By Autumn Rendall
Desmond Briggs has adored baking from the time he was a child growing up in Memphis, Tennessee. There he spent countless weekends baking with his grandmother in her kitchen, whipping up delicious desserts and absorbing her love for the hobby.
Now, as the owner of the Houston-based bakery Suga In Your Tank, Briggs is fulfilling his baking dreams while positively impacting the daily lives of others. “It’s something that I am passionate about,” Briggs says. “I am so overwhelmed with joy that someone else can enjoy it just as much as I enjoy it, or even more than I do.”
Before starting Suga In Your Tank, Briggs never considered baking professionally. It wasn’t until he and his partner moved to Houston that his journey to founding his own business truly began.
In 2016, Briggs and his partner hosted a housewarming party at their new home. To celebrate, Briggs baked a cake and, within the first hour, it was gone. The couple’s guests overwhelmingly praised Briggs’ baking and encouraged him to start selling his creations.
Briggs was unsure at first, as his full-time job in insurance verification for a pharmacy already made for a packed schedule. But with the support of his partner, he decided to move forward with launching Suga In Your Tank while continuing to work full time.
When brainstorming a name for the business, Briggs’ partner offered “Suga In Your Tank”—a phrase typically used to refer to someone who is queer in a derogatory way. “I thought, ‘That might be kind of cool to take it and flip it to make it something positive and something fun at the same time,” Briggs says.
About a year and a half later, however, Hurricane Harvey took a devastating toll on the couple’s new home. Repairs and rebuilding put a prolonged pause on Briggs’ baking. But after a move closer into the city, Briggs was able to relaunch Suga In Your Tank and started baking again in May of this year. Since then, he has filled between 30 and 50 orders every weekend.
Briggs has experimented with countless cookie batches over the years in search of the perfect recipe—and he believes he’s finally found the answer. “I’ve been able to [perfect] my recipe so that it’s something that represents what I enjoy and what I think other people will enjoy as well,” Briggs says. “I like something that’s buttery and soft. You can eat it fresh out of the bag, or you can pop it in the microwave for a couple of seconds and it’s going to be ooey gooey.”
Briggs considers Suga In Your Tank to be a labor of love. He describes how rewarding it is to drop off cookies to customers and to see the excitement in their eyes: “I literally had a lady call me the other day screaming in the background telling me how good they were,” Briggs says. “It was such an overwhelming experience, but overwhelming with joy.”
Although the business can be a lot of fun, Briggs explains that it’s also demanding work. He recalls sleepless nights creating cookie dough and making sure everything was prepped to make fresh, delicious batches of treats in the morning. “It takes a lot to balance it,” Briggs says. “I am still a bit overwhelmed, but I am taking it one step at a time, learning something new each day, and trying to make sure that I’m applying these lessons and being grateful for each experience.”
One of the essential lessons Briggs has learned while running Suga In Your Tank is the importance of vulnerability. Since baking is so close to his heart, showcasing his creations to the world was a scary concept at first. However, his decision to be brave enough to step out of his comfort zone is one that he’s incredibly thankful for. “Being vulnerable is such a beautiful thing because it opens you up to more experiences in life that teach us lessons about love, lessons about who we are as human beings, how to establish ourselves, and really create a space that allows us to thrive and continue to be the best person at whatever we’re doing,” he says.
Briggs encourages other queer people of color who are looking to follow their passions to seek out healthy support systems and to keep pushing. “It will fuel you to take the steps to do something different for yourself,” Briggs says. “Take a little step and congratulate yourself on each step that you take because each step is a step toward a greater you, a better lesson for you to realize what is your path and what is your purpose.”
Over the next five years, Briggs hopes to take his business even further by selling frozen cookie dough, opening a brick-and-mortar location in Houston, and franchising his brand so that people across the U.S. can experience Suga In Your Tank. “During times like this, especially with everything that’s going on in the world, something so small, so sweet, it makes a big difference,” Briggs says.
Orders can be placed with Suga In Your Tank through Instagram and Facebook by direct messaging the page. Domestic shipping coming soon.
