sprinklefingers

i subscribe to Inc. magazine. i’m not sure why because i hardly ever read more than the cover story, and even then the topic is usually only something i’m convincing myself i should be interested in…you know, because i’m a small business owner.

may’s issue of Inc. was no different. i was planning to simply read the cover story. then i saw a little cupcake up in the corner of the cover. and that’s when i realized that there was a cupcake-specific article waiting for me inside.

now, i’ve told you before that i own a bakery. i’ve also told you that we make cupcakes but that we never intended to be a cupcake bakery (or cupcakery if you use such awful terms.) of course it should go without saying that i’m extremely thankful for cupcakes because they’ve made it possible for my business to grow and for me to employ 20+ people. but at the same time, i like to say that we are more than just a cupcake bakery. or cupcakery.

in june we’re opening a larger location. with a huge kitchen that can handle all of our cupcake baking AND an expanded menu of delicious sweets. the build-out is expensive. we’re taking a lot of risks. i’m spending far too much time away from my kid. i have an entire staff to hire and train. clearly, this expansion is most definitely not about dollar signs. instead, it’s about my baking obsession. and my (somewhat weird) need to share my baked goods with others. it’s as simple as this:
i didn’t open a bakery to own a business. i opened a bakery because i am obsessed with the craft of baking. i cannot imagine doing any other job, ever. for me it’s always been about the baking. the baking. the baking. and the eating. and the sharing of sweets with others.

and then along comes this Inc. article about the “great” cupcake wars. (i suggest you go read it now so you know what i’m talking about below.) and i see that i’m clearly in the minority. for most cupcakeries profiled, the actual baking is an afterthought. hell, one ‘national’ cupcake chain, Crumbs, doesn’t even do it’s own baking and is constantly trying to figure out how to “make the chain scalable, which means reducing the bakery down to a defined set of reproducible parts and instructions.” additionally, “not one of the Crumbs bakeries is really a bakery. Not one has, or ever has had, an oven. That gives the company the flexibility to open anywhere. Expect future Crumbs in malls and other places with considerable daytime foot traffic. “It takes more than a cupcake recipe to run a successful business,” one owner says. “After eight years of perfecting this model, our business comes down to real estate and people.”

i have two questions about this:
1. do the customers know that their cupcakes are being baked at the same factory as all the baked goods for Costco?
2. why isn’t the place called Crumbs Real Estate?

clearly i am in in the baking business and the Crumbs folks are in the business of business, which is a completely acceptable choice for their ownership to be making. and my issues over it are my issues. and obviously something is working for them seeing as how they make over $30 million a year and are preparing to become a publicly traded company. BUT that kind of money is only a measure of success for some people…and i am not one of them.

success to me is watching someone eat something i’ve made for the first time. their eyes light up or their eyes close. they say ‘oh my god!’ or they ask if i can bake it again as their christmas gift. they pound their fist on the table or they stomp their feet on the ground. or, best of all, they get tears in their eyes because they can’t believe what they’re eating is real (yes, this has happened. i swear it.)

success is baking a collection of treats for a wedding and then getting a thank you card from a bride saying she’s lucky to have me in her life.

success is teaching a room of preschool moms how to make a pie crust and then hearing back from them about their first-ever thanksgiving pies that their entire family swooned over.

success is listening to someone tell you that something you’ve baked reminds them of a treat their mom or grandma once made.

success is thinking that my parents, if they were around to see me now, would be proud of me.

to me, baking is personal. it’s not real estate.

so while world domination may be what guides some people in this profession, it’s not what guides me. and i think that’s why i can say my bakery is more than just a cupcakery.

i can only hope that i can never be compared to the other guys - both in the quality of my baked goods and in the way i run my business.

snap! i said it. 

oh my sweet lord in heaven, i’m feeling a little thick around the middle. going to bed last night i swore i’d wake up today and only drink juice.

then, upon waking, i stumbled into the kitchen and made a giant pot of coffee. next i poured some half & half into a cup, topped it with coffee and sat down to eat a slice of tart: orange curd with bittersweet chocolate pastry as a crust. almost just like juice.

i’ve been developing recipes for work. and i’ve been eating everything i’ve made. not the best policy, i know.

i’d like to blame all the eating on stress. but i can’t, because i’m not really stressed out. i’m more excited than stressed. so, i’m excited eating, not stress eating. what? i’m confused. totally.

anyways, wednesday was a huge day in my life. we signed a long lease for a new bakery space that is gigantic compared to the space we currently operate out of…the kitchen will be at least 4 times bigger than the one we use now. with more space comes an expanded menu…and with an expanded menu comes the chance to be more than a cupcake bakery.

see, i never intended to open a cupcake joint. i opened my shop 5 years ago, and on opening day we were a bakery, not a cupcakery. we made baby scones in yummy flavors like chocolate chip with ancho chili and blueberry with lemon. also on the menu: rich and fudgy brownies, chocolate chunk cookies, pumpkin gingersnap pies, banana bread, cheddar+onion biscuits and much more. occasionally (seriously, folks!) there were a few cupcakes in the case, but other sweet treats definitely outnumbered the cupcakes. then something funny started to happen: my customers started demanding more cupcakes. special orders were for nothing but cupcakes. we had lines out the door for cupcakes. and so one day i decided to not make that last batch of scones and instead make another batch of red velvet cupcakes - and guess what? the cupcakes were gone in no time flat. that created a slippery slope and eventually we were making so many cupcakes that we didn’t have the time (or the space) for anything else. so, like any reasonable person would do, i made more and more and more cupcakes. now, if you had a bakery and made a batch of cupcakes and also made a batch of scones and the cupcakes sold out in 15 seconds but the scones took all day to sell, what would you do? you’d make a lot more cupcakes! so, that’s what happened. and that’s how my bakery became a cupcakery.

so, needless to say, i’m excited to get back to being a bakery. we won’t get in the space until the build-out is complete and the dust has settled, but in the meantime i’ll be fine tuning my best recipes and training my most trusted staff…and keeping you updated along the way!