Brown, Warren

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Brown, Warren

1971(?)—

Television personality, baker

One of a small but growing number of African-American food celebrities with their own television series, Warren Brown hosts Sugar Rush on the Food Network. A former lawyer for the federal government, Brown quit his well-paying job to open CakeLove, his popular Washington, D.C. bakery. He financed his dream with the help of credit cards and a loan backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, and the transition was chronicled by a feature story in the Washington Post. "I have to think about what kind of life I want to lead in the next 20 years," he told the paper's writer Judith Weinraub at the time. "I'm not infected with a passion for the law. But when I think about food, I get excited."

Brown grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, as the son of Leon Brown, a pathologist, and Beatrice, a homemaker who gave him his first cooking lessons. By the time he was in high school Brown had already concocted his first recipe, an imitation of a delicious barbecue sauce he had tasted at the annual Cleveland Rib Burnoff. After graduating from University Heights High School in 1989, he went on to Brown University in Rhode Island, where he majored in American history and was elected class president. He earned his undergraduate degree in

1993 and remained in the Providence area to work as a health educator. Moving to Los Angeles, he taught the same reproductive health and tobacco education classes, which led him into health-care law.

In 1995, Brown moved to Washington, D.C., to attend George Washington University School of Law. He earned two degrees on graduation day—a juris doctor and a master's in public health—and joined the legal staff in the office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). For the next two years, he argued court cases that HHS had filed against fraudulent health care providers, for example, or against hospitals and their emergency-room treatment policies that violated federal law. In the decade since he had left Ohio, Brown had also become a skilled amateur chef who regularly hosted feasts for friends and co-workers, but was always a little uneasy with baking. His New Year's resolution for 1999 was to conquer that fear and round out his culinary skills.

Brown spent several months reading technical tomes on baking and experimenting in his kitchen. He began making cakes for friends and co-workers, and these proved to be such a hit that one friend offered to pay cash for one to bring to a gathering. But it was when Brown carried one of his finished cakes through the airport on the way to visit his family and "complete strangers were so excited to see the cake," he told People, that "I thought to myself, ‘This is what I want to do.’" He started his business at home in his afterwork hours, taking orders from friends and scoring new ones from local grocery stores and restaurants. Coming home from his HHS job, he usually spent four to five hours in his kitchen. Eventually he became so consumed by his desire to bake that he decided to take a three-month leave of absence in October of 2000. A month later, he rented kitchen space at a restaurant and made his formal debut as a baker with a special cake showcase at an art gallery that December.

In early 2001, Brown decided to make his leave of absence a permanent one, realizing that he could barely keep up with the demand for his product and the need for more equipment, as well as a staff. The earliest business expenses were charged to his personal credit cards: "When I paid $6,700 for the refrigerator, the mixer and the oven, I realized I was in this for good," he told the Washington Post's Weinraub. "It freaked me out, and I couldn't sleep that night, but I like the idea and the reality of it." Both that newspaper article—a lengthy diary-like story about whether he would quit his lawyer job to become a full-time baker during his leave of absence—as well as a spot on People magazine's list of America's Top 50 Bachelors in July of 2001 boosted his business's fortunes immensely. In March of 2002, he opened CakeLove, his bakery on U Street, which became a popular addition to a neighborhood in the throes of a redevelopment revival. His first year in operation was kept afloat thanks to a $125,000 loan he received with the help of the Small Business Administration.

At CakeLove, Brown's cakes sold for $35 to $175 each, at the rate of more than three dozen daily. In mid-2003, he opened a second business across the street which he called the Love Café. This was designed to satisfy demand for coffee that his bakery customers often asked for to go with the slices of cake they bought, and also served soup and sandwiches. Brown scored another public relations coup with an appearance on Oprah Winfrey's show, which led to an invitation from the Food Network to appear on its Best of… program. He and four other bakers proffered their wares on that episode, and Brown soon signed with the cable channel to host his own weekly show, Sugar Rush, which debuted in October of 2005. The show features visits from pastry chefs and bakers who present their signature concoctions and give a how-to lesson for viewers. The show's popularity grew. However, the dreadlocks Brown sported caused some controversy at first; he told his hometown newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, that when Sugar Rush first began airing, it seemed to prompt a spate of calls from older black women around the country who wanted to know why he wasn't wearing a hairnet.

The Food Network show led to a book deal to bring his signature recipes, such as the pepper-laced, mango-heavy Sassy Pound Cake, to an even wider audience. He also hoped to replicate his bakery/café combo in several other American cities. But in an interview with Black Enterprise, he reiterated what he said was "the bigger message of CakeLove," he told Virginia Myers Kelly, which "is finding your passion and working to reach your goals."

At a Glance …

Born 1971(?); son of Leon (a pathologist) and Beatrice (a homemaker) Brown. Education: Brown University, BA, 1993; George Washington University, JD, MPH, 1998.

Career:

Taught reproductive health and tobacco education classes in Providence, RI, and Los Angeles, CA, 1993-95; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), attorney, 1998-2001; CakeLove (bakery), Washington, D.C., founder, 2002-; Sugar Rush (Food Network), host, 2005-.