American Airlines Partners with a Black-Owned Dessert Company to Sweeten Up Flights

The Chicago-based company's sweets will be available on domestic flights.

Courtesy of American Airlines
Courtesy of American Airlines

After two years of suspending in-flight services, American Airlines slowly reinstated parts of its menu. To the delight of many, the upgraded menu now features a new sweet treat made by a black-owned dessert manufacturer.

Tamara Turner partnered with American Airlines to distribute her Silver Spoon Desserts bundt cakes to passengers on the airline's domestic flights. The Chicago dessert company, which Turner started in her Aurora, Illinois home, was originally a way for the single mother to "pour all her focus and energy into pursuing her passion and along the way create opportunities for her children and her community," according to an American Airlines press release.

After serving her community since 2017 with her home-run business, in May of 2021, American Airlines offered Turner the opportunity to partner with the airline. Silver Spoon Desserts started making its first orders for the airline in mid-January. In a video on the American Airlines YouTube channel, Turner says the brand went from making "500 cakes to 100,000 cakes." As a result, the company built a 16,000-square-foot facility in Chicago to accommodate the expected large orders from the airline.

According to Turner, Silver Spoon Desserts means transformation, equality, and freedom for everybody, which is why the brand focuses on hiring single mothers at a living wage. According to the cake maker, the goal is to help single mothers become economically stable by providing workers with things like mentors and partners within the community like bankers and lawyers.

Silver Spoon Desserts bundt cakes will now be available in domestic premium cabins on American Airlines flights between 900 and 1,499 miles.

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Janae Price is a News Staff Writer at Thrillist. She's a native New Yorker and loves all things cheese, K-pop, and culture. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @janae_larie.