momcafé event April 3, 2009 - What do you CRAVE?

Carolyne McIntyre Jackson and Jodi Willoughby – Two moms bringing homemade goodness to Calgary. CRAVE Cupcakes

See momcafé Calgary's April 3rd, 2009 Event on YouTube
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created by Small Wonder: Cherished Moments on Video
www.smallwonder.ca

How did they get started?

- Growing up on the farm, homemade baking was the norm.
- Always took baking as gifts to friends.
- No professional baking background.
- Started with rented commercial kitchen and baked cookies for corporate gifts.
- Opened store in Kensington and started cupcakes after doing marketing
research to determine no similar business in Calgary.
- Chocolate cake recipe was from Great Grandmother and is baked from scratch every morning.
- In the beginning, using their Kitchen Aid mixers, Jodi and Carolyne were at the store baking from 5 a.m. and stayed to sell cupcakes until 9 p.m.
- Working 15-16 hour days, after six months they eventually hired a pastry chef who is still with them today,
- September will be five years and they now have 30 staff.

How do they work together?

- Growing up they were close as on the farm there was no one else around to play with.
- Each brings a different skill set to the business. Carolyne is the idea person, while Jodi does the background work. In their words, “Jodi is the cake, while Carolyne is the icing and together they make Crave!”

Recipe for success

- Great staff – four managers. Two run the kitchen and two run the retail end. This allows Jodi and Carolyne to step back and focus on the bigger business picture.
- Dedicated a lot of time and effort to getting the recipe just right to ensure the same high level of quality with every cupcake.
- Attention to the details – researched for the finest ingredients, right down to the ribbon and the packaging.
- Focus on what you do best; limited the amount of special orders and wedding cakes due to demand of cupcakes.
- Consistency. For example, all cupcake boxes are tied with the brown ribbon.
- Have a passion for what you do! Love what you do and stay true to yourself and your brand.
- Nothing comes without hard work – they work all holidays – Christmas is insane!
- Have to learn to turn it off and find balance for family life.
- Self financed.

What would they change?

- Were not prepared for business to take off - didn’t have a proper growth plan in place.
- It was hard to keep up with demand – received a lot of criticism from customers as it was difficult to gauge daily sales – sometimes had product left at end of the day and other days could be sold out by 3:00 pm - one of the challenges of baking from scratch ever day.
- 17th Ave location has no on site bakery and therefore doesn’t have the same feel as the Kensington store. Going forward, all stores will have on site bakery.

Future Plans

- Trying to decide future direction, possibly a couple more stores in Calgary.
- Considered opening an Edmonton location, but reconsidered as neither wanted to be travelling. You don’t have to be big to be great. Had to think, is this what we really want??
- New website will allow for on line orders as well as new computer system to record orders. Right now still working on paper!

“Know where you want to go and stick with the plan. Believe in what you do and go for it!”