Cake! magazine Download and Print May 2019 Cake! Magazine | Page 34

MORE INFORMATION
You were very young when you opened
your first storefront. How did this
opportunity arise?
I was working really hard building my
small cake business from home, and
had a lot of success with online sales. I
built up a big customer base, and was
stocking cafes around the local area. I
saved enough money selling cupcakes
from home that I invested in equipment
to do pop up stores in shopping
centres. These stores were crazy busy,
to the point where our whole house
was turned into a commercial bakery.
I knew something had to change, so I
set up my first store in our local area of
Point Cook when I was 19.
Tell us more about your business. How
many staff do you employ, and how
many stores do you have now?
We currently sit at approximately
20 staff members, split between two
stores. We are currently working on
some new pop up stores which is
exciting!
What was the most surprising thing
about building a rapidly growing
business?
How overwhelming it can be! It
definitely has been hard getting used
to such a busy and fast-paced life at
a young age, but I now have a lot of
systems in place to ensure I can cope
with the pressure.
What are the pros and cons of having
storefronts?
Storefronts are obviously a very
expensive exercise in the beginning,
but it was the change I needed as it
gets to a point where you just can’t
have a big production in your own
home any longer. The best feeling
is being able to walk away from it at
night time, and get work/life balance
back. Storefronts can do really well if
you have an established name in your
area, but not all locations are good
ones. When you have a storefront,
this will open a lot of opportunities for
retail sales, and big companies with
corporate orders as it looks a lot more
professional and is easily accessible.
It definitely is hard work, but if you
have a passion for what you’re doing,
the customers will see this and want to
support you in your journey.
Who inspires you?
I get inspiration from all around, and
I don’t think I have one particular
idol. My grandma is definitely a huge
motivator for me to keep pursuing
my dreams, as I know she would
love to be in the kitchen with me
now.
What advice can you give for anyone
wanting to open a cake shop?
Work really hard to have the funds
up front, so you can open your shop
debt free. I find a lot of people put
themselves under financial pressure in
the early stages, and this can cause
really bad problems later on. Be
creative, try to do something different
and always research for months before
making a big decision.
What is your favourite thing to bake?
I love to make cheesecake! We
don’t sell cheesecake in our stores
as we are busy focusing on our mini
cupcakes daily and custom cakes,
but I love to eat and make all different
types of cheesecakes.
What is your favourite thing to bake?\
We have so many things in the works
at the moment, but we are focusing
on popping up in some new locations
in Melbourne soon. You never know
where we will be next!
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