Recently we have been compared several times in public instances to a local bakery named Kick Ass Cupcakes and I would like a chance to respond to that.
I was once told if you don't have anything nice to say, shut the hell up. So this is NOT a post to trash them. It is more of something to show people who VCVC is. When we set out, we did not want to be another cookie cutter cupcake shop. (say that five times fast). I have no formal training and having just been thru a divorce where my house was taken from me and I was starting over from rock bottom. I was trying to make something amazing from that. I needed more income for me and my children in addition to working in the daytime, but I had to be home while they were sleeping because I could not afford more childcare. I baked to soothe myself. But for fear of eating ALL of what I made I would give them away. First to J's co-workers and then to my friends and co-workers, then to the barristas at Starbucks and then to strangers. All who told me "Sell these!" And so VCVC was born.
With no formal training I wondered how I would hold up. But then I remembered how much I baked with my Gram. It was a lot. The kitchen in my house on Main St was a central place for us. I would do homework while she baked and I would go as fast as I could to finish so I could help. She was strict in her baking. Everything had to be just so. One of her rules stood the same, there should be as much frosting as there is cake! Much of my inspiration comes from her. She keeps me grounded.
In her image, each batch is hand made, just as she would have made it. No machines, no big commercial mixers. Just an old school kitchen aid. At one point I even used a 1950's sunbeam mixer that my Grandpa had given Gram. I don't use it for VCVC any more because I am afraid I will wear it out, but I still use it for family stuff when we bake at home with the kids. So our cupcakes are made 24 at a time, with the same ingredients you would find in your fridge (maybe a few fancy extras ;-)). I remember watching Cake Boss one day and seeing a machine that they put gallons of batter into and it squirted cupcakes into pans that were fed below the machine and thinking, "GROSS". I promised myself to never ever do that.
I also love bringing an 99.995% eatable cupcake to the table (sans paper holder). We will try to create just about anything you wish. I am limited by licensing, but we try to work around that when we can. I adore the look on the client's face when they see what I have made them. They light up. I am not sure if Kick Ass does this, all I have seen them make is paper on tooth picks. Which in it's own right is a fun and good idea when you are moving a high volume.
Kick ass is a great company. I think they have found a nifty niche in what they do. When I was there a while ago they even had cat and dog cupcakes! But VCVC is nothing like them. We don't have the industrial equipment, the many employees, the toothpicks or the storefront. We don't have cases of cupcakes sitting there for however long waiting to be bought. We have me, in my kitchen and a great product made with love just like your Grandmother (if she was a really great baker) would have made, just for you, the way you like it. I care about each client, because each order that I send out my door has a story and somewhere along the line, those cupcakes become a part of a memory. I want to make that memory as delicious and as full of love as possible.
0 comments:
Post a Comment