In recognition of Black History Month, the Warrior Times is highlighting a community favorite Black owned business.
Mickey’s Cakes & Sweets, a bakery and family business owned by Black entrepreneur Jasmine Waters, has been a staple of the Little Rock community for 35 years. A true family business, Jasmine and her parents bake and decorate the cakes, and her sister does most of the business management. Even the grandkids are involved, and like to play around designing children’s cakes. According to Sandra Thomas, Jasmine’s mother, running Mickey’s has brought the family closer together. “Mickey’s already had an established taste that the community loved, but you can always make things better and that’s what we did,” Mrs. Thomas said. “We pride ourselves in baking,” she added. “I’ve been baking since I was 8 years old, and I trained Jasmine on how to do it. African Americans are known for their cooking and for their skills making things from scratch, and that’s what we do.”
Jasmine Waters was not always going to own a bakery. In fact, until 2022 she was a nurse who worked in emergency rooms and neonatal intensive care units throughout Arkansas. She also traveled extensively helping others during the Covid pandemic. But owning Mickey’s seemed almost providential. During her early years, Jasmine spent her days at her mother’s home daycare. Dorothy Coleman, a baker who helped start Mickey’s in 1989, lived right next door, and her husband would often bring his wife’s cupcakes to the daycare children, including Jasmine, when they played outside in the afternoons. When Jasmine saw that Mickey’s was for sale, she decided it was time for her to trade in her stethoscope for a spatula and carry on the tradition of Mickey’s bakery.
Mickey’s was founded by Mickey Young, a baker from the well-known Koehler’s Bakery in North Little Rock. With the help of Mrs. Dorothy, who also used to be a baker at Koehler’s, Mickey eventually opened her namesake establishment on Rodney Parham. Soon after opening the bakery, Mickey had to move away for health reasons, leaving Dorothy and her family to carry on Mickey’s baking legacy. The Coleman family sold the bakery to Jasmine in 2022.
Mickey’s specializes in wedding cakes, but their most popular treats are their white cake bowls. Some customers even buy six or seven at a time and freeze them so they can always have Mickey’s cake at home, Mrs. Thomas said. When asked to give advice to other entrepreneurs looking to start a business, Mrs. Thomas said, “Have a business plan. Know your goals, and provide excellent customer service.”
This story was originally published in the Warrior Times Volume 13, Issue 9.
