ONE fruit tart was all it took.

Baked during the COVID-19 lockdown using ingredients already sitting in her kitchen, the dessert would become the first product sold by Forget the Fork Pastries, a business that now supplies cakes and pastries to Uncorked, Press Café and General Foods in Liguanea. For founder Shaniel Sherman, baking had always been more than a hobby.

“I always have, actually, but I didn’t really get the means to until I was, like, in college,” she told the
Jamaica Observer in an interview.

Although she studied culinary arts at the University of Technology, Jamaica, it wasn’t until the lockdown that she began teaching herself baking techniques and experimenting with recipes. One of those experiments, a fruit tart she made for herself, would unexpectedly become her first sale. She baked a few extra and took them to work at Uncorked, where she was employed as a waitress while still in school.

“I had my bosses try and some of my co-workers try. Everybody seemed to love it. And then my manager at the time asked if I could do it for the store, which was at Uncorked,” said Sherman.

That request marked the beginning of Forget the Fork Pastries, launched in September 2020.

Working at Uncorked also gave Sherman something else: A testing ground. While still completing her studies, she found herself paying close attention to the restaurant’s dessert menu and thinking about what else customers might enjoy. She began testing recipes on her managers and co-workers before introducing new desserts to customers, starting with one or two dessert items in early 2021, Sherman gradually expanded her offerings until Forget the Fork was supplying what she estimates is 70 to 80 per cent of the desserts sold across Uncorked’s locations.

“To this day, the carrot cake, everywhere I go, almost the first thing that anybody that comes into Uncorked asks for is carrot cake,” she said.

The partnership soon opened another door. After tasting Forget the Fork’s carrot cake at Uncorked, the owner of Press Café approached Sherman about supplying carrot cakes to the café. When the products sold out within days, she introduced Sherman to General Foods in Liguanea. Today, Forget the Fork’s carrot cake, chocolate cake and bread pudding are stocked at General Foods, while the business continues to supply Press Café and Uncorked. For much of Forget the Fork’s early growth, Sherman was building the business around a full-time job, often baking before heading to work and returning to the kitchen long after her shift ended. The balancing act lasted for more than three years and, by her own admission, left little room for anything else. Eventually, Sherman realised the business had reached a point where it needed more of her than she could give while holding on to a nine-to-five.

“I don’t feel like I was giving enough energy. And I just felt there was so much more I could do if I just had the time. So I just had to make the time,” she told Sunday Finance.

About a year and a half ago, she resigned to focus on Forget the Fork full-time, a decision she says was made easier by the encouragement of her former employer. Although she no longer works at Uncorked, the relationship has continued, with the restaurant still stocking Forget the Fork’s pastries. Sherman credits her former boss with supporting her decision to pursue entrepreneurship and ensuring she left under the best possible circumstances. With more time to focus on the company, Forget the Fork continued expanding its customer base, serving both individual and corporate clients while supplying wholesale customers. Growth, however, has brought a new challenge: learning to let go. While a baking assistant now helps with production and additional team members manage events and administrative responsibilities, Sherman admits delegation has been one of the hardest parts of growing the business.

“I’m a huge believer in consistency,” she said. “I feel like that’s one of the things that keeps the business growing. As soon as one thing goes wrong, people notice. So I’m very big on consistency.”

That focus on quality has made handing over parts of the operation easier said than done. Passing on recipes has proven difficult because many of the techniques and finishing touches have been learned through experience rather than documented, forcing Sherman to find ways to delegate while maintaining the consistency customers expect. With the business now on a stronger footing, Sherman has her sights set on expanding beyond its current customer base. She wants to grow Forget the Fork’s presence in the corporate market, supplying more launches, private functions and events.

“We enjoy doing those [corporate] events,” she told Sunday Finance.

While the business is currently concentrated in Kingston, Sherman has identified Ocho Rios and Montego Bay as the next markets she hopes to enter as she continues to grow the brand.

“We want the brand to be like a household name. We’ve seen instances where that’s the case but we want that to be on a much bigger scale,” said Sherman.

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