When opportunity knocks

I've been keeping quiet about some things that are brewing on the cupcake front. Normally when I get excited about something I tend to shout it from the rooftops! Seeing as making this work is EXTREMELY important to me I've been handling this with a "cautiously optimistic" attitude.

I found a very interesting ad on Craig's List at the end of August when I posted my own ad in hopes of finding someone to rent kitchen time to me. It was one of those "that sounds too good to be true, but it can't hurt to try" kinda of things. The ad was for a guy wanting to add cupcakes to compliment his idea for a coffee shop. Well, I jumped real quick on responding (even though the ad was around a month old). I waited... and I waited... and then I pretty much put it out of my mind. THEN... lo and behold, I get an email on Sept 15 saying that he's interested in sitting down and discussing a business arrangement with me. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating for a couple seconds. I responded back that I was VERY interested in seeing what we could work out. Then it was quiet again for a little while. Then last night he sent me info on the retail site he's looking at renting and said he'd be ready to sit down and talk soon. So, being curious, the hubby and I took a little trip to scope things out...

Tucked in the corner, but stands out from the rest of the businesses.

It has a HUGE patio area, perfect for some bistro tables!!

Planter boxes on the front, leaded glass in the door, the arched wood trim...

This place is PERFECT!!!! It's adorable, in a great neighborhood, had a packed parking lot when we were there at 10am. I think I was pretty close to squealing! It's going to need LOTS of work on the inside for it to be ready, but it's pretty darned close to what I pictured in my mind what the perfect place would be.

So, now to get a meeting set up to discuss if we are really interested in working together. I'll be bringing the hubby along to help with questions I forget, general business stuff and to keep me from getting too excited and agreeing to something I shouldn't!

Knock, knock... You better believe I'm answering the door!

babee cakes is born (in my head anyway)

Elegant Snobbery

I realize I was quite vague in my last post about what my idea entailed, so I thought I would elaborate for you now.  Obviously from the name of this blog, I've chosen babee cakes as the name of my business.  Why all lower case letters and two e's at the end instead of a y?  Because nobody ever accused me of being normal, and I like it that way!  I thought this name for the business would be good to indicate the notion that cupcakes are "baby" cakes.  This, in turn, led me to a slogan.  "Good cake comes in small packages".  Then I started thinking that babee cakes sounded like it could have been a slang term for women in the 40's and 50's.  That's when a giant light bulb went of in my head.  I'm a bit vintage obsessed as it is and I thought it would be fun to name each flavor after an actress or movie character from the 40's and 50's.

I drew up (ahem...traced from some of my cupcake photos) a couple logo samples, but I'm not sure I love them.  Then, there's the issue of adding color and getting them scanned into the computer.  Lucky for me I have a VERY talented friend (the insanely talented lady responsible for the print above) that has offered to design my logo!  Just about every room of my house has one of her prints hanging on the wall.  I can only hope that one day I'll be able to decorate the walls of my store front with some of her art!

So, what happens next?  I get laid off from my job, present the idea to the career counselor that was provided to me (who just so happens to think it's a FAB idea), start doing my homework as to what all I need to get this started as a cupcake catering business, begin writing a business plan and (the best part) keep recipe testing!!!

Laying the groundwork

The Black Apple

I have been subjecting friends, family, co-workers (mine and my hubby's) to the trial and error of recipe testing. I will say there has not been too much complaining going on! If it doesn't taste good, well then, nobody is going to buy it. I have very specific ideas in mind for the flavors that I will have available, but I'm always thinking of new things I want to try.

What really got me going on this whole idea, was a comment by a wonderful new friend I made at my former job (I neglected to mention in my first post that I was recently laid off after being back to work full time for only 6 months, another reason I'm really pushing for this now). Ms. Joanne shares my love of baking and we "hit it off" straight away in the food department in general. After bringing in some cupcakes to share, she pointed me to the website of a local cupcake shop and said that she thought I could compete with this place. That's when I spilled the beans about wanting to do this for a living. I would sit and daydream about what it would be like, how I would decorate my shop (sometimes when I was supposed to be working, sssshhhhhhh...) I never really let myself get past the daydreaming.

A few months ago, my mom was in town while I was recovering from surgery, and the subject came up. We sat for a good 2 hours bouncing ideas back and forth and the REAL framework for what I wanted started coming together. We're talking a business name, slogan, logo ideas, flavor combos, what to have available on a daily basis, flavor of the day specials, seasonal flavors and even what I would do with what cupcakes didn't sell at the close of business. I even went so far as to decide that each flavor would have a personality and a name. By this time, I was completely consumed and determined to make this happen.

The journey to a cupcakery

I have been obsessed with baking for a long time. I'm fairly certain that this comes from my Granny! Baking relaxes me and just plain makes me happy. There's been more than one occasion that I have baked for the sake of baking and wasn't even interested in the eating part. That's not the case with cupcakes, however!

I got caught up in the cupcake craze when most people considered it to be over. That's generally how I "follow" trends though. That's ok with me, because I think think that people will always love cupcakes. I'm mean honestly, what's not to love. Individual portions, perfect size, no fork required and easy clean up.

So I decided that I want to be the owner/operator of a cupcakery! I know that this is not something that will happen overnight or be easy in any way, but I KNOW I can do this! I'm using this blog as a means to collect my thought, share recipe hit and misses and HOPEFULLY take you on the journey to my dream.

Keep Calm Shop