Bassano Cheesecake is not your ordinary cheesecake. It’s not a cookie-cutter factory cake. Each cheesecake is specially made for the customer by the owners.
And there are over 20 varieties of their cheesecake to choose from!! That’s right over 20!!
Their cheesecakes have received rave reviews from Fox 13 TV host Charliy Belcher, retired Tampa Bay buccaneer Mike Alstott and The Bone Radio show host Mike Calta, not to mention over 1,000 5 star reviews.
Cindy Bassano spoke with us about her cheesecakes.
Q – Cindy, let me see if I have this right, you were in Florida and you were trying to order a quality New York cheesecake and you couldn’t find one? You mean in all of New York state. You couldn’t find a quality cheesecake? What were you looking for?
A – So, we have family in New York and we go up there often and we had been up one year and went to Juniors. We always consider Juniors pretty good. And the following year we went back and it did not taste the same. It just seemed different to us. And his family (husband Tom) had a recipe from his Great Aunt and we just decided to make it and see how it came out and it was really good. So, we made another one and shared it with some friends. Everybody really seemed to like it. So, we just made a few for family and friends and that was it. Then, a couple weeks later Tom comes home from work, because he worked a full-time job and he says, “Let’s do it!” I said, “Do what?” He said, “Make cheesecakes and sell it.” Okay (laughs). For the first month we were making them out of our home and just giving them to family and friends. Then after a month people started wanting them in we had to find a kitchen so, we moved into a commercial kitchen space and that’s how the business started.
Q – Would you say the quality of Juniors cheesecake went down because they are now in the freezer section of supermarkets?
A – I believe so. I don’t know for sure, but, I believe so. It’s mass-produced. We do small batch. Our cakes are made in batches of 6 to 7 cakes and their watched while we are baking them. I personally bake every single cake. We don’t skimp on ingredients. We don’t use imitation vanilla. Everything is good quality ingredients and I think that makes a huge difference.
Q – What were you and your husband doing before you started this business?
A – Tom was a full-time technician for Suburban Propane and I was pretty much a stay-at-home mom. I have an autistic child. Between the two of us we have four children but, I was at home with the kids and with my daughter. So, this actually was kind of good for me because I could do it when my daughter was at school.
Q – So, neither of you has a background in baking?
A – No. Tom has always loved to bake. He grew up in an Italian family. He cooks amazingly. Baking was just something both of us always liked to do.
Q – Did it cost quite a bit of money to get the business off the ground? You mentioned you had to find a kitchen to bake in. Did you have a brick and mortar store after that?
A – So, the first year it was just online sales and supplying a few bakeries and pizza places in the area. Then after a year we decided to get a brick-and-mortar so, the company opened in June 2019 and then in June 2020 we opened our brick-and-mortar.
Q – Did business come in through word-of-mouth?
A – A lot of word-of-mouth. Advertising on 102.5 The Bone. Tom knew them so he sent them in cake. They started talking about us. A lot of people were coming in because they heard that. Then the pizza place and Deli we were selling at they found us through there. We’re on Safety Harbor so it’s a main street and there is a lot of traffic. We have a social media presence on Facebook and Instagram so we were able to grow.
Q – Why do you offer so many varieties of cheesecake?
A – Because they like different flavors. We want to give people options. We started off with four. Tom said we are just going to do four. Then we would think of an idea and oh, we need this one! We pretty much have most flavors you could think.
Q – Is there one that’s more popular than the others?
A – Our most popular one is the Turtle. That one is probably the top seller consistently. Then we do specialty ones. We have a Bourbon Caramel, a Peach Bourbon Caramel one. We do a Guinness Mocha cheesecake. That’s a cake that the Irish seem to like because it has Guinness in it. We do holiday ones.
Q – Could you at any time entertain the idea of franchising your cheesecakes or do you feel you’d be losing quality control?
A – Yeah, we’ve thought about that. I don’t want to compromise my quality on anything. If we do anything we would do like a food truck but, we’d still be making the cakes. Somebody else might be running the food truck. We talked about doing it on the East Coast, but they would be getting our cakes. I don’t want to give my recipes to anybody else. I don’t want to compromise the quality and the love I put into it.
Q – With a food truck you’d go around to where?
A – Food festivals and fairs.
Official website bassanocheesecake.com
