Taste Buds of Impulse Buyers, REJOICE
Posted on Aug 29, 2011
It was sometime in the summer of 2010. The cakes were flying out of the kitchen, the orders were coming in fast, and the brand new Cake Boutique was already at a crossroads.
You see, when the shop first opened in March 2010, it was guided by the vision of two brilliant cake ladies, Stella and Penny, whom you’ve already met in these posts. But the vision itself was managed by the capable hands of the lovely and talented Deora, a good friend who was at the time a student at Kent State University. During her internship with The Cake Boutique she prepared the shop for its opening, ran the front counter during its open hours, and swung for the fences at every curve ball a new business could throw at her. To this day, her dulcet tones still grace the outgoing message on the Cake Boutique voicemail--a reminder of the key role she played in getting the new home off to a flying start. Unfortunately, Deora, like so many others in this part of the country, had a yearning for fairer weather; she found a home for her talents on the West Coast—and the cake ladies had a decision to make. How were they going to keep up with the high demand for the custom-made cakes and still support having all of those cupcakes, cookies and other treats ready to go into the display case?
For Penny and Stella, as well as Deora and the rest of their crew, it was always about you, the customer. During the open hours of the shop they tried to make sure that everyone who came in had the choice of many available products, and that we always had enough to go around. Nobody wanted to see the disappointed face of that one customer who came in looking for that one Spice Jumbo Cupcake stuffed with Pumpkin Mousse filling and a big ol’ swirl of cream cheese icing on the top (are you hungry yet?)… It was hard to predict what people would come in for, so there was a lot of guessing going on in those early days. And the leftovers at the end of the day were getting to be a bad habit for the Delivery Boy and his day-job coworkers, because of course everything had to be made fresh every day! So after much hand-wringing and debate, the decision was made that all of the products sold by the Boutique would be by pre-order only. The taste buds of impulse buyers all over the Mahoning Valley cried out in protest…
Fast-forward to one year, several bridal shows, many marketing opportunities, and about a thousand business cards later. This summer there has been a lot more walk-in traffic at the shop, and the question is always this: what do you have that I can take with me now? It is hard for people like the ladies of the Boutique to face the disappointment in the faces of their valued customers when they have to tell them everything is made to order. So the debate came up again, along with the hand-wringing, of course. But this time the discussion took a little different turn—what if they just made a few items for sale during the normal open hours, Fridays and Saturdays? This would give some of the folks who haven’t tried the treats from the Cake Boutique their first chance, and would satisfy the crying taste buds of our repeat customers as well! So finally they decided to make the biggest change since, well, the last big change:
On October 1, The Cake Boutique will begin selling its treats to walk-in customers during regular open hours on Fridays and Saturdays from 10AM to 3PM!
Thanks to all of you for making this necessary—we owe this decision to the overwhelming demand of our customers to have a treat from The Cake Boutique! So there will be very limited quantities of the most popular flavors of cupcakes, cake balls, and other special items. And when I say “very limited,” I mean you will want to make sure you get there early. You know this is going to sell out fast.
Watch this space for more details (and corrections, as I’m sure I’ve messed something up here), and “Like” us on Facebook (facebook.com/thecakeboutique) to get the latest and greatest info. And fire up those taste buds for the big day!You see, when the shop first opened in March 2010, it was guided by the vision of two brilliant cake ladies, Stella and Penny, whom you’ve already met in these posts. But the vision itself was managed by the capable hands of the lovely and talented Deora, a good friend who was at the time a student at Kent State University. During her internship with The Cake Boutique she prepared the shop for its opening, ran the front counter during its open hours, and swung for the fences at every curve ball a new business could throw at her. To this day, her dulcet tones still grace the outgoing message on the Cake Boutique voicemail--a reminder of the key role she played in getting the new home off to a flying start. Unfortunately, Deora, like so many others in this part of the country, had a yearning for fairer weather; she found a home for her talents on the West Coast—and the cake ladies had a decision to make. How were they going to keep up with the high demand for the custom-made cakes and still support having all of those cupcakes, cookies and other treats ready to go into the display case?
For Penny and Stella, as well as Deora and the rest of their crew, it was always about you, the customer. During the open hours of the shop they tried to make sure that everyone who came in had the choice of many available products, and that we always had enough to go around. Nobody wanted to see the disappointed face of that one customer who came in looking for that one Spice Jumbo Cupcake stuffed with Pumpkin Mousse filling and a big ol’ swirl of cream cheese icing on the top (are you hungry yet?)… It was hard to predict what people would come in for, so there was a lot of guessing going on in those early days. And the leftovers at the end of the day were getting to be a bad habit for the Delivery Boy and his day-job coworkers, because of course everything had to be made fresh every day! So after much hand-wringing and debate, the decision was made that all of the products sold by the Boutique would be by pre-order only. The taste buds of impulse buyers all over the Mahoning Valley cried out in protest…
Fast-forward to one year, several bridal shows, many marketing opportunities, and about a thousand business cards later. This summer there has been a lot more walk-in traffic at the shop, and the question is always this: what do you have that I can take with me now? It is hard for people like the ladies of the Boutique to face the disappointment in the faces of their valued customers when they have to tell them everything is made to order. So the debate came up again, along with the hand-wringing, of course. But this time the discussion took a little different turn—what if they just made a few items for sale during the normal open hours, Fridays and Saturdays? This would give some of the folks who haven’t tried the treats from the Cake Boutique their first chance, and would satisfy the crying taste buds of our repeat customers as well! So finally they decided to make the biggest change since, well, the last big change:
On October 1, The Cake Boutique will begin selling its treats to walk-in customers during regular open hours on Fridays and Saturdays from 10AM to 3PM!
Thanks to all of you for making this necessary—we owe this decision to the overwhelming demand of our customers to have a treat from The Cake Boutique! So there will be very limited quantities of the most popular flavors of cupcakes, cake balls, and other special items. And when I say “very limited,” I mean you will want to make sure you get there early. You know this is going to sell out fast.
Watch this space for more details (and corrections, as I’m sure I’ve messed something up here), and “Like” us on Facebook (facebook.com/thecakeboutique) to get the latest and greatest info. And fire up those taste buds for the big day!