily taking in valued information and speedily taking notes; notes, that I hoped I would later be able to decipher. I didn’t quite get something and leaned over to look at her notes, and that is how Elaine and I got to know each other.

We were attending Guerrilla Business School in Los Angeles. Each of us had a fledgling business and we were there to up the ante toward its success. We spent some time during break to talk about what our businesses were and she impressed me tremendously. It wasn’t just her warm personality, or the sparkle in her eyes when she spoke, it was her laser like focus and the passion with which she spoke of her business which was as yet to be launched. We stayed in touch. She has since launched that business. It is successful. It is called Sweestacks. Here in her own words:

“SweetStacks uses the homemade, Pacific Islander recipes that have been in our family for generations to make delicious gourmet pancakes and scrumptious desserts. The SweetStacks Company has been built on the values, support and love of a close-knit family rich in Pacific island culture. From generation to generation, our family heritage has focused on building and cherishing family relationships. We also love to eat! When our family gets together we cook and eat delicious food, we laugh and have fun, and we enjoy and cherish each other’s company!

SweetStacks makes decadent, great tasting comfort foods: gourmet pancakes and fine Pacific Islander desserts from our secret family recipes. Our mission and passion is to provide our clients with authentic, high quality, great tasting, rich gourmet food products as well as provide excellent client service. It is our hope that they will enjoy our rich foods and then build their family traditions around our treasured sweetness.”

Elaine Babauta, left the corporate world after 20 years of service to finally become an entrepreneur in pursuing the dream of packaging her family’s Pacific Islander recipes that have been passed down through the generations and be able to share with others. Her mother, father, siblings and nieces and nephews are all actively involved in the company. For having taken a seed and nurtured it to fruition, we give the Seedling Award to Elaine. We wish the seedling to grow, produce more and develop into an orchard.

Order your own Sweetstacks! for your next family get together.