actually baked the cupcakes every morning in his
own kitchen and transported them to the store. Not
knowing how good of a product Mr. Martin had at
first, his landlord put him on a month to month lease
to ensure that he could walk away if needed. But
walking away was the last thing on Jeff’s mind after
he began selling out of his tasty treats in as little as 45
minutes. Six months later he was contacted by Food
Network to be a contestant on the popular “Cupcake
Wars”. Jeff’s pumpkin cupcakes were a huge hit with
the judges, although he was voted off the show for
admitting that he had left the pumpkin out during
the competition. His mistake and honest admittance
managed to actually win him greater publicity. “I told
Jeff that I thought he was making these mistakes on
purpose for the attention!” Jennifer laughs. “He’s really an awesome guy and very humble.”
In 2010, Smallcakes was able to begin franchising,
18
with each franchisee being personally
trained on how to cook and ice the twelve
daily flavors. Jason and Jennifer were both
met and coached by Jeff and his assistant
Omar. Jennifer says that Jeff was extremely helpful and even personally took her to
some kitchen supply places to show her
which products she would need that she
wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else.
“By March of last year, I already had all of
my cupcake plates purchased and had
started making plans!” Jennifer says with
a smile. Jason spent most of his time in
the kitchen w ]