Two Cultures In One with Fawzeya Owda

The Forrager Podcast for Cottage Food Businesses

Fawzeya Owda lives in Norwood, OH and sells cheesecake and other baked goods with her bakery, Foz Bakery.

Fawzeya grew up in Palestine and has always loved baking desserts from her home country, but when she moved to the United States 10 years ago, she started experimenting with American baked goods as well.

After lots of encouragement from family and friends, she finally started to sell her cakes, cookies, and pies in 2017. But with 3 young kids to take care of, she mostly just sold to family and friends for the first few years.

But after the pandemic hit in 2020, things started to change. She joined a training program for chefs, and then received a grant which gave her free access to a shared commercial kitchen for a full year.

And with access to that kitchen, she could start selling what she really wanted to sell: cheesecake.

Fawzeya now makes over 80 flavors of cheesecake, her most popular of which is baklava cheesecake.

That unique cheesecake is essentially two cultures merged into one, kind of like Fawzeya herself.

She now has over 3,500 Facebook followers and continues to grow her business at a pace that allows her to balance work and family.

What You’ll Learn

• How to turn your passion into profit
• How Fawzeya fused Palestinian and American desserts to create something truly unique
• How to turn your menu into a marketing tool
• The hidden benefits of using a commercial kitchen
• Effective ways to boost your social media presence
• How to manage work-life balance and stay focused on your family
• Cultural differences between Palestine and Ohio
• Why Fawzeya feels she has achieved her American Dream

Resources

Fozbakery Facebook Page

Fozbakery Instagram Feed

Incubator Kitchen Collective (news spot with Fawzeya)

Ohio Home Bakery Law

Ohio Cottage Food Law

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Get full show notes and transcript here: https://forrager.com/podcast/79