Taste. Hanford resident Tammy Morrison is betting that it matters to you enough to buy a cake from her small business rather than something mass-produced in the Wal-Mart bakery. She's put her money into Mrs. T's Sweets to test the idea that there are enough harried mothers out there who want homemade quality but don't have the time to bake it.

"Feed your family the homemade taste that you want, but don't have the time to do," she said.

Morrison got started baking as a girl in her grandmother's kitchen, but word of her ability really spread when she baked cakes for her own children.

Their friends would come over, parents of the friends would eat the cake, and the buzz began.

When her youngest child hit junior high last year, Morrison figured it made sense to take her baking to the next level.

Morrison and her staff still make custom birthday cakes, but they do a lot more -- wedding cakes, candy, cookies, bread, fruit bars, and full trays and baskets of goodies.

All without preservatives, she said -- and with a generous helping of good old-fashioned butter, cream and sugar.

Morrison is betting that traditional sweets are alive and well in Hanford, those she does offer some sugar-free selections.

Friends say there's no comparison between the Wal-Mart cake you can snap up cheaply and the things Morrison whips up.

"I think ... (it's) the care that goes into it. You just don't get that with store-bought," said longtime friend Rhonda Ieronimo.

Mrs. T's Sweets, next to the Save Mart on 11th Avenue, opened up a few weeks ago in a space that used to be Subway.

Morrison got the name from sixth graders on the Monroe Elementary School playground. She used to be a yard supervisor there, and she got tired of repeating her last name.

Students called her "Mrs. Tammy," and it ended up "Mrs. T."

But Morrison is no grandmother. She's a 37-year-old mother of two in the prime of her life.

She's also one of the few mothers in Hanford running a full-blown business.

Just ask Carolyn Hudgins, who started Women with Vision Unlimited, a Hanford group that seeks to promote entrepreneurship among women and the young.

"I was very interested in (Mrs. T's Sweets), because I'm in that vein," said Hudgins, who co-owns C&C Video Productions, a Hanford business that does graduations, weddings, training videos and other events.

Hudgins said she's following Morrison's progress.

"We're behind her 100 percent," Hudgins said.

Morrison is trying to stay on her feet by making adjustments. Some days, she hasn't made enough to pay the overhead. She's run out of product. She's adjusted the hours to capture the morning pastry crowd and the dessert-for-dinner shoppers.

She's adjusted the hours of her six part-time employees.

And she's been there a grueling 16 hours a day -- a common fact of life among small business owners.

Morrison is no stranger to running a business.

Her father runs his own construction company. She used to do bookkeeping and paperwork for him.

Her parents had a summertime sweets business in Shaver Lake.

And her husband was a kitchen manager at Applebee's for five years.

So Morrison is savvy about the kind of effort and input it takes to run a business -- especially one run by a mother with a 12-year-old still at home.

She enjoys getting out of the house and entering the stream of commerce.

"I love being out in public, interacting with people," she said.

She gets a lot of support from her husband that helps make it all possible, she said.

Hudgins said Women with Vision Unlimited is seeking to create support networks for women like Morrison who want to make the leap into the business world.

"We'll see if my risk pays off," Morrison said.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2432.

(April 25, 2008)