Trixie, our edible printer, and the whole team had a busy week last week – it was CIBC’s Employee Appreciation Week and we were very happy to be involved with some of the Toronto-based festivities. I think that some of the toppers (and maybe cakes?) featured the CIBC penguin mascot but most of them had the CIBC logo. I mention it here to tie back to a comment I made several posts ago – that we are in the celebration business as much as in the baking business. Cupcakes, brownies, tarts, cookies and cakes are what we make – but the motivation to buy what we make is celebration-related more than food-related. I can say without hesitation that I didn’t really understand that until at least a year or two into the business, and if I had known it when I opened the business, I would have offered a lot more customization from the outset. Live and learn.
The other unrelated thing I want to mention today is that we were voted the #1 cupcake store in Toronto on blogTO last week! Yay!! And as well as having the excitement of seeing Prairie Girl as #1, I appreciated the journalist’s remarks at the start of the article – words to the effect of, “looks like cupcakes are not a trend, and will be at birthday parties for years to come”. I agree! In my office, I have a photo taken on my 2nd birthday: I’m sitting on the table holding the cake and beside me is a plate of cupcakes. Maybe that’s the day I decided there was a future for cupcakes…right before I dropped the cake.