Ep.18 – Building a Cheesecake Empire: Learning to Dream Big – Interview With ‘Mrs. Momo’

Podcast Date:

2024-06-11
Interview With:
Maurine Herman

Maurine Herman, aka 'Momo' is the creator and co-owner of Momo's Gourmet Cheesecake; a growing cheesecake empire in Utah. She graduated with a degree in sociology and has a passion for emotional intelligence. She married in 2013 to her high school sweetheart and is currently pregnant with their 4th child. Momo's started in 2015 out of her home and has now grown to 4 locations. She is passionate about her family, her business, and connecting with others Momo's mission is to help other connect, celebrate, and create memories over her delicious creamy cheesecakes.

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The Show Video & Transcript

00;04;00;18 - 00;04;02;01 Stephanie Hi, I'm Stephanie.

00;04;02;04 - 00;04;12;25 Seth I'm Seth, and this is the Forever Young show. The most powerful force in this world is a woman who knows who she is. Why she is here, and what she wants to accomplish.

00;04;12;25 - 00;04;19;12 Stephanie And that's where self-care comes in. As a woman, it is my opportunity and my responsibility to take care of me.

00;04;19;17 - 00;04;21;07 Seth Self-care for your mind.

00;04;21;13 - 00;04;22;23 Stephanie Self-care for your body.

00;04;23;00 - 00;04;24;10 Seth Self-care for your money.

00;04;24;16 - 00;04;32;27 Stephanie Our mission is to serve women as they fulfill their irreplaceable roles and families. Society. Business. The fabric of humanity.

00;04;32;29 - 00;05;01;22 Seth So let's get this show on the road. Last week we we got into a really deep topic on the show domestic violence. So it was. Yeah, I mean, domestic violence, emotional abuse, financial abuse. ET cetera. ET cetera. ET cetera. As the king and I as the king sat on the king. And I, And so I'm super I which we need to talk about.

00;05;01;22 - 00;05;28;28 Seth Like it needed to be talked about. We had an incredible interview with Shawn Johnson who who was trapped in in that lifestyle. So we're great. We're really having fun taking these issues to women. But today we're talking about cheesecake, Max, and we're going to get into self-care. But what better self-care can any woman give their momo? Blueberry cheesecake brought to you by.

00;05;29;00 - 00;05;30;04 Maurine Oh my goodness.

00;05;30;07 - 00;05;51;18 Seth So tell us you have we're going to talk all things. We're going to talk a little finance and entrepreneurship because you are you're an entrepreneur and you are not solely to your case. You're not just you're not just the mom or the sweet lady in the back cooking the cheesecake. You are literally the kingpin of the Utah Cheesecake Mafia.

00;05;51;21 - 00;05;54;19 Maurine Something like that.

00;05;54;21 - 00;06;11;08 Seth I'm having fun already. Wait till I get some of this cheesecake in me today. But we'll talk about finances. because so important for women. And I think, you know, the, the example that you can talk about being an entrepreneur as a woman and a mother, how many children do you and your husband have?

00;06;11;10 - 00;06;16;02 Maurine So I'm pregnant with my fourth. Yeah. And due in about five weeks.

00;06;16;07 - 00;06;18;13 Stephanie I was going to say is really soon.

00;06;18;15 - 00;06;21;25 Maurine Yeah. We're getting close.

00;06;21;27 - 00;06;26;06 Seth And you have how many, how many storefronts right now?

00;06;26;08 - 00;06;27;28 Maurine Right now we have four also.

00;06;28;02 - 00;06;53;06 Seth So we're talking about again, we're in Utah. So we're we're doing you know this podcast marine part. Pardon me kingpin Momo. this goes all over the world. We've done interviews in, in you know, in Bangkok, we've done interviews with women in Tokyo and Osaka, I should say Osaka, Japan, in Puerto Rico. And we're now talking small town, small town, Provo, Utah.

00;06;53;08 - 00;07;14;12 Seth I'm to bring in a little local flavor, a little local flavor. So you have for four locations and for those who visit Utah, because Utah is a great attraction. So we're going to be bringing people from Bangkok. I promise you, we will bring people from Bangkok and from Tokyo to taste the cheesecake. What four locations are you currently in here in Utah?

00;07;14;12 - 00;07;22;27 Maurine So we currently have two in Provo, and then we have another one in South Jordan, and that one's right off the freeway. So on the easy access for a lot of people.

00;07;23;00 - 00;07;24;12 Seth That's in the Salt Lake Valley.

00;07;24;15 - 00;07;29;07 Maurine Okay. And then we have one that is in downtown Salt Lake. And we do get a lot of visitors there. So it's really hot.

00;07;29;08 - 00;07;30;14 Seth No kidding. Did you know.

00;07;30;14 - 00;07;31;10 Maurine There was one in downtown Salt.

00;07;31;10 - 00;07;34;01 Stephanie Lake? I think I've read Salt Lake, but I didn't look to where.

00;07;34;02 - 00;07;38;11 Seth We never have to go that far because listen, there are two momos within 35 minutes of.

00;07;38;11 - 00;07;39;29 Maurine Us.

00;07;40;01 - 00;07;48;20 Seth And and dangerous. There could be another here if you bring one down to our little our little, a little baseball and cowboy town.

00;07;48;23 - 00;07;50;22 Maurine Yeah, that would be awesome.

00;07;50;25 - 00;07;57;17 Stephanie All right, so what are you most passionate about right now? And what are you doing about it?

00;07;57;19 - 00;08;15;23 Maurine I feel like I have two great passions, and that would just be my family and my business. So trying to focus and send my energy in both directions while helping them both grow and hopefully thrive. And luckily, in both areas, I do have a lot of support, so that helps.

00;08;15;26 - 00;08;21;08 Stephanie That is wonderful. It's always good and makes it easier when you have that support.

00;08;21;10 - 00;08;24;28 Maurine Yeah, I feel like you definitely can't do it alone. Any of it.

00;08;25;00 - 00;08;26;14 Stephanie Takes a village, right?

00;08;26;16 - 00;08;28;09 Maurine Yeah. Yes.

00;08;28;12 - 00;08;49;29 Seth We know everybody. We going to spend a lot of time talking about cheesecake obviously in business. but you mentioned your family first as a as, as a passion. And you know, interestingly enough, we we work with 10,000 plus women around the world. And our main business, and we have a lot of women who are single, some without children, a lot of women who are single with children.

00;08;49;29 - 00;09;09;12 Seth So family is, you know, I was at the top of their list and then obviously a lot of married women at various stages, you know, in their in their motherhood, career and timeline. Tell us, tell us just about your family, what your, you know, what your main focus is, are for your family right now, how your quote unquote I'm going to throw this out.

00;09;09;12 - 00;09;18;24 Seth It's kind of a tongue in cheek comment and balancing it all because we know that they're not isn't necessarily balance. Yeah, yeah. Tell us about your family and how that started.

00;09;19;01 - 00;09;41;16 Maurine So my husband and I actually met in high school very end of high school. And we went to prom together. So that's kind of fun, you know. so we dated on and off for five years and then got married in 2013, two years later, we had our first. And yeah, I mean, my whole life I always truly wanted a family.

00;09;41;22 - 00;10;04;12 Maurine And that was, you know, a really big dream and goal of mine. And so being able to find someone that you love, who is your best friend, who is just as committed as you is, you know, a dream come true. And obviously there's growing pains as you grow and your life grows and responsibilities grow. But I feel very blessed that our relationship has grown together.

00;10;04;16 - 00;10;26;16 Maurine And so my marriage is very, very important to me, and I have put a lot of time and effort into maintaining that and making sure that we keep that a priority. With everything that happened to my, and then, yeah, so now we are pregnant with our fourth. So our oldest is nine and we have a seven year old, a three year old.

00;10;26;16 - 00;10;29;25 Maurine And then we're pretty sure we're done. So this will be our last.

00;10;29;28 - 00;10;34;10 Seth Famous not last words. Yeah by the way. But that's okay. That's okay.

00;10;34;13 - 00;11;07;09 Maurine Never know yet. Yeah. So we have we're going to have for and I think in our home and with our kids and family, we try really hard to focus on emotional health, taking care of yourself and taking care of each other and being kind. It's not just so obviously a family, but to those all around us. This summer we've been focusing on earning things, so making sure that they understand that they need to work for the things that they want and earn their rewards.

00;11;07;11 - 00;11;22;01 Maurine You always are trying to teach your kids the stuff that you wish you knew. So you you take it from your parents, taught you, and then you try to add on. And so we're doing our best. But I feel like as parents, it's easy to feel inadequate because there's so much to teach them and life teaches them a lot.

00;11;22;01 - 00;11;41;09 Maurine And so just kind of take it day by day. but we try to have a lot of open communication about everything. So we're hopefully hitting most of the things that we need to. And yeah, just making sure that the kids feel loved and safe in this home and that hopefully they can grow and flourish and take on whatever life brings.

00;11;41;11 - 00;11;55;15 Stephanie Yeah, yeah that's great. I can see how you guys can thrive off the business. You know, also focusing on all of those wonderful foundational things, you know, create a beautiful family and marriage, marriage is huge for us too.

00;11;55;16 - 00;11;56;07 Maurine Yeah. well.

00;11;56;07 - 00;12;00;13 Seth If you're going to be married, if you're going to be married, you better make it huge to you. Right?

00;12;00;13 - 00;12;03;02 Maurine Because, It's true.

00;12;03;04 - 00;12;05;07 Seth I mean, what's your husband's name?

00;12;05;09 - 00;12;09;05 Maurine Brandon. But, shopping on social media. Who goes by Mr.. Mama?

00;12;09;05 - 00;12;12;29 Seth Oh, yes. Mr.. Mr.. He is a crack up.

00;12;13;01 - 00;12;13;28 Maurine He's, by the.

00;12;13;28 - 00;12;27;25 Seth Way, like. Yeah, he he seems like to me, like a real kind of like a manly dude. Like, like he's a manly dude who's having a lot of fun in a cheesecake business.

00;12;27;28 - 00;12;42;26 Maurine Yes. So yeah, people, it's everyone comments on his size. He's a big guy. He likes to work out. I think he's very handsome. And then. Yeah, on top of that, he's super goofy and he's not afraid to like put that goofiness out there for people. So he's a lot of guys.

00;12;42;27 - 00;12;48;20 Stephanie It's so true. You can feel it. And see how genuine he is and that he's just like carefree.

00;12;48;27 - 00;13;15;11 Maurine Like, yeah. And that's something that has been like huge is we very much balance each other. Our opposites in a lot of ways. So he brings a lot of comedic relief and like, let's not stress about it kind of thing and kind of brings me back down to earth in those ways. And also, I mean, I think, in my opinion, that a lot of women maybe not, would not have the support that I've gotten from my husband.

00;13;15;16 - 00;13;33;12 Maurine He's okay with me, you know, kind of stepping forward and taking the lead and having a business. And it doesn't threaten him or his manhood, and he supports me and he's there. What I whenever I need whatever I need. And then also, yeah, puts himself out there to make jokes and he's really great.

00;13;33;14 - 00;13;39;24 Seth How would you describe your personality? Mo Mo. So so you talked about Brandon, about Mr. Mo.

00;13;39;26 - 00;13;41;01 Maurine Mo. Yeah.

00;13;41;01 - 00;13;52;24 Seth Right. Like he's got this comedic side. He's obviously very disciplined because, you know, I mean, the dude has has some girth, right. And I'm going to say muscular girth.

00;13;52;26 - 00;13;56;01 Maurine Right.

00;13;56;03 - 00;13;59;20 Seth so like like what's your personality type?

00;13;59;22 - 00;14;20;16 Maurine I think I'm a lot more reserved for sure. I think a lot of people, it takes them a long time to get to know me and my personality because I am reserved. I think, too obviously those closest to me, I'm more comfortable, but I am. I have a hard time being outspoken, and especially when I'm with him, it's easier to just let him talk him, you know?

00;14;20;18 - 00;14;26;25 Maurine Oh, carry the conversation. Yeah, I know what that's like. Yeah.

00;14;26;27 - 00;14;32;07 Seth I usually carry the conversation or hijack the conversation.

00;14;32;10 - 00;14;47;21 Maurine Oh I don't know. actually, our first date, we went on a double date and he brought his best friend, and his best friend brought a date and his best friend and him just talks the whole time, and then he's like, yeah, I don't think I'm interested in her. She's kind of boring. And I'm like.

00;14;47;23 - 00;14;57;02 Seth Yeah, that's. He said that about you. Yeah, well, he's totally oblivious. Just like totally having a dude talk.

00;14;57;09 - 00;15;00;29 Maurine Exactly. They had a great time together. Yeah.

00;15;01;01 - 00;15;03;08 Seth So was it a date with you or a date with his best friend?

00;15;03;08 - 00;15;03;27 Stephanie That's what I was.

00;15;03;27 - 00;15;19;13 Maurine Going to say. I know that's I want to know is. Yeah. He says he regrets that now, so, yeah, a couple weeks later, we went alone and had ice cream and talked for like three hours. So at that point he's able to actually hear me and get to know me. And I mean, I do like to like talking connect.

00;15;19;16 - 00;15;32;05 Maurine I think that, yeah, one on one is a lot easier for me. So yeah, as far as my personality, I think that it takes you a little bit longer to get to know me. I do think I'm a warm person, but I don't come across that way on first impressions usually.

00;15;32;07 - 00;15;36;01 Stephanie So yeah, I would I would think that you're warm.

00;15;36;03 - 00;15;37;23 Maurine Thank you.

00;15;37;25 - 00;15;52;08 Seth You brought up something and I don't want I don't want to let it pass. Talking about wanting to own a business and your partner, in this case your husband Brandon being totally supportive.

00;15;52;09 - 00;15;53;16 Maurine

00;15;53;18 - 00;15;59;22 Seth I think I want to jump into that because I think that there are many women who don't have that.

00;15;59;24 - 00;16;00;19 Maurine

00;16;00;21 - 00;16;20;06 Seth And I don't know how to address that today. Like, you know, how do we give hope. But you know or what advice do you have. But you I mean that's that's huge. How did that happen? Is that just naturally him did or you know, how have you made that apparent. You know, how did you communicate your needs? Because not every woman wants to own a business.

00;16;20;06 - 00;16;30;24 Seth But I but today, in today's world, it's not like when your parents grew up. It's not like when you were even a child. More and more women want to own businesses.

00;16;30;27 - 00;16;31;18 Maurine Yeah.

00;16;31;20 - 00;16;42;20 Seth And more and more women, because of necessity, are choosing to own businesses and maybe even not just have a job.

00;16;42;23 - 00;16;44;24 Maurine Yeah, but kind of take control.

00;16;44;24 - 00;16;53;12 Seth But to take like, listen, if I'm going to have to work, maybe I want to choose to work on my terms.

00;16;53;15 - 00;16;54;14 Maurine Yeah.

00;16;54;16 - 00;17;07;02 Seth Can you just kind of take us through, take us through your thought process and then maybe tie in this whole communicating your needs, like, listen, dude, I want to start a business, you know, are you going to be supportive of that or not?

00;17;07;04 - 00;17;32;20 Maurine Yeah. I do think that it comes naturally to him in general. He's a very like humble person, in most situations. So I think that's already a characteristic of his. But I do think that kind of through the experiences we've had over the last 16 years together has fostered that environment even more. So kind of interesting. I don't know if probably don't know this about us.

00;17;32;20 - 00;17;53;01 Maurine We actually own a different business first, and it was his passion. So back in 2017, we opened a gym. We had the good fitness and that was kind of his baby. We went all in and I was kind of a part of of him, and we really had a lot of experiences doing that. a.

00;17;53;01 - 00;17;56;04 Seth Lot of there's a lot of story behind that.

00;17;56;07 - 00;18;12;19 Maurine And so I think I had the opportunity to really be there for him and say, you know, go for this, let's do it. Let's, you know, how can I be there for you and support you in this dream? And so, I think that was a big thing was to be able to have it both ways, I guess, or both.

00;18;12;23 - 00;18;35;25 Maurine Each of us had a turn kind of thing. So, yeah, we had the gym for three years. I think. and then we ended up deciding to close that in 2020, the like fall of 2020 Covid. yeah, that was a huge thing is gyms and public places. I mean, it already was a little bit of a struggle.

00;18;35;25 - 00;18;55;22 Maurine And then that just added on. And then at that point, crazy as it is, mammoth was growing. And so we had both. And it was kind of like we're we're just spread so thin. So it's time to kind of pick what we're going to do. And at that point it was kind of like a realistic conversation, like which one's making money, which one can support our family.

00;18;55;24 - 00;19;21;05 Maurine And he was able to say, you know what? Like, you're right, I think it's time to move on. And there was a lot of conversation about like, it not being a failure, but that, you know, it's just time to move in a different direction. And for us as a couple and a family. And so at that point, that's kind of when our focus started to shift, more on members because we had them both, like I said, at the same time, and it was more like my thing and his thing.

00;19;21;05 - 00;19;39;04 Seth And then so you started you he started the gym and I said, he you guys started the gym. He let it out on that. And then subsequent to that, you started you both started Momo's you with your passion and you were running in both the same time in their in their early stages.

00;19;39;06 - 00;19;39;22 Maurine Yes.

00;19;39;25 - 00;19;41;18 Seth And raising kids.

00;19;41;20 - 00;19;42;17 Maurine Yes.

00;19;42;19 - 00;19;44;08 Seth And you stayed married.

00;19;44;10 - 00;20;09;09 Maurine And tried to keep a marriage healthy and happy. Yeah. Yeah. So I actually started Momo's first technically because I started it in 2015, but it was just out of my house. I was just doing it like for a little something extra, a little creative outlet, because I was staying at home. And after I started staying at home, I learned how difficult that could be.

00;20;09;09 - 00;20;31;04 Maurine And isolating that could be. And so mom was was kind of just a little side thing for me to give me something, some fulfillment, I guess extra fulfillment in a different area. And so, yeah, I did that. And so it was out of my house until 2019. So for those four years. So while he was in the gym, I was just couple to six here and there.

00;20;31;06 - 00;20;52;09 Maurine but I did start to grow a little bit, get wedding orders, which were bigger. And so Momo's started to grow. And then at 2019, we had both businesses where they were starting to get bigger and we were pretty spread thin at that point. He kind of had his thing and then was able to pivot and be able to let me step up.

00;20;52;09 - 00;21;16;06 Maurine And, I think we learned we we are big on therapy. We think therapy is great. So we did therapy for a lot of years. And I think that really helped us learn to communicate and to be able to talk about our needs and be able to respect what the other one needs and kind of try to in ways that we can, you know, provide space or give that to them or whatever it is.

00;21;16;06 - 00;21;39;13 Maurine And so he already is a great guy and very supportive and humble. But then as we learn more and went to therapy, I think our relationship really deepened and we were able to, yeah, be more vulnerable and communicate more. And yeah, at that point when we had the both businesses have conversations that we needed to kind of stick with mamas.

00;21;39;13 - 00;21;48;05 Maurine And he was able to be okay with that. And yeah, I feel like as more time goes on, he throws himself more and more into it. And so I think that I.

00;21;48;05 - 00;21;50;22 Stephanie Was going to say it seems like he's embracing it more.

00;21;50;25 - 00;22;02;20 Maurine Yeah. Especially like this last year. I think me getting pregnant, I kind of have to do less. And so he's stepped up more. And then obviously we have the support of my dad. And so the three of us make a good team locally.

00;22;02;26 - 00;22;24;15 Seth How do you how do you, like they're in the the hierarchy of leadership in the Moff and pardon me in the Cheesecake Company. like how what are the roles between Mr.. Mrs.. And Papa? I was going to say Papa Smurf because I just want, I want to say the Smurfs, but between the momos.

00;22;24;19 - 00;22;33;25 Maurine So I will say it myself for four years. So I feel like I'm kind of the creator. So whether anyone likes it or not, I kind of have final say it most.

00;22;33;28 - 00;22;35;07 Seth Oh, we like that.

00;22;35;09 - 00;22;57;18 Maurine But, so 2019 is when my dad came to me and he said, hey, do you want to like, really go for it with this? You know, I think you have something that is working and a great product. And so 2019, he proposed that we start a food truck and then that he would become my business partner. So at that point when we did decide to do that, we became 50, 50 partners.

00;22;57;18 - 00;23;05;09 Maurine So technically, me and my dad, 5050 partners, I guess we have equal say. We kind of have our own areas, though, and that kind of helps.

00;23;05;11 - 00;23;09;00 Seth when your dad knows, don't mess with Mrs. Momo.

00;23;09;03 - 00;23;13;11 Maurine So most of the product, the flavors and the decorations.

00;23;13;13 - 00;23;15;22 Seth Anything else is negotiable.

00;23;15;25 - 00;23;34;28 Maurine But this we can talk about. But. Yeah. About. Yeah. My dad, I mean, he's always had a business mind. He's an accountant. And then he got his MBA later in life, and I think he's always wanted to be an entrepreneur and had that spirit. So I saw that from him. And he did little things here and there. Yeah.

00;23;34;28 - 00;23;57;19 Maurine So this was kind of his big thing. so he does a lot of the business doing all of our licensing. He built out everything. He's very, very good. Like in handy. He built the complete food truck. He's got all of our shops. So he's really. Yeah, a total asset, of course. So the company and then. Yeah, he has lots of opinions about other things and we try to talk about them.

00;23;57;22 - 00;24;10;11 Maurine But yeah, like I said, when it ends up coming to yeah our flavors or the how they're decorated or the actual product, that's very much my specialty. And we'll argue about it, but he'll usually back down to.

00;24;10;11 - 00;24;11;27 Seth What you're like.

00;24;11;29 - 00;24;12;27 Maurine I.

00;24;12;29 - 00;24;18;04 Seth Sure, sure, dad, do you want to go try to make one yourself?

00;24;18;06 - 00;24;41;28 Maurine Well, and the funny thing, too, is now that Brandon and my dad bakes so much, they make more than me. Probably. So they master the baking. But, yeah, I guess it's still my baby. So I still have final say on that. And also social media. That's my other big thing is, kind of choosing how that goes. But in general, yeah, me and him talk a lot.

00;24;41;28 - 00;24;57;22 Maurine And then when we have like meetings, we usually have Brandon and my mom sit into and we'll try to all talk together. And I think we agree on most things. There's a few things that you know. Yeah, but heads on. But yeah, in general we can figure stuff out.

00;24;57;25 - 00;25;19;00 Seth When, if you're not butting heads, it probably means that either somebody is overbearing, right. And and really not willing to negotiate or which is not healthy. Or you got a bunch of boring people who aren't generating ideas right?

00;25;19;02 - 00;25;19;11 Maurine Yeah.

00;25;19;11 - 00;25;22;04 Seth So, I mean, some healthy, healthy butting heads.

00;25;22;07 - 00;25;41;10 Maurine Yeah. I think that, yeah, we've gotten used to the conflict and conflicts. Okay. It doesn't mean it's like a bad thing, you know? Yeah. It's okay to have different ideas and to figure out a good middle ground because I think if. Yeah, like you said, you just listen to one person, you don't have that balance. And I think we bring each other's weaknesses and strengths forward.

00;25;41;10 - 00;25;43;13 Maurine And so it's yeah, it's a good thing.

00;25;43;18 - 00;25;49;15 Stephanie What are some common financial challenges or obstacles that women face and how do you think they can address them?

00;25;49;18 - 00;26;12;08 Maurine I think just being in Utah, I think it kind of is a little bit unique just because I think there are more stay at home moms. And so I feel like that changes the dynamic and just kind of hearing what other women experiences that maybe when the breadwinner is the husband, they kind of have more control of the situation.

00;26;12;10 - 00;26;32;01 Maurine And so I think a huge thing is making sure hopefully before we get married, or even if it is after that, you figure out that you're on the same page to where you have equal say, because I mean, being a stay at home mom that is, you know, that is the work and you're giving so much value to your husband.

00;26;32;04 - 00;26;49;25 Maurine And I believe that, you know, men and women should have equal say when they're married, whether one is working outside the home or not. And so making sure that you guys kind of have that understanding beforehand, that you know, that you're on the same page and not one person saying, well, I make the money, I make all the decisions type of thing.

00;26;49;28 - 00;27;09;05 Maurine But I also see, I think, like you were talking about earlier, that a lot of women are wanting to do more on their own, which I think is great, whether it's starting their own business or just working, you know, a part time job or doing that. I think there's a lot of online now, which is really great, that give women.

00;27;09;08 - 00;27;28;22 Maurine yeah, more access to financial like, adding to the family income. And so I think that's really great. And I hope that men can see the value that their wives bring to their family and to them personally by staying at home, by watching the children, by keeping the household running.

00;27;28;22 - 00;27;48;08 Stephanie Well, and even, you know, like, we've talked about how Brandon was super supportive in your ideas and the things that you wanted to pursue. Sometimes I feel like men don't realize the value in doing that for your marriage, or for your spouse and the family all together. It's such a blessing to be able to, operate in that way.

00;27;48;15 - 00;28;02;24 Maurine I think that it's huge that both men and women see each other as you're on the same team, like it's not a competition or, you know, one's better than the other or anything like that. You're just both bring value to each other in your family.

00;28;02;25 - 00;28;27;23 Stephanie And I also feel like, not just the financial aspect of it, but we were especially women were made to create. And so sometimes we're longing for another creative outlet. And so finding something that we're passionate about like this or like you said, there are a lot of online ways that women are expressing their creativity. And also bringing in some financial stability, I think is super important.

00;28;27;26 - 00;28;50;07 Maurine I agree, and something that I've really loved about starting mamas and starting to grow is I've met a lot of other women business owners and women entrepreneurs, and it's really amazing to see that and to have that in common and have someone to relate to. I'm really good friends with the owner of the chocolate Kasia, and then I don't know if you've ever heard of Chris's cake company.

00;28;50;09 - 00;29;13;24 Maurine She also has her own business. And so actually those are both bakeries. And so that's great to like, you know, talk to them about things and hear their perspective. And they have very supportive husbands. Karen from Oakford Gourmet. Like, there's just so many people that I've got to meet and so many women who are doing their own business or side business, and it's really awesome to see that and be able to relate and to see these other men who are great and supportive.

00;29;14;00 - 00;29;14;17 Maurine

00;29;14;18 - 00;29;18;06 Stephanie Absolutely a blessing to the community as well.

00;29;18;08 - 00;29;19;02 Maurine Yeah.

00;29;19;04 - 00;29;39;16 Stephanie And I really I love that you say that you guys are talking with each other and helping each other because I find sometimes that people, you know, especially when you're in the same, you know, a bakery that people feel like, oh, we're we're competing against each other. We can, yeah, help each other. Which really I feel like, you know, when we come together and we help each other than it helps us all to grow even more.

00;29;39;22 - 00;29;57;00 Maurine Yeah, I agree, and I don't know if that's just you talk because I this is the only place I've been. But I feel like when we had just the food truck, I mean, other food truck owners and they were very open to like telling us, you know, this is our experience. This is what works for us, like very open to sharing.

00;29;57;00 - 00;30;20;21 Maurine And, we want to support and help other businesses. And now that we're more like a brick and mortar, but like restaurant groups and like, it feels like a very supportive community here in Utah where there's very few where it's like feels like straight competition. It really just feels like we're all small businesses trying to survive and to grow, and we like to share ideas and support each other.

00;30;20;21 - 00;30;25;00 Maurine And I think that's amazing. That's one thing I've loved about this area.

00;30;25;02 - 00;30;28;18 Stephanie Yeah, that is amazing. That makes me really happy to hear.

00;30;28;21 - 00;30;35;02 Seth My favorite cake at the chocolate is the Husband.

00;30;35;04 - 00;30;36;12 Maurine That's a good one.

00;30;36;14 - 00;30;38;09 Seth I always feel a little weird.

00;30;38;11 - 00;30;39;21 Maurine I know the the yellow, the chocolate.

00;30;39;21 - 00;30;44;20 Seth It's the. I always feel a little weird saying I'd like a big slice of husband.

00;30;44;22 - 00;30;47;06 Maurine Because I'm like.

00;30;47;08 - 00;30;56;29 Seth there's just something about that that just doesn't quite sit right with me. But that's what I'm going to like. I just love the husband. And maybe I just.

00;30;57;01 - 00;31;05;28 Stephanie Yeah, that's what he's always ordering. And, you know, honey, I think it goes back to when, remember how my friends and I used to say, it's always awkward as you make it?

00;31;06;03 - 00;31;07;24 Maurine Yeah.

00;31;07;26 - 00;31;13;07 Stephanie I've never thought it was awkward until you, like, say it that way and I'm okay. Awkward.

00;31;13;09 - 00;31;20;07 Maurine my. Yeah. I love their kazoo, guys. And then they're like Oreo sandwiches we've had.

00;31;20;07 - 00;31;21;17 Seth There's bazookas there.

00;31;21;17 - 00;31;30;12 Stephanie Bazookas are really good. going back to your relationship, I just have a question. Do you guys do date night? You and your husband.

00;31;30;14 - 00;31;54;28 Maurine We try to, Not something we've been able to be as consistent as I would like. but we do try to make time for it, so maybe, like, once a month. We're very blessed that both my parents and my in-laws live here. And so we've been able to not have to do daycare or babysitters. I also have, five siblings, but, three of them are here, so also pack a babysitter.

00;31;54;28 - 00;32;04;07 Maurine So but we try to make time when we can, but we do still try to make sure we have time at home when we can, when we can't do that.

00;32;04;09 - 00;32;30;01 Stephanie I was going to say, so how do you keep your marriage so healthy and happy? Because I know, at least for me, I, you know, date night or or date day or whenever we can fit in, you know, is super important to me to feel like, okay, I can step out of mom mode or businesswoman or, you know, anything, and I can just be a wife and have fun with my best friend or connect on some, some level.

00;32;30;04 - 00;32;49;13 Maurine Yeah, I think that, yeah, we try to do that when we can as far as date nights, and then we try to make sure that we make a big deal about anniversaries or birthdays. So when we can just go over night, we have the parents who can help us, or we can do one day for, yeah, we had our anniversary in May and it was less than 24 hours because we had to work.

00;32;49;16 - 00;33;02;15 Maurine But we got, you know, a few hours in to spend time together. but then, yeah, I think our big thing is just time after the kids go to bed trying to get them to bed early, even though that can be difficult. And, yeah.

00;33;02;17 - 00;33;05;26 Seth I see what time you put your kids to bed.

00;33;05;28 - 00;33;09;22 Maurine usually by eight, now that it's. Or it's been like 830.

00;33;09;22 - 00;33;12;05 Seth What time do they really go to sleep?

00;33;12;07 - 00;33;19;12 Maurine My boys will fall asleep, so fast. But the last time.

00;33;19;15 - 00;33;23;25 Maurine So by nine, usually my daughter's asleep. So who.

00;33;23;28 - 00;33;24;24 Seth And what time.

00;33;24;26 - 00;33;25;00 Maurine And.

00;33;25;05 - 00;33;28;10 Seth What time do you and Brandon typically, typically go to bed.

00;33;28;10 - 00;33;51;01 Maurine Then I'm like, more of a night owl than he is. he's more of a morning person. So that has also played, that's our role in how we do things. But now that I'm pregnant, I am more tired. So it's easier for me to say, okay, yeah, let's go to bed. Yeah. but yeah, we usually are going to bed 1030, so we usually have like an hour together where we try to either, you know, sit and talk.

00;33;51;01 - 00;34;10;29 Maurine Sometimes you watch a show. We've found that when we watch a show, though, we've noticed that our relationship, seems to struggle more because it's just not like quality spending time together. trying to the big thing is just like talking about the day, like what happened at work or with the kids. We feel like we're kind of being heard, and if we're struggling, that's a big thing.

00;34;10;29 - 00;34;32;19 Maurine We do a lot of check ins. That's something that I learned. I used to go to a women's group that was like a wide supportive group kind of thing. We learned about check ins. We do it now more just when we're having a hard time because we know we need to check in. We used to do it like every day, but just seeing how we're feeling, usually two emotions, maybe what's bringing up these different emotions and then what we need.

00;34;32;21 - 00;34;49;13 Maurine And I think that's just helps us be self-aware, just to be like, okay, this is what I'm feeling. And if I'm struggling, how can I meet these needs? And then how can I ask for help? And so we try to be there for each other. But like you said, I feel like being married to your best friend is like a huge thing is you actually enjoy being together.

00;34;49;13 - 00;35;03;21 Maurine So whatever we are doing, like sometimes we'll have both have to work and when we get to go in, that even feels like getting to spend time together when we're at work together, because at least we're together and we can joke around while we're doing the other's.

00;35;03;24 - 00;35;10;13 Stephanie Maya, you know, making cheesecake. Which I think is that.

00;35;10;15 - 00;35;24;07 Seth Yeah. The only challenges I can't decide if this is cheesecake therapy. We talked about therapy or. Hi, my name is Seth, and I am addicted to cheesecake.

00;35;24;10 - 00;35;26;11 Maurine I think it's self-love.

00;35;26;14 - 00;35;29;04 Stephanie Yes, yes, I'm with me.

00;35;29;06 - 00;35;42;06 Maurine It's all about balance. For sure. Brannon can attest to that because these cheesecake every day. Oh wow. I'm assuming he does. Wow. Dude. I'm right.

00;35;42;09 - 00;35;44;21 Stephanie That can be bad for you to know.

00;35;44;24 - 00;35;45;05 Maurine It's all.

00;35;45;05 - 00;35;56;11 Seth Right. It's all right. He's. He's. Can. I bet you he makes sure he gets his protein. I get gets his protein, and he gets his cheesecake. Like, you can have your cheesecake and eat it, too.

00;35;56;14 - 00;36;00;21 Maurine Well, cheesecake has a lot of protein. So. Yeah that's right. Yeah. That's right.

00;36;00;27 - 00;36;09;16 Stephanie All right. Momo, can you share with us any personal stories or tips about overcoming financial hurt hurdles and also achieving your financial goals?

00;36;09;18 - 00;36;30;12 Maurine That's something that I feel like, yeah, we've definitely learned a lot about. I think being an entrepreneur, you learn a lot about struggle, financial struggles and all struggle. But yes, some people get to go into business and their parents or someone they know can invest a lot, and that's awesome. And some people are starting from nothing, and you're really trying to grow and fight.

00;36;30;12 - 00;36;59;02 Maurine And that's kind of more where we were. And so like was starting the gym, we were able to have our parents invest open the gym. But as far as like personal financial, we were, you know, we had to make the business work to survive. And it was very slow growth. And so really learning to save and be as frugal as possible and get all the help that you can from the different resource is.

00;36;59;03 - 00;37;15;17 Maurine And yeah, for years it was like that. And then choosing to go into more was knowing, hey, we're not going to have a steady income and we're going to try again and see if we can grow this. And I mean, we have had growth and it's been amazing, but I think maybe the summit would be very slow growth also.

00;37;15;17 - 00;37;34;07 Maurine And so being patient and figuring out, yeah, where you can save money and what's a priority. And with that we've really carried that into business as well as being frugal in our business. And we had an initial investment of $15,000.

00;37;34;10 - 00;37;36;08 Seth One 515.

00;37;36;11 - 00;37;54;29 Maurine 15 and we have never put any more money into it. It's all been self-funded. And so that's something that I'm really proud of that we don't have. I think some businesses have, you know, $100,000 in debt that they're trying to pay back, and we don't have that hanging over our heads, and we don't grow until we know we can support that.

00;37;55;02 - 00;38;17;06 Maurine And so I feel like it's kind of been personal and business that we've taken the things that it's really my parents that they've taught us a lot about being frugal and how to do things. And so, like what? Like I said, with the business, instead of taking a huge investment, you can buy a lot of things used that are in great condition and you can do a lot of things yourself.

00;38;17;06 - 00;38;46;09 Maurine Like I said, my dad goes on YouTube and says, how do I do this? And then learns to do it and learns to build a food truck that has all the things that we need. And so, there's definitely resources out there for you to try to make smarter choices than just investing a lot of money and paying a contractor or whatever it is, to make sure that you're going to be sustainable and continue to grow and hopefully have financial freedom.

00;38;46;11 - 00;39;00;19 Stephanie That really speaks to me. I'm I'm such a frugal person, so I can appreciate all that. You guys have been through, all the struggle and also the creativity, figuring out how to make it the best but also financially able. That's that's great.

00;39;00;21 - 00;39;02;00 Seth That is very much you.

00;39;02;03 - 00;39;05;05 Maurine It is like, yeah.

00;39;05;07 - 00;39;13;03 Seth So tell us about the entrepreneurial dream. I mean, you've been you've been in this now you're coming up on ten years next year.

00;39;13;05 - 00;39;13;20 Maurine Yeah.

00;39;13;23 - 00;39;43;15 Seth Right from from the inception. And you've talked about patience. So where does patience come in. And, and and how do you balance or how do you prioritize patience and ambition for growth. Because, you know, I don't I don't I'm guessing that at some point you're thinking, listen, we want to have a massive cash flow coming in from this business.

00;39;43;18 - 00;40;13;14 Maurine But not be great. You know? Yeah. as far as the entrepreneurial dream, I never had it. So that was something that was kind of not thrust upon me. But I saw it in my husband, my mother in law, my father. But for me, being like an introvert, like that idea, I feel like an entrepreneur needs to be able to like your sales person and go out there and like that just didn't feel natural to me.

00;40;13;14 - 00;40;36;25 Maurine I always thought I would just get married to somebody who would work 9 to 5, and I'd be a certain way. And so my life definitely has turned out very different than I ever. But I think owning the gym taught me a lot, and seeing that and helping Brandon grow that. And then, yeah, just for whatever reason, once I started making cheesecakes, I wanted to share that with people.

00;40;36;27 - 00;41;05;14 Maurine And obviously the way you do that is, you know, to start selling to people because, you know, I can't just give it away. But, so wanting to share this, cause I don't know, I really do feel like I try to put like, love into this product, and I want it to be something that people enjoy. And really, my whole mission with this was that I want people to gather around my cheesecakes for special occasions and special memories, and that will just be part of that memory just for me.

00;41;05;14 - 00;41;28;15 Maurine I love food like so much, and like all of my travel is around what restaurants I want to go try or yeah, yes for like birthdays or specific cakes. And so I want momos to be part of those special memories of travel or special occasions or weddings. And so it just adds to that memory of connection or whatever the special occasion is.

00;41;28;18 - 00;41;56;06 Maurine As I started putting it out there, I realized that I want it to get to more people. It does need to grow and be a business. And so, I had to kind of take on that business role and entrepreneurial role. Role of wanting to grow. And social media has been the biggest thing for us. that's kind of the road we decided to go down, and it has worked great for us and we have never paid for advertising anywhere.

00;41;56;13 - 00;42;13;25 Maurine It's all just been natural. just whatever you post on social media, maybe that was kind of part of it is I didn't have huge dreams, and I was fine with being patient. When my dad, became my business partner, I think it was like that first summer. He's like, so like, how big do you want to get?

00;42;13;25 - 00;42;46;01 Maurine Like, how many brought sales? Because he's like this business mind. And he an entrepreneur and I was like, I don't know, like $100,000 in a year. And he's like, I was thinking like 10 million. So our dreams were like, why is a quarter? We did not have the same view of we were doing. So I think my dad has pulled me to have higher goals and expectations and all that, and I kind of bring him down to being more realistic, maybe.

00;42;46;04 - 00;43;13;11 Maurine And so I feel like I said, I just like where we have been a really good balance for each other. And so he's like, okay, I think you're setting up another shop and I'm like, okay, well, let's make sure we're ready. Like, and then yeah, we've just taken it step by step and tried to be really smart about it, like I said, so that we don't ever have to get to a point because I think some businesses, they're excited and they know they feel like they have like a good product or concept and they try to explode and you just can't keep up with it.

00;43;13;14 - 00;43;30;14 Maurine They see, you know, I can think of a few, but I won't name them. But you see them kind of blow up people there, and then all of a sudden they're all closing and you just grow too fast. And so I think patience is super important in making sure you're doing it step by step and foundation. That is really sturdy.

00;43;30;16 - 00;43;48;15 Maurine I mean, in business they talk a lot about proof of concept, and so making sure you have that proof of concept before you're doing the next step. So we are growing and I'm happy with our growth. And we want to grow bigger. And you know, it would be a dream to have this be able to be, you know, across the country that everyone can try to take.

00;43;48;15 - 00;43;58;06 Maurine I think that it's a really great dessert, but we want to make sure that we take the right steps to do it and do it in the right time for us personally and for the business.

00;43;58;08 - 00;44;00;08 Seth Like we got. CEO Momo.

00;44;00;08 - 00;44;01;09 Maurine Is seriously.

00;44;01;10 - 00;44;07;16 Seth Here laying down really some some beautiful entrepreneurial, cheesecake nuggets. All right.

00;44;07;21 - 00;44;08;19 Maurine Mini bites.

00;44;08;19 - 00;44;09;11 Stephanie Cheesecake bites.

00;44;09;11 - 00;44;40;15 Seth Cheesecake bites. Because I think a lot of women. And Steph, I'd love you to weigh in on this. I think a lot of women can relate with with your perspective, kind of growing into leadership or growing into entrepreneurship. And it gives you a totally different perspective and a totally different set of values. It is a two sided coin if you want to be wildly successful, if you want to be successful, let alone wildly successful, you better have both sides of this coin.

00;44;40;15 - 00;45;10;07 Seth You better have ambition, because ambition is what's going to cause you to grow like have the ambition of of a little seed that seeds pretty ambitious if you think about it. It's like I got to grow up, go up to the sun. At the same time, it has to be tempered with patience. And so to have both of those and to to make them work together, and I think you and I have that balance.

00;45;10;13 - 00;45;33;24 Seth It sounds like you and and Papa Momo and Brandon have that as well. I think that's that's it's super helpful. helpful. It's it's it's a necessity. So I think you have you have you have just some incredible wisdom, sage wisdom for entrepreneurs, but but specifically for women in, in entrepreneurship and business.

00;45;33;27 - 00;45;53;24 Maurine Yeah. I don't know if I, I don't know if other women can relate, but that's something that I actually found that was a struggle for whatever reason, like this idea of dreaming big. It felt like almost selfish. I don't know, I don't know exactly what the emotion was, but it felt like I shouldn't do it or shouldn't want it.

00;45;53;24 - 00;46;11;20 Maurine And but I could see, like my dad has, you know, no problem wanting like, crazy stuff. And so it's something that I feel like I've had to get more comfortable with and try to figure out what it is. And I don't know, I don't, but yeah, personality or being a woman. But it's okay to dream big. It's okay to want more.

00;46;11;20 - 00;46;32;29 Maurine It's okay to want to have money. And it's not a negative thing. And so I think that that's something that having my dad and Brandon around has maybe given me the space to do and to get more comfortable with, even if I'm not quite up to where they are. But it's it's a good thing, I think.

00;46;33;02 - 00;47;01;19 Stephanie Yeah, I definitely can relate to that. You know, on some of our podcasts, I've talked about how, you know, even just doing this podcast is way outside my comfort zone. I'm a huge extrovert, but for whatever reason, like this type of stuff is just so outside my comfort zone and I've had to really grow into it. even within our business, that's been then a huge growth for me to, step up to leadership and to start fulfilling some of those roles.

00;47;01;21 - 00;47;25;20 Stephanie but even, you know, talking about dreaming, like, you know, I, I yeah, whenever I talk about dreaming, I'm like, oh, yeah, I used to not know how to dream. That was something, you know, my dream was having a great husband and some kids, you know, and, and anything beyond that, you know, kind of like what you said almost felt selfish or it was just really hard to to even know how to do that.

00;47;25;22 - 00;47;40;06 Stephanie That's something that I've had to learn over the last. We've been married almost ten years. And, you know, it's it's been a huge growth for me to figure out how to dream and to go after my dreams and to know that, you know, that's it's self-care is taking care of myself.

00;47;40;06 - 00;47;42;11 Maurine And and it's okay. Yes.

00;47;42;13 - 00;47;54;24 Stephanie Yeah. It is so good for you. And it also helps. I feel like it helps my children give my children permission to, to start dreaming, you know, decades before I even started dreaming.

00;47;54;26 - 00;48;10;16 Maurine Yeah. And I hope, I hope that that I'm giving that to my children, especially my daughters, that they'll see it. And if they want to be a single mom, great. But if they want to do more, that's great too, and that they can figure out what they want. It's okay. And they shouldn't feel like they have to ask permission or yes.

00;48;10;22 - 00;48;33;21 Seth One thing that you said just has super resonated with me. The entrepreneurial mind. And that is and I don't know, I don't know it well, I just want to bring it up. So I hope everybody, especially the women who listen to this, who are entrepreneurs or who are interested in entrepreneurship, you talked about the entrepreneurial dream and I didn't have that.

00;48;33;24 - 00;48;45;10 Seth And yet and yet your vision for momos was not simply to sell the best doggone cheesecake.

00;48;45;12 - 00;48;48;18 Maurine It's right that it was.

00;48;48;18 - 00;49;10;15 Seth It was to go way beyond simply selling cheesecake. And I think that that's something that naturally, women. Bring to the entrepreneurial table that often men don't. and you're like, I, I want cheesecake to be emotional. Well, we already know it's emotional, but.

00;49;10;17 - 00;49;11;07 Maurine You know.

00;49;11;09 - 00;49;35;25 Seth I want I want this product to be part of an experience that makes a difference in people's lives, in their celebration, in their connections. And that has stemmed from your own personal passions and loves. Right? Traveling with food. We're foodies, so. And we're like, you're talking about like, that's how we do it. Like I was thinking, Steph, we could travel with these folks.

00;49;35;26 - 00;49;39;19 Maurine Yes. Right.

00;49;39;22 - 00;49;51;28 Seth But making sure that your business has a big reason has a big, you know, a big deliverable, more than simply selling the product.

00;49;52;00 - 00;49;53;16 Maurine Right? So, yeah.

00;49;53;18 - 00;49;54;11 Seth I think that's super.

00;49;54;11 - 00;50;20;10 Maurine Powerful that that makes a huge difference. that's one thing I really want to focus on moving forward. We are talking about growing and expanding and just making sure that we keep that. The reason? Not making more money, like, yeah, that's a great, benefit. And obviously we need money and we want it, but that if we lose sight of the mission, then I feel like the company and the product, won't be as successful.

00;50;20;10 - 00;50;31;14 Maurine And so figuring out how we can have this grow and have other people involved and keep that the center of the message and mission. So.

00;50;31;16 - 00;50;46;13 Stephanie Well, I already loved Momo's cheesecake like, so much, but, you know, just learning all of this, man, my respect for you guys and my love for what you're doing and your products and everything has just shot through the roof.

00;50;46;18 - 00;51;06;16 Maurine Thank you. That means a lot. I feel like, Yeah, it is my passion. It's my baby and I. I hope people can feel that when they come in and when they eat it. that it's not just about making money, that it hopefully means more. And so that means like hearing that. So thank you. Yes.

00;51;06;18 - 00;51;34;17 Seth When you think about role models for yourself, women role models, who who do you look to? Who's that? I know there's no perfect women. No perfect. There's no perfect woman because they're all perfect. No, I, I but who who is that woman that for you woman or women that you either know personally or that you look to, you know, far off or historical like who are the women that you look to for inspiration?

00;51;34;19 - 00;52;12;05 Maurine That's a really hard question. Not one person's coming to mind, but I do feel like I draw from a lot of different women, for different reasons. But finding strength, and seeing strength in women, women in my personal life that I see who really fight for their family or fight for their marriage. And drawing from that, and a lot of the women that I've met through business, like some of the ones that I mentioned and seeing them, you know, working really hard to have the balance of life and family and, you know, still making their, their, career priority.

00;52;12;08 - 00;52;35;21 Maurine and I think that in general, like, as a society that we have kind of only said it's okay out loud for women to be strong and to want more and to do multiple things. And so, I don't know, I feel inspired by a lot of women that I get to interact with or see through social media or media in general.

00;52;35;24 - 00;52;52;03 Maurine So yeah, I think just women being able to be themselves and be okay with being strong and be okay with accomplishing things and yeah, that's definitely inspired me that it's okay to want more.

00;52;52;05 - 00;53;13;00 Seth Is that something that that has been difficult because I've you've said that several times. How have you have you challenged that status quo? Want more or or, you know, was that something that that was not part of your growing up, you know, so you're kind of challenging yourself and saying, no, it's okay. Like it's okay to want more.

00;53;13;07 - 00;53;33;27 Maurine Yeah. I don't know where it came from. I don't know if it's a societal thing or if it's maybe more of like a religious thing that you know, what you want is your family in your marriage, which I absolutely do. But it's okay to want more than just that. So yeah, I'm not exactly sure exactly where it came from, but yeah, definitely challenging it for whatever reason.

00;53;33;27 - 00;53;55;13 Maurine Like if my husband was having the exact success, with his own business, I think that would feel more comfortable than it being like my own. And for whatever reason that is, I think a huge thing has been gratitude. Being able to like, see how far we've come through the steps that we've made and know that I am grateful for all of it.

00;53;55;16 - 00;54;15;24 Maurine Something that Brennan kind of struggles with, that we talk a lot about is like comparing. I think that that can be really hard. Is it compare and say, oh, well, why aren't we this far in life, like this person or whatever it is? And I think I have I haven't had that issue for whatever reason. And I've always felt really, really grateful for what I do have.

00;54;15;26 - 00;54;34;28 Maurine And so I think as long as I don't lose sight of that, it feels okay to to keep doing it. And the other thing is knowing how hard I've worked, I think that the only other person who really sees it is Brandon, but even then he can't see everything and just knowing how much time and effort and mental load.

00;54;34;28 - 00;55;04;03 Maurine And I know that I've worked really hard for this. And so I think that also helps it feel like, okay, it's now that I feel like I, I've done what I need to do to kind of earn it as being grown also. And so I don't know if I need to rationalize it. Probably not. But those are some of the things that helped me to step back and make sure I'm grateful, make sure I am working hard for it, and know that you know I'm doing all that I can hopefully continue to have success.

00;55;04;06 - 00;55;14;00 Stephanie Can you share with us experiences that you've had with overcoming self-doubt or imposter syndrome? Any, you know, advice to other women on how they can overcome that?

00;55;14;01 - 00;55;31;15 Maurine Yeah, and I think the imposter syndrome kind of has to do with feeling like maybe you don't deserve these things, or being okay with wanting to have big dreams and wanting to make a lot of money. The only thing that I thought about when I saw that question is, just trying to say yes to things, even if it feels uncomfortable.

00;55;31;17 - 00;55;53;17 Maurine I've been invited on the news, I think, three times, and the idea of, like, going on TV is uncomfortable and scary and, you know, have all these self-doubts. I have tried to just always say yes, even if maybe it doesn't feel comfortable. And just putting myself out there and just saying, hey, I'm going to do the best I can.

00;55;53;20 - 00;56;15;26 Maurine One thing that's nice is that when it comes to talk about, to think your business, I do feel a lot more comfortable and confident. Whereas like, unfortunately, like not feeling confident in the way I look like that holds me back more than like the actual business. And so trying to not let insecurities that maybe are not that important hold you back from doing things, going to networking events that are uncomfortable.

00;56;15;26 - 00;56;42;09 Maurine For example, talk to a bunch of people. But it's a good thing, you know, and there's benefits to them going on social media, like doing videos that's uncomfortable. But I think it's good for people to get to know who's behind, you know, the business. And I think it's hard for Brandon. He does put himself out there, but it's still like have that we call it, vulnerability hangover.

00;56;42;11 - 00;56;58;14 Maurine So, you know, putting yourself out there and then afterwards you kind of have this like, and you feel self-conscious about it. So still doing it and just saying, hey, this is me. And some people will like it, some people won't. And trying to just take the opportunities that can.

00;56;58;17 - 00;57;03;14 Seth Love me, hate me. I still make the best cheesecake.

00;57;03;16 - 00;57;07;04 Maurine That's a good way. But it.

00;57;07;07 - 00;57;28;24 Stephanie Well, it's so interesting because I actually love going and looking at your guys's stories or your posts, and I would never suspect that either one of you would feel that way with social media or anything. Like, like I get value just from watching you guys, not just eating your cheesecake. And so it's it's great for me, you know, to hear these stories that I'm not alone in those struggles.

00;57;28;24 - 00;57;43;27 Stephanie Social media asks Seth, like, anytime. He's like, hey, let's do a real or hey, let's do it. And I'm like, okay, like, like that's me trying to say yes. But also, you know, validating myself that this isn't easy, but I'm going to do it.

00;57;43;29 - 00;57;55;23 Maurine Yeah. And it's nice to get like the external validation, like you get a lot of views like that feels good. And then there's ones that don't do well. And so it's you just have to be okay with whatever happens. Yes, yes.

00;57;55;25 - 00;58;20;22 Stephanie I also find and and wonder, you know, you're talking about the comparison trap of, you know, your image. I have such a huge problem with that. I've definitely gotten a lot better, but I still struggle with that sometimes. And, I wonder if that's, like, the comparison trap for women. You know, it's about their image. And for men, it's more of what am I providing, you know, versus the other guy.

00;58;20;29 - 00;58;22;08 Maurine It's the results next door.

00;58;22;08 - 00;58;28;27 Stephanie It's the results. You know, I don't know how. I've never thought of it that way.

00;58;29;00 - 00;58;36;00 Maurine Seems like it for sure. I think maybe that's kind of what society tells us. We bring value. Yeah. Men providing and women and looking.

00;58;36;00 - 00;58;51;08 Stephanie And yes, that's where your worth lies. Which, you know, really has nothing to do with your worth. right. Yes. Trying to validate that and and recognize that we came with our worth.

00;58;51;10 - 00;58;52;08 Maurine Right.

00;58;52;10 - 00;58;53;01 Stephanie we're not to.

00;58;53;07 - 00;59;02;04 Maurine Just recognizing when you're doing it, and it's going to keep happening, but just trying to call yourself out and work through it and let it go.

00;59;02;06 - 00;59;21;19 Stephanie Well, and I think also, for me at least, it's been really helpful, to validate myself on the things that I am really good at, not just focusing on those things because, I mean, let's be real, we're all imperfect. We're all here to learn. And so if we want to find our flaws, we're going to find them if we look like we all have them.

00;59;21;19 - 00;59;31;09 Stephanie But if we focus on the things that we are doing well or the things that we really want to grow in and focus our time and energy on that, then you know, we can be happy and blossom.

00;59;31;11 - 00;59;40;26 Maurine Yeah. And being okay with growth because that's, you know, the whole point I feel like of life is that we got to keep growing and that's okay. Yes, yes.

00;59;40;29 - 01;00;07;27 Seth I truly believe that. We talk about the pursuit of happiness. You talk about making more money, making a lot of money. That's great, by the way. It's awesome. Right. But happiness really is growth. Progress is the happiness. And because you can, you can make a lot of money and feel like you are sitting on top of a pile of money and be very, very unhappy.

01;00;08;00 - 01;00;09;00 Maurine

01;00;09;02 - 01;00;38;18 Seth If. Well for a number of reasons by the way, but especially if you've taken your eye off the real goal. And sometimes we thought that making money was the goal, and it is definitely a goal, but it is not the goal, right? And you can be completely miserable because you stop growing, right. You can have tons of money and be growing and be wildly happy and still struggling, but growth is happiness.

01;00;38;20 - 01;00;57;14 Maurine Yeah, I agree, I think that's coming to mind when you're saying that is, I'm talking about insecurities. I feel like a lot of times people are like, don't want to shine a light on the insecurities. They don't want to talk about it or look at it because that's uncomfortable. And they also make I think you feel inadequate because you're saying, I am.

01;00;57;14 - 01;01;31;26 Maurine I'm falling short in these areas and that's hard and that's really hard to do. And it's, I think, even harder to do in front of someone. But I think that that brings the most growth, having the strength to be vulnerable and say, I don't feel like I'm doing well in these areas and you're going to see this dark part of me or negative part of me, and letting someone see that actually brings about growth and actually brings, I think, the greatest happiness, because you're showing all of yourself and getting really love and compassion in the dark areas and the light areas of your life.

01;01;31;26 - 01;01;52;23 Maurine And so that's something that, I truly, truly appreciate. And I've seen a lot in my life, and being vulnerable and stepping into that is so hard but so rewarding. Yeah. In personal life or in marriage or in families or friendships or whatever it is, is putting yourself in that dark place reaps the greatest rewards?

01;01;52;25 - 01;02;10;02 Stephanie Definitely. I've been to some trauma retreats. I'm always trying to like, okay, I can say something a little faster instead of waiting until like, oh, okay, we're done talking. Or, you know, whatever. And sometimes people are like, wow, you're so vulnerable. You just open up and I'm like, yes, because I've had the taste of what's on the other side of opening up.

01;02;10;04 - 01;02;19;01 Stephanie It makes it easier to be able to open up, right? Not only that, but it helps give other people permission for them to do it as well.

01;02;19;04 - 01;02;19;16 Maurine Yeah.

01;02;19;21 - 01;02;19;29 Stephanie Right.

01;02;19;29 - 01;02;21;10 Maurine So you're saying.

01;02;21;12 - 01;02;22;12 Stephanie Into that circle.

01;02;22;12 - 01;02;40;05 Maurine Yeah. Yeah. When you feel like it's a safe place and you see someone else do it, it feels like it opens the door. and then, yeah, that connection I feel like heals it. Yes. I don't know if you listen to Brené Brown, but I think she's amazing and talks so much about vulnerability. And I love her. And I just reminds me a lot of the stuff that she says.

01;02;40;08 - 01;02;48;28 Maurine Having that connection, that vulnerability is all about life and happiness and healing. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.

01;02;49;00 - 01;03;01;06 Stephanie Okay, so, how does societal expectation and stereotypes affect women's sight and what can be done to break free from that?

01;03;01;08 - 01;03;39;00 Maurine I feel like we've talked a lot about the different things that have kind of pulled us back is maybe saying like, yeah, our looks are our biggest value. And I think a lot of us get stuck focusing so much on those things and feeling like we can't do things because I'm overweight or I'm not attractive or all these things I can't, I don't know, I feel like it consumes us, to where we can be very unhappy and not be able to focus on things, like maybe being more focused on, you know, losing the baby shark versus, like, being there for the kids or whatever it is.

01;03;39;03 - 01;04;10;20 Maurine and that can be really hard. And I think being an amount down space, men, space, business or other areas and feeling like, it's okay to have a voice, it's okay to speak up. And wanting mutual respect in those areas. I think that it's funny or interesting. in a lot of experiences, I've noticed that the default is kind of to turn to my husband, to talk to my husband, even when it's certain things where it's like, this is my area, but we have our own areas and whatever it is.

01;04;10;20 - 01;04;24;05 Maurine But, when I see them turn to him and talk to him and kind of ignore me and like, that can be a little bit frustrating. So trying to stand up in those situations and again, having a supportive partner is super helpful to.

01;04;24;08 - 01;04;42;06 Seth You're having an experience that many women are having in business. And you're also, you know, you're setting down tracks and creating precedent for other women to learn from. I just like you learn from, you know, the other women in your community, you know, in, in the restaurant, you know, community.

01;04;42;06 - 01;05;01;22 Maurine So I think that Mike has done a great job, too. I think when you guys talk to me, you kind of saw that, that he's okay with saying, you know, bring the charge and she makes the decision, like, he makes that space for me, too. And so he is very supportive in that way, too. And being able to say that, you know, we make decisions together or she makes a decision about that.

01;05;01;25 - 01;05;06;27 Maurine So that also brings confidence to me in this situation.

01;05;06;27 - 01;05;24;19 Stephanie Definitely. I feel like, you know, anytime I'm in those situations and Seth is like, oh, you've got this. Oh, I've always known you can do it. I'm like, wait, what? You know, and like you said, it just brings so much more confidence in myself and and helps me to know that I can do more than I think I can.

01;05;24;21 - 01;05;37;00 Seth What? speaking of being vulnerable, what do you feel like you're not doing? Like what? What is your biggest struggle for your own personal self-care right now?

01;05;37;03 - 01;06;05;00 Maurine having self-care at all? You know, I think right now it is the past couple months have been really, hard because being pregnant is just exhausting. And we're getting near the end and it's just uncomfortable. And, a couple weeks ago I found out I have gestational diabetes. So that added another layer of having to do all those things and then having three kids, it's summertime.

01;06;05;00 - 01;06;23;27 Maurine They're home from school. So making sure they're getting the attention and care that they need, making sure Brandon and me are good. And then on top of all of that, the business. We had lost a couple of employees. So training and hiring takes a lot of time and effort. So it just feels like it's like on top of each other.

01;06;23;27 - 01;06;41;16 Maurine And so I guess the big thing is trying to stay on top of it so that you're always doing it so that you don't get to the point where you feel like you're going to crack. and so a big thing is, yeah, being aware of how you're doing, how you're feeling and keeping that meter there. I feel like things have been different just being pregnant.

01;06;41;16 - 01;07;01;22 Maurine And so self-care for me is like going and taking a bath and being alone and having quiet when I'm not pregnant and in different circumstances, I feel like going out and connecting with people is a big thing for me. Whether it's like with my sister or friends or my mom or just dates, doing those things. But I feel like being pregnant kind of puts me in survival mode.

01;07;01;22 - 01;07;31;02 Maurine So having time with Brandon, having time at home with the kids, and then having just kind of quiet time to myself, is really important. one thing I saw with Brandon having the gym, I saw what burnout looks like. And so, that was a huge lesson to me. he cared so much. He wanted to do everything because he knew that, you know, when you're a business owner, like, only you will do it exactly how you want it to do.

01;07;31;04 - 01;07;52;20 Maurine Yeah. And so, like, that totally makes sense that you should want to do everything. But the thing is, if you can't like, it's not realistic. And so watching him do everything by himself for over two years just saw his physical and mental health just have a decline. And so finally towards the last year he started asking for help.

01;07;52;20 - 01;08;14;25 Maurine He started hiring people. But I think by that point it was like a little bit too late. He was already so worn down. We were worn down as a family. And so I, I learned right away, like, you have to be okay with letting go of control. You have to be okay with letting other people do things. You do your best to train them, and you accept that it's not going to be the way 100% you would do it.

01;08;14;25 - 01;08;29;01 Maurine And so asking for help, reaching out, making sure you hire good people. And then, yeah, a big thing for us is just ask your parents, hey, we really need a night off. Can you watch kids so we can spend time together?

01;08;29;03 - 01;08;50;18 Seth Whatever it is, I think so many entrepreneurs, or people who just start a business because most people who start a business don't consider themselves entrepreneurs necessarily. Right? Okay, listen, you know what? I need to make some side income or, you know, let's own a business because, you know, we know how to groom dogs, and, you know, we can make some money.

01;08;50;21 - 01;09;16;26 Seth but the myth is that, like, unless you build this out and plan this out, you may find yourself totally burned out. you you may find yourself self. There's a difference between being self-employed and owning a business. Right? And if you want to own a business, then you need to be able to create systems. I know you guys are crazy.

01;09;16;26 - 01;09;32;21 Seth I mean, you don't own multiple locations without having systems, right? And being able to entrust, train and entrust others to carry the mission forward. otherwise you'll be stuck in that self-employed wheel.

01;09;32;23 - 01;09;48;28 Maurine Yeah. And I think also being able to step away because you can go home and still have a million things to do, you know, and be on your phone or in your mind, and, you know, you have to be able to say, okay, I'm done with work. I need to step away and it'll be there tomorrow and I'll figure it out tomorrow.

01;09;49;01 - 01;10;01;27 Maurine And that's hard, especially when it's like big things. But yeah, you have to make sure that you're taking care of yourself. Yes.

01;10;02;00 - 01;10;03;26 Seth I felt that.

01;10;03;28 - 01;10;09;02 Stephanie It may or may not be something he's working on.

01;10;09;05 - 01;10;20;29 Maurine My mom complains is like, all we ever talk about is cheesecake. But that's what they talk about at home and then at family dinners or talks. So yeah, you gotta you gotta turn it off.

01;10;21;02 - 01;10;38;01 Stephanie So, so true. Sometimes it can be really hard. I find when we go on our dates. Oh, yeah. I need to fill you in on this or. Oh, I've got this question or and and for a while it really bothered me because I'm like, can I just have like a couple hours of not talking about the business? I love the business.

01;10;38;01 - 01;11;03;25 Stephanie I see what a blessing it is to us and thousands of other people. But I also just want to be us, you know, which I've come to learn is integrated into who we are. so I typically will say, okay, can we talk about this just for, you know, ten minutes or okay, I give you 1 or 2 questions and then and then we need to shut it off until after the date is over, and then we can resume back to that because, I do find that.

01;11;03;25 - 01;11;04;19 Maurine It's.

01;11;04;22 - 01;11;20;09 Stephanie Sometimes that I start feeling that way too, or I'm just like, we're going to talk about this again when it shouldn't feel that way. You know, it's something that's such a great thing and a great blessing. And I don't want to feel that resentment towards it, you know, or that it's been brought up so well.

01;11;20;09 - 01;11;40;23 Seth It's like your relationship, like you first are before you're a strong couple. You have to be a strong individual, even if if you know your partner makes you better. I know you make me better. And you guys have an amazing marriage, marine, you know, through all the ups and downs. But before you're a great spouse, you got to be a great individual.

01;11;40;23 - 01;12;07;12 Seth And the same with your business. You have to be an individual independent of that business. Right? healthy. Healthy because, you know, unhealthy you it is not going to help you build a healthy business. So it is super important to I'm not gonna use the word balance, but to, like you said, to shut off and to take care of what needs to be taken care of and be an individual and and just or just be a couple.

01;12;07;12 - 01;12;20;02 Seth Hey, it's us tonight. And no, we're not going to talk about seven social media ideas or our next seven podcast potential collaborations or or. But wait, there's more. Because like, you know.

01;12;20;04 - 01;12;22;07 Stephanie The wheels keep turning.

01;12;22;09 - 01;12;45;18 Maurine Yeah. And I think sometimes people think that it will take away from it, whether it's marriage or business, stepping away and having your own time in your marriage and working on yourself and then stepping away from your business and having your own life, family, whatever it is, it's actually going to make it stronger. Which maybe seems counterintuitive, but yeah, it's you see what happens when you give 100% in one area.

01;12;45;18 - 01;12;47;17 Maurine And it just it's not sustainable.

01;12;47;23 - 01;13;05;14 Stephanie It's not, you know, it's I can't remember somebody said something to me recently. If you're saying yes to one thing, you're saying no to another. And so if you're constantly saying yes to your family, that means you're saying no to your I'm sorry to your business, then you're saying no to your family or to other things outside of that.

01;13;05;17 - 01;13;11;13 Stephanie And, you know, if you're focusing on one thing only all the time, you're you're not going to be happy.

01;13;11;15 - 01;13;16;29 Seth Well, I think it's time for some self-love.

01;13;17;01 - 01;13;21;14 Stephanie I'm just going to say I, I don't like eating.

01;13;21;17 - 01;13;23;24 Seth On camera, on camera. I know we're going to do it anyway.

01;13;23;24 - 01;13;26;16 Stephanie I am excited to have cheesecake, so it does make it better.

01;13;26;19 - 01;13;34;09 Maurine I think you guys got caramel Biscoff salted dark chocolate and blueberry. Yes, yes that's true. So what is your.

01;13;34;09 - 01;13;36;17 Stephanie Favorite cheesecake flavor?

01;13;36;20 - 01;13;54;21 Maurine I really love our citrus ones. There's something about, like that bright tartness with the cream cheese that I just love. So, like our raspberry lime, our lemon curd are two of my very favorite. And then I also really like our spiced ones. Again, I feel like something with the cream cheese and spice is good. So we do a chai tea.

01;13;54;21 - 01;14;17;06 Maurine That one's really good, a caramel apple crumble. That one has cinnamon and it so or pumpkin that one too. So those are kind of my two favorite profiles. And people ask me about cheesecake all the time and I don't ever tell them, but I, I just take like once every three months what I'm doing. My dad and been brand and are eating them pretty much every day.

01;14;17;06 - 01;14;20;23 Maurine But it's just one of my favorite flavors come around that I actually eat them.

01;14;20;25 - 01;14;34;14 Seth Wow. Why is that? Is that because of, like, cheesecake overload? Is it just your personality? You know you're happy to create and you don't have to be in the kitchen licking the spatula? speaking from personal.

01;14;34;14 - 01;14;57;10 Maurine Experience, I think a big thing is I feel very self-critical of myself and my product. I want it to be perfect. And the very, very best. And so I think sometimes it's hard to really enjoy, because I'm thinking like, oh, is this the right consistency? Is this right? This, this, this. And so it's not as enjoyable.

01;14;57;10 - 01;15;12;11 Maurine I think that's part of it. and then yeah, maybe just being around it all the time, it's just more work for me. but yeah, when it's the right flavors, I really do enjoy it and it's not very often. So I don't know if that's way.

01;15;12;14 - 01;15;33;04 Stephanie Okay. So I have a question then. and part of this comes from the fact that the raspberry lime is one of my top so far of your cheesecakes. Like, I absolutely love that one. But is that the reason why? Because I've noticed the last three years for March Madness that raspberry lime has always come out on top, but it's still not a regular.

01;15;33;07 - 01;15;52;18 Maurine Yeah you're right. Yeah, yeah, I get this one voted every year to win. That's what most people say is their favorite. It's a fan favorite. Everything. and yeah, I don't know. We've never talked about adding to the classics. I don't know if it's just because we already have five, but and I keep thinking like, should I not include it so that it can't win again and we get a new winner?

01;15;52;18 - 01;15;58;07 Maurine But they keep every word gets funding for that one. Yeah, that's a good one.

01;15;58;09 - 01;16;02;22 Seth I don't know if we've talked about this because you know that sometimes I forget things.

01;16;02;22 - 01;16;03;26 Maurine Yes.

01;16;03;29 - 01;16;05;20 Seth Occasionally.

01;16;05;23 - 01;16;06;19 Stephanie okay.

01;16;06;21 - 01;16;08;00 Maurine Occasionally.

01;16;08;03 - 01;16;11;29 Stephanie Just occasionally.

01;16;12;01 - 01;16;23;25 Seth So we went to this. Amazing. We were in New York visiting our son and daughter in law and, and grandchildren a couple of years ago. And of course, if you go to New York, you have to eat.

01;16;23;27 - 01;16;24;13 Maurine Cheesecake.

01;16;24;13 - 01;16;46;00 Seth Some good cheesecake. And we found this place in Jersey, actually, just across the river, which was stunningly amazing family run business. and they had what I think to this date is definitely one of my top flavors. You know what I'm going to say?

01;16;46;01 - 01;16;47;25 Stephanie Yes, I know it's.

01;16;47;28 - 01;16;49;09 Maurine There's more make yet.

01;16;49;12 - 01;16;49;29 Stephanie Not yet.

01;16;50;00 - 01;17;04;12 Seth Okay, good. I didn't want I, I think I was hoping that that you were you weren't going to say yes chef. Do you remember when we had that. I'm like oh that was so good that I, that I must so check this out. Do I have your attention?

01;17;04;18 - 01;17;06;29 Stephanie Oh, my God, I'm doing okay.

01;17;07;03 - 01;17;13;09 Seth This is product development, product research. Baklava.

01;17;13;11 - 01;17;16;23 Maurine Oh, how.

01;17;16;25 - 01;17;20;16 Seth They made a baklava cheesecake with.

01;17;20;19 - 01;17;24;04 Maurine My mind. Is that, like, trying to, like, logically figure out how you would do that.

01;17;24;08 - 01;17;25;23 Stephanie Right now.

01;17;25;25 - 01;17;54;10 Seth With the walnuts and the honey and that kind of, you know, the caramelization on our cinnamon and, and the, street, that pastry kind of, like a cheesecake crust, but but with those pastry, thin pastry, kind of workings. It was amazing.

01;17;54;12 - 01;17;56;03 Maurine That sounds amazing. And so creative.

01;17;56;04 - 01;18;06;09 Seth Challenge with the wooden winning contest, because most people don't have an appreciation for baklava or really good baklava. I mean, let's just be honest. How many people are like, let's eat Greek tonight.

01;18;06;11 - 01;18;06;19 Maurine Right?

01;18;06;20 - 01;18;09;05 Stephanie I feel like it's becoming more of a thing in Utah.

01;18;09;07 - 01;18;13;26 Seth Well, hopefully, hopefully we can do a scene of that. chocolate cheesecake. It was amazing.

01;18;13;26 - 01;18;24;10 Maurine That's the another thing that I really loved is people come up with really creative flavors, and I feel like it pushes me to try to figure it out and so it can be stressful, but I think it's awesome.

01;18;24;17 - 01;18;26;19 Stephanie Yes. I don't even think about that.

01;18;26;21 - 01;18;29;08 Seth We this was from which location?

01;18;29;11 - 01;18;31;18 Stephanie I don't remember which, but it was Provo.

01;18;31;21 - 01;18;35;28 Maurine If my dad was there, I'm going. I guess it was on on freedom just because that's where he usually is.

01;18;35;28 - 01;18;37;21 Stephanie I think it was. You're right.

01;18;37;24 - 01;19;02;19 Seth And we're doing this. Well, let's face it, we're doing this for us. But we're glad that everybody's here and know what we're doing this because we're going to share a moment here. And sorry. So we didn't give you the memo, Momo. But we know maybe it's not. Maybe it's not the daily cheesecake, but like if we're going to do a podcast and a show about cheesecake, there is no way we're talking about cheesecake without tasting the cheesecake.

01;19;02;21 - 01;19;17;01 Stephanie At least not with him. Like like he. So you say, you know, going on and like, he's really good at cooking or smoking or, you know, like, meats and different things. And I know I clarified,

01;19;17;03 - 01;19;21;07 Seth It's like, how does she know I smoked? I also.

01;19;21;07 - 01;19;22;08 Stephanie Just meats and mac and.

01;19;22;08 - 01;19;24;02 Maurine Cheese. Thank you.

01;19;24;04 - 01;19;30;11 Stephanie And he's always just like, oh, look at this. Okay, let's take a bite. And I'm like, okay, I feel awkward and I'm not.

01;19;30;11 - 01;19;32;21 Maurine Even the one doing it.

01;19;32;23 - 01;19;36;14 Seth It's only as awkward as you make it. I know, I don't know. Oh, that was great. That's great. Let's do.

01;19;36;14 - 01;19;37;19 Maurine It.

01;19;37;22 - 01;19;50;25 Seth We want to take people on a on a little tour. So this is one of the this week's special flavors, right. Blueberry. Yeah. So which is a blueberry. blueberry, topping or is that cream cheese on the top, by the way?

01;19;50;27 - 01;19;51;29 Maurine So that's whipped cream.

01;19;51;29 - 01;19;53;27 Seth Okay. For the whipped cream?

01;19;53;29 - 01;20;12;01 Maurine crust. Original cheesecake, blueberry sauce, whipped cream. We make all of our sauces in-house, so we make the blueberry sauce. We make all of our whipped cream fresh every day. so, yeah, not that one. I'm actually very proud of our whipped cream. That's something I worked hard on. Brandon's like, it needs to be thick and it needs to be good.

01;20;12;01 - 01;20;17;21 Maurine And so it took a little while and we I thought, I feel like we perfected the recipe.

01;20;17;24 - 01;20;19;20 Seth I love whipped cream.

01;20;19;27 - 01;20;20;14 Maurine He does.

01;20;20;16 - 01;20;24;00 Seth I love whipped cream. Not whipped topping.

01;20;24;03 - 01;20;26;09 Maurine Yeah. Not out of the, not.

01;20;26;12 - 01;20;48;13 Seth Something that comes out of a can. I'll tell you. You know, growing up, I loved whipped topping. Like, I mean, I just love that genre right now. Today I won't touch it, but but, you know, I grew up with Cool Whip in the fridge, right? and unbeknownst to my parents, I would, you know, the Cool Whip would be in the bottom shelf, you know, in the back.

01;20;48;13 - 01;21;04;03 Seth And I would pull it out. Just, you know, nobody's home. And I would get a big old spoonful and just eat Cool Whip. but but I'm a I'm a whipped cream, like, I'm a heavy cream guy, so I can appreciate this. Let's dive in. Let's dive in.

01;21;04;06 - 01;21;04;29 Stephanie Do you want to.

01;21;05;02 - 01;21;07;06 Seth I got to hold it for you so it can be on camera.

01;21;07;12 - 01;21;09;07 Stephanie I'm like, do we have a cake plate?

01;21;09;09 - 01;21;16;11 Seth I know this is I know this the presentation. This is in the Momo's takeout container, right? This is almost takeout.

01;21;16;14 - 01;21;18;15 Stephanie You. I love the sticker. The little.

01;21;18;15 - 01;21;19;18 Maurine Logo thing.

01;21;19;24 - 01;21;20;24 Seth Hold it for you.

01;21;20;27 - 01;21;38;25 Maurine Okay. Yeah. So for people who haven't been, we do three sizes of the shop. So this is the bigger size. We do that. They're four inch personal. And then our minis and cuties come in cups. So they're like single serve ready to eat.

01;21;38;28 - 01;21;44;04 Maurine Oh my goodness.

01;21;44;06 - 01;21;48;25 Stephanie Who needs happy juice when you can have this?

01;21;48;27 - 01;22;05;19 Seth I was going to say I love lots of desserts too. And so I'm not. This is not a this is not a slam on any of the other desserts. You know, this is I'm just speaking from the moment right. Right now. Who needs cookies?

01;22;05;22 - 01;22;13;04 Maurine That's how I feel. So good.

01;22;13;07 - 01;22;15;18 Seth She got over. She got over the awkwardness. Look at it.

01;22;15;25 - 01;22;35;02 Maurine I just I'm. Oh, you want to see? It's just you enjoying it? Oh, yeah. It takes is we like, creamy cheesecake. So I feel like a lot of cheesecakes are more dense and, like, heavy. Whereas we like our sweet, light and creamy. So I think that's one thing that kind of sets us apart.

01;22;35;05 - 01;22;39;24 Stephanie I agree, that is one thing that stood out to us the first time we had it.

01;22;39;27 - 01;22;43;26 Seth No, it's like perfect cheesecake. It really, truly is.

01;22;43;28 - 01;22;54;14 Maurine Thank you so we've worked hard on each element. The crust we wanted to make sure was Graham and Buttery. That one has an Oreo crust, which of course super popular.

01;22;54;15 - 01;23;02;06 Seth So what is this? This is a this is also a special flavor. This we did not do any of the originals this week. Well because we know the originals will be there next week.

01;23;02;09 - 01;23;04;03 Maurine Yeah. Please.

01;23;04;05 - 01;23;07;05 Seth And we had to kind of mix it up for the show. So tell us what we have here.

01;23;07;11 - 01;23;24;06 Maurine That one's our salted dark chocolate. That one. We actually collaborated with one of the foodies in the area. So ice Cream Foodie is she came up with this flavor because it's like her favorite ice cream. And that's something we do a lot is we collaborate with foodies, which is a lot of fun and like I said, kind of pushes me to try new things that I wouldn't normally do.

01;23;24;10 - 01;23;26;05 Seth Kind of like a baklava cheesecake.

01;23;26;07 - 01;23;28;08 Maurine Exactly.

01;23;28;11 - 01;23;32;12 Seth That just seemed like the appropriate time to put that in there.

01;23;32;14 - 01;23;37;26 Maurine That's what I'm looking to. I'm so interested. I'm like the flakiness. so yeah, very interesting.

01;23;37;26 - 01;23;43;07 Stephanie You know, I'm I'm hoping that you can make it. I might even start researching myself and send it to you.

01;23;43;09 - 01;23;44;26 Maurine Yeah, that would be awesome.

01;23;44;28 - 01;23;52;29 Seth I like salted dark chocolate. Now you. I hear salted caramel all the time, but I don't hear chocolate very often.

01;23;53;02 - 01;24;08;25 Maurine Yeah, and it's become popular. So I think she did a really great job with this flavor. I feel like if you're a chocolate lover, chocolate cheesecake is like it makes it like more. See, I just I love the texture of it. It's so good.

01;24;09;00 - 01;24;10;12 Seth And this has an Oreo crust.

01;24;10;12 - 01;24;17;27 Maurine Yes. Yeah. So we do Oreo crust chocolate cheesecake or chocolate ganache and we sprinkle sea salt on top.

01;24;17;29 - 01;24;19;01 Stephanie Oh my goodness.

01;24;19;03 - 01;24;20;18 Maurine This is happy.

01;24;20;20 - 01;24;21;27 Seth That is rich.

01;24;22;03 - 01;24;22;26 Maurine Yes yes.

01;24;23;04 - 01;24;28;01 Seth Not overly sweet. Yeah. It's got plenty of sweet. It's got what's on top. Is that, is that.

01;24;28;04 - 01;24;30;18 Maurine Like a like a nice. Yeah. That's probably the sweetest part.

01;24;30;18 - 01;24;36;24 Seth It's the sweetest part of it. It's not overly sweet. but it is. It's deep.

01;24;36;26 - 01;24;52;17 Maurine Wow. Yeah. So do we get a lot of two? Which I feel like it's true. It's like they're not super sweet desserts. Like, there is actually do the caramel like. Yeah, but if you're getting, like, the lime one, it's not overly sugary. You can eat a whole, like, mini or candy, and you don't feel like heavy. It gross.

01;24;52;17 - 01;24;55;19 Maurine Like, no, it's a light yummy treat.

01;24;55;22 - 01;24;59;06 Seth Yes it's it's light decadence.

01;24;59;08 - 01;25;01;11 Maurine Yeah I love that.

01;25;01;13 - 01;25;40;13 Seth Mean we appreciate that. and we do a lot of work in Asia and particularly well many Asian countries. But we do a lot of work in Japan as well. And so we, you know, we traveled to Japan and something about Japanese desserts is that they're not overly sweet. Right, right. in fact, we celebrated, one of our daughter's eighth birthday just past November in, we're in Tokyo in November, and, and we got to go pick cakes, and they have these little, little cake shops with just delicious cakes, all different kinds.

01;25;40;15 - 01;25;59;04 Seth And, you know, they sell them by the slice, primarily. I mean, you can buy a whole cake, but typically buy your, your individual slice piece of cake. And, and the beautiful thing about it is you can eat that cake and enjoy it. And it's not something that feels so heavy. It's not so overly sweet. A lot of times here in the US, we just yeah.

01;25;59;06 - 01;26;01;02 Maurine For sure, you know.

01;26;01;04 - 01;26;03;01 Seth So I really appreciate that.

01;26;03;03 - 01;26;10;12 Maurine Oh my gosh I don't know if you guys know that I lived in Japan. What do you So when I was.

01;26;10;15 - 01;26;13;00 Seth Done you got a peach.

01;26;13;03 - 01;26;16;25 Maurine Oh my goodness. You catch the connection. Okay.

01;26;16;27 - 01;26;20;24 Seth So Momo Momo in Japanese is peach.

01;26;20;27 - 01;26;25;00 Maurine Yeah. She did tell you that a long time ago when I first found,

01;26;25;03 - 01;26;26;03 Stephanie The cheesecake.

01;26;26;06 - 01;26;43;21 Maurine Yeah. So, yeah. My nickname has always been Momo my whole life. And then when we moved to Japan, we learned about it, that it meant peach. And that just kind of became my, like, mascot. Or I know it's not an animal, but, like, it just became my thing. So when I created this, it just felt perfect to tie it in.

01;26;43;24 - 01;26;44;22 Maurine Definitely.

01;26;44;24 - 01;26;49;17 Seth I'm about to sing the Princess Peach song from Super Mario Brothers. Peach is so.

01;26;49;17 - 01;26;51;25 Maurine Cool, right?

01;26;51;27 - 01;26;54;16 Seth so you lived in so your family lived in Japan?

01;26;54;18 - 01;26;56;08 Maurine Yeah, when I was ten years old.

01;26;56;11 - 01;26;58;01 Seth No kidding. How did that?

01;26;58;03 - 01;26;59;23 Maurine A little over a year.

01;26;59;25 - 01;27;02;07 Seth No kidding. What? What brought that? About?

01;27;02;08 - 01;27;15;06 Maurine My dad's job. So he was a consultant, so he would go to different companies, and so he consulted at Toshiba. So we lived in Yokohama, so pretty close to Tokyo. Flavio found an amazing experience.

01;27;15;09 - 01;27;28;03 Seth I lived in Yokohama, outside a little town called Kami Oka, which is part of, you know, the Yokohama, the greater Yokohama area. But, yeah, absolutely. We've actually been to Yokohama together, baby. Yeah.

01;27;28;03 - 01;27;37;07 Maurine We've done. Yeah. I love to sing and stuff there. I'm trying to go back. I haven't been back since, so that's the goal. And the next I don't know how many years take my family there. Awesome.

01;27;37;07 - 01;27;42;12 Seth Absolutely. We'll be there with you this double date. Double family date. We love.

01;27;42;12 - 01;27;43;17 Maurine Japan.

01;27;43;20 - 01;27;46;07 Stephanie We do have a goal to take our kids to Asia too.

01;27;46;09 - 01;27;49;11 Maurine So we're excited.

01;27;49;14 - 01;27;53;16 Seth like, I feel like some dramatic music. The ultimate in.

01;27;53;16 - 01;28;17;18 Maurine Self-love. Classic Biscoff cheesecake from no popular, but yes, very indulgent. So this one has our Biscoff crust, and then the cheesecake has caramel swirled into the actual cheesecake. All I see. And then it's drizzled with our caramel and melted Biscoff butter. And we make our caramel in-house. And so that one's really good too.

01;28;17;22 - 01;28;21;08 Stephanie Yeah, if you're a caramel lover, you definitely can eat that by the spoonful.

01;28;21;11 - 01;28;27;00 Maurine Oh yeah. And we just look by the jar now because people of the caramel. Oh yeah. Yeah.

01;28;27;02 - 01;28;40;04 Seth Well, one thing I love is that you're really making all of these things in-house. You know, there's no there's no can openers there.

01;28;40;06 - 01;28;57;16 Maurine Yeah, I could put a plug in for my mom. My mom make our strawberry and raspberry sauces. I don't know if you guys have had them, but it's just like straight berries and sugar and stabilizer about that. And she makes them by the hundreds of pounds. And everybody loves this awesome in there. It's just fresh berries. Super good.

01;28;57;16 - 01;29;06;14 Stephanie Yeah, I don't know that I've found the strawberry, but I have had the raspberry and it is so, so good. Like I said, my favorite raspberry lime.

01;29;06;17 - 01;29;10;04 Maurine I think, but. He's like, I saw.

01;29;10;05 - 01;29;11;22 Stephanie How she went on that chocolate one.

01;29;11;22 - 01;29;15;04 Maurine So,

01;29;15;06 - 01;29;16;23 Stephanie Is that your offering?

01;29;16;25 - 01;29;19;20 Seth There's a crumble.

01;29;19;22 - 01;29;21;13 Maurine yeah.

01;29;21;15 - 01;29;23;25 Seth There's a crumble of.

01;29;23;27 - 01;29;24;24 Maurine Biscoff.

01;29;24;26 - 01;29;26;26 Seth Biscoff cookie or whatever I might.

01;29;27;00 - 01;29;30;12 Maurine Use. Yeah.

01;29;30;14 - 01;29;33;08 Seth Oh, it looks so good.

01;29;33;10 - 01;29;42;06 Maurine I'm just. I'm going to do it. That way. Biscoff. Biscoff is so good, I really. Wow.

01;29;42;08 - 01;29;54;15 Seth Now, this is the sweetest of the three. Yes. For sure. Oh, man, this is so good. And this is the one we've eaten the most up so far. So is this what is in the. Is it. This is whipped cream in the middle as well.

01;29;54;18 - 01;29;57;28 Maurine Yeah. So most of them have it came on top.

01;29;58;00 - 01;30;04;06 Seth And it's a it's another big bite.

01;30;04;08 - 01;30;24;12 Maurine And I feel like you have to get all the layers. You have to get the crust and cheesecake and the topping to have the perfect bottom. Right. You can do it. Wow. Okay. So we're doing four brand new flavors this week. We just figured them out. Oh I'm collaborating. have you guys seen donut critic on social media.

01;30;24;14 - 01;30;42;16 Maurine So he's collaborating. He came up with the Father's Day flavors. So we're excited to have four new fun flavors. They're going to be kind of socially imitating drinks. So different drinks. So those will be really fun. This week we are.

01;30;42;18 - 01;30;44;16 Stephanie We're both over here just you know.

01;30;44;18 - 01;31;08;03 Seth I feel like I'm in I feel like I'm in yoga. I just I just I just finished up a personal goal for a hundred consecutive days of yoga, and, today's like day 104 or something like that. But in yoga, sometimes she'll she'll say just kind of wrap your arms around yourself.

01;31;08;05 - 01;31;08;22 Maurine Give yourself.

01;31;08;22 - 01;31;09;11 Seth A nice little.

01;31;09;11 - 01;31;11;01 Maurine

01;31;11;03 - 01;31;16;14 Seth That's what I feel like right now. So, like, I'm ditching yoga and I'm just eating the cheese.

01;31;16;14 - 01;31;17;27 Maurine Can you get it?

01;31;17;27 - 01;31;23;20 Stephanie Been, like, branded, Mr. Momo? We just have a little cheesecake every day for 100 days.

01;31;23;22 - 01;31;29;24 Maurine Instead of yoga and cheesecake and lifting weights. Yeah, it's a brand.

01;31;29;24 - 01;31;33;26 Seth And I could, like, we could do, like, a healthy bromance here.

01;31;33;29 - 01;31;35;09 Maurine Where, like.

01;31;35;12 - 01;31;53;24 Seth I was I was out this morning in the gym, in our home gym, you know, in the morning while most everybody was asleep, I did my I did my lifting. But I can kind of see myself in a Zen kind of, some vinyasa pose with a little bit of just a little mini, right.

01;31;53;26 - 01;31;54;19 Maurine And breathing and.

01;31;54;25 - 01;31;59;19 Seth Getting it all right. That's all self-love. Wow. That was a treat.

01;31;59;24 - 01;32;00;25 Maurine Well, that that's just.

01;32;00;25 - 01;32;06;07 Stephanie Like the quote. hot chocolate is like a hug from the inside.

01;32;06;10 - 01;32;06;20 Maurine Instead.

01;32;06;25 - 01;32;08;26 Stephanie Of cheesecake.

01;32;08;28 - 01;32;09;17 Maurine Close to.

01;32;09;22 - 01;32;12;18 Stephanie It's like a hug from the inside.

01;32;12;20 - 01;32;17;07 Maurine They love it. And they would get all these taglines and start using them on social media.

01;32;17;11 - 01;32;37;05 Seth Absolutely, absolutely. You can at threads exit like anything here. you actually may you may see on threads here, you know, something went, you know, some quote that you've had, you know, on the Forever Young show, but Momo, mama momo, the Forever Young show, I mean, Mrs. Momo.

01;32;37;08 - 01;32;41;22 Maurine My mom is mono Momo. So yeah, I'm mom.

01;32;41;24 - 01;32;52;06 Seth So sadly, unless you come to one of the four locations soon to be a fifth, is that correct? Soon to be a fifth or something?

01;32;52;08 - 01;32;54;29 Maurine Yeah.

01;32;55;02 - 01;33;03;15 Seth And maybe a sixth. And like we've, we've talked about three editions, so we're talking about maybe a footprint of seven, but sadly you can't ship good cheesecake.

01;33;03;20 - 01;33;21;08 Maurine So we have tried we've worked on it. It's tricky. We have done it. So it's possible. But it's something I feel like you really have to put time and effort into. So we do do it. We can do it. It's expensive. That's the hardest thing. It's like $50 just for shipping. Oh, wow. So this is.

01;33;21;10 - 01;33;30;17 Seth Invitation to come to one of the current locations or whenever you're listening to this, one of the locations and come, come and get some self-love.

01;33;30;19 - 01;33;36;01 Stephanie Hug from an inside, from a hug from the inside.

01;33;36;04 - 01;33;37;15 Maurine Yeah.

01;33;37;18 - 01;33;40;25 Seth Have you ever thought about a franchise model?

01;33;40;29 - 01;34;01;27 Maurine Yeah, yeah, and we've actually met with a couple companies to hear what they have to say. So something we're heavily considering, we have people actually come in to us. Do you franchise. We want to franchise. We want to open this here, this state, this state without having that interest really builds that confidence. So we are talking to a few companies and if it feels like the right move, we would move forward with that.

01;34;01;27 - 01;34;11;12 Maurine And I think that would be amazing. Like I said, to have it reach more people. So yes, hopefully, if it's the right move, we'll do that.

01;34;11;15 - 01;34;13;21 Stephanie Oh, I'm so excited for you.

01;34;13;23 - 01;34;14;26 Maurine Thank you.

01;34;14;28 - 01;34;23;08 Seth Well, you've seen that with another local brand, right? that isn't cheesecake.

01;34;23;11 - 01;34;23;27 Maurine

01;34;24;00 - 01;34;28;00 Stephanie You don't even need to bring up their name because they don't even compare.

01;34;28;02 - 01;34;53;02 Seth I want I'm just thinking about the crumble of cheesecake that was on my hands. Anyway, You know, leveraging that, you know, we have, like, I can I can think of a lot of friends who, you know, who have decided to leverage that franchise model with that specific, you know, dessert genre, you know, way out of way out of the state of Utah, right?

01;34;53;05 - 01;35;11;18 Seth Multiple times over. So that's, but I think that your cheese well, obviously your cheesecake is amazing, right? It really is amazing. And cheesecake is something special, right? And you're talking to a cookie guy. I mean, like, I grew up eating cookies like. Steph.

01;35;11;20 - 01;35;20;08 Stephanie I was going to say, the way you just said that, where you're like, oh, it's amazing. I was like, wow, you don't get that very often.

01;35;20;10 - 01;35;42;07 Seth Stephanie has this amazing cookie recipe from her grandmother, and, thank you, grandmother. It is it is an amazing cookie recipe. I grew up eating cookies my mom made, you know, oatmeal chocolate chip, you know, normal butterscotch cookies growing up. And I devour them. Stephanie, you know, would make cookies and asked me one question.

01;35;42;09 - 01;35;44;06 Maurine How many do you want?

01;35;44;09 - 01;35;55;00 Seth And it usually we count them in dozens. Like, how are you going to eat a dozen tonight? Right. But there's something special about cheesecake. It's an occasion.

01;35;55;02 - 01;36;14;15 Maurine Thank you. I mean, it's hard to do. And so not a lot of people do it at home. It's something that you go out for. And then unfortunately, some, maybe a lot of the places don't do it well, but I think it's a dessert that people really love and it's just not easy access. And so I like that.

01;36;14;15 - 01;36;34;26 Maurine Yeah. We've made it a little bit more easy. You don't have to buy a whole huge one. You can come just get a mini try different flavors. I think it's a great because they're obviously I just I love cream cheese, period. Like, I as a kid I would eat cream cheese. Very simple. So just something just so good about cheesecake and the cream cheese and the different flavors.

01;36;34;26 - 01;36;37;23 Maurine So I love it. I like to share it with people.

01;36;37;23 - 01;36;42;07 Seth This is why she's Mrs. Momo. I was in the fridge stealing Cool.

01;36;42;07 - 01;36;43;21 Maurine Whip.

01;36;43;24 - 01;36;52;24 Seth And she went for the good stuff of cream cheese. That explains everything we've talked about today.

01;36;52;27 - 01;36;54;01 Maurine

01;36;54;04 - 01;36;59;28 Stephanie You just kind of dream bigger, honey.

01;37;00;02 - 01;37;02;00 Seth Oh, good. Good stuff. Thank you so much.

01;37;02;06 - 01;37;09;17 Maurine Thank you. I appreciate you guys having you. And I'm sure what you guys are doing and giving a platform to a platform to women. I love that.

01;37;09;22 - 01;37;19;15 Stephanie Thank you. It's been so fun. And we appreciate you taking the time out of your super busy schedule and, all the big important things you have going on in your life right now.

01;37;19;19 - 01;37;20;09 Maurine Thank you.

01;37;20;15 - 01;37;28;26 Seth Yeah. I mean, you just gave us two hours, you know, on a Saturday with everything you ever, you know, all the other things you've talked about on your plate.

01;37;29;01 - 01;37;29;19 Maurine

01;37;31;00 - 01;37;50;13 Seth and, and that, that that's super appreciated. We decided not to do it at least, you know, in the initial stages not to do a short form, you know, a shorter type of podcast. We're honored that you're, you're a part of that, of community CEO Momo, thank you so much.

01;37;50;15 - 01;37;53;18 Maurine Thank you for the appreciate about.

01;37;53;20 - 01;37;57;16 Seth And cut. It's a wrap.

01;37;57;18 - 01;38;12;22 Stephanie Thank you so much for being here today. And thank you for sharing this episode with that one friend who needs this conversation. Thank you for all the ratings, the reviews, the comments, and especially the support. We so appreciate you.

01;38;12;24 - 01;38;26;25 Seth Now, if you want to take a peek behind the curtain and be the first to know about special previews, backstage updates here at the show, and especially some private collection content that doesn't come out in the regular show.

01;38;26;28 - 01;38;31;23 Stephanie Be sure to join our VIP community at the Forever Young Shokan.

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