What event could possibly need
close to 7,000 cupcakes? BREEDERS’ CUP
of course!!
A
couple of weeks ago we had the honor of being named the Official Cupcake for
the Breeders’ Cup which came to Santa Anita Park this year for the 2012
Championships. Now, if you are a huge fan of horse racing you know how
big of an event this has become. Over 90,000 fans came in from all over
the world to watch these incredible horses race this year in 15 World
Championships and over $25 million dollars in purses! And nothing says a
celebration like having an official Breeders’ Cupcake to finish!
A few months ago, I decided to
reach out to Santa Anita Park to ask them if they would be interested in having
our creations at their track as we had won the Kentucky Derby episode of
Cupcake Wars and the horse races were such an amazing experience for me I
wanted to be involved! They told me
about this big race coming up and forwarded my info to the Breeders’ Cup. Luckily I received a call the very next day
from an executive of the Breeders’ Cup, Peter Rotondo. Over the next couple of months, Peter and his
associate Molly visited our store to not only pick flavors, but colors, and
designs for the Official Cupcake.
Finally we had it! This years
Official Breeders’ Cupcake was going to be a Blueberry LemonDrop with a cute
purple flower on top to not only represent the colors of the race but also the
winning flowers!
What’s next?? Little did I know or expect an email to come
in one day with a full layout of the orders that were to be delivered and set
up for “the week”! I was absolutely in
shock when I opened the attachment to find an order for close to 7,000
cupcakes!!! But as many of you know, I
can do it! I will make anything possible
and I will work my butt off to make it as seamless for our client as
possible. So I went into strategy
mode. I decided we would have to close
our store for the week of Breeders’ Cup to make sure we took care of them the
way this elegant horse race should be taken care of (and to keep me sane). Our deliveries started at 4:45am and some
days we would end at 10pm at night for the parties. We got to be involved with every aspect of
the Breeders’ Cup events and by the end of the week, everyone knew and had
tasted these cupcakes.
Here is a look at what we did
over the week:
5 days of track deliveries for
the Breakfast Marquee, Draw Reception Party, Jocktails, Deliveries to both
hosting hotels at The Huntington Langham and Westin Pasadena daily, Winner’s
Circle Party, Mayor’s Mansion Halloween Bash, NBC Trailer deliveries, BC
Corporate Trailers deliveries, Taste of the World hosted by Bobby Flay and The
Taste of LA at the track.
One of my favorite events had
to be the Taste of the World at The Huntington Library hosted by Bobby
Flay! There were chefs that flew in from
all over the world to present a signature dish to represent one of the horse’s
countries and right next to them was the official sponsor Grey Goose
mixologists to compliment each chef’s meal with a signature cocktail. We had our cupcakes in the coffee and dessert
corner. I was able to meet some of my
favorite chefs including Bobby Flay, Michael Voltaggio, and David Feau.
Another perk of becoming the
Official Cupcake was the PR aspect of things.
I was so grateful when I was called to do NBC Today in LA show at the
anchor desk, KTLA, HRTV and another segment of NBC at the track as well as
written up in Los Angeles Magazine and a few horse magazines. I loved representing the Breeders’ Cup for
all of these and it was such an honor they asked me to go live on TV for
them. You can watch the clip from NBC
here:
Now that Breeders’ Cup is over,
I feel a little sad to see it go, but I am so thankful for the opportunity it
gave me along with some of the most amazing people I met from the BC Corporate
people, the PR agencies, the media folks, all the way to the horse owners,
jockeys, and fans! All of you made us at
Goodie Girls so happy and we hope to see you all again next year for Breeders’
Cup 2013!
I would like to take this time
to thank HUGELY all of my staff who put in more than enough hours to completely
cupcakes, going to the events, and making everything run so smooth for us
(Rebecca, Margo, Giselle, and Danielle).
I would like to thank Peter Rotondo and Molly McGill of Breeders’ Cup
for believing in us and selecting us to represent BC 2012. I would like to thanks both PR agencies and
Event Planning Companies Elise Freimuth from PMK BNC, Samantha Seier from
Karlitz & Company, and Greg Ball from Brener Zwikel & Associates. And last but definitely not least, my
wonderful family who always lends a helping hand whenever needed – Anthony,
Steph, and Dad – THANK YOU! You all made
this such an amazing time for me and I could not have done this without each
and every one of you!
Here are a few more of my favorite pix from this week:
One of my favorite events had
to be the Taste of the World at The Huntington Library hosted by Bobby
Flay! There were chefs that flew in from
all over the world to present a signature dish to represent one of the horse’s
countries and right next to them was the official sponsor Grey Goose
mixologists to compliment each chef’s meal with a signature cocktail. We had our cupcakes in the coffee and dessert
corner. I was able to meet some of my
favorite chefs including Bobby Flay, Michael Voltaggio, and David Feau. 
This past week we were so lucky
to be asked to go Live on KTLA Morning News with Allie Mackay to talk a little
about our business and how fortunate we have been to have an amazing kitchen
such as the Chefs Center in Pasadena to be able to help what was once a small
start up company to thrive in today’s economy without having the overhead of
building out a kitchen and also giving us the opportunity to have a support
team in place to start. Unfortunately,
when we scheduled the interview I didn’t realize I was actually going to be out
on my 10th year anniversary with my husband in Maui so I turned the
interviews over to my Sweet Team Margo, Rebecca, and Stephanie and I was so
thrilled and impressed with the girls screening! They really captured Goodie Girls just as I
would have! If you missed the show, you
can watch all 3 segments here:
My first few times I went were
to do some charity work jobs I had gotten.
Then Larry from Chefs Center approached me and asked if we would like to
be a part of their Friday Food Fairs. At
Chefs Center, they have these Food Fairs on Fridays that have rotating food
trucks and then allow all the vendors who cook at the kitchen an opportunity to
sell their products to the public. This
was amazing as it was the first time I would have a “store front” feel where I
could set up my display how I would like and really see how people react to our
cupcakes and also see how well they would sell.
And to be able to be a part of these trucks like the Grilled Cheese
Truck, Slammin Sliders, and Coolhaus who have so many followers who could say
no? After the first Food Fair I was
sold! People were going crazy over our
flavors and we kept getting asked “Where’s Your Storefront”? I thought….storefront?? Oh yeah!
Lets do that! Haha… so my husband
and I without any hesitation went for it.
We lived in Glendale at the time and I was always in love with this
building across the street. I knew it
was the PERFECT spot. So one things led
to another and within a week I had a store…well an empty shell, but I could see
it all glammed up with pink and crystal chandeliers! So for the next few months, we built the
store out. This is where Chefs Center
REALLY helped me as well. I decided to
do a pre-packaged only store front and still continue to bake at Chefs
Center. This saved me thousands of start
up dollars AND it was much less stressful to deal with all the permits and
Health Department. I chose to do it this
way because I had never owned a food service store before and I really wanted
to get a feel for what it would be like, test out recipes, get a marketing plan
together, get my merchandise set, logo’s, test out what works as far as boxes
and bags …. This was the perfect route to be able to really get a solid store
running without having to feel in debt.
I also chose to have my store a little hidden as well to not have an
overwhelmingly line outside my door (although always appreciated!!) immediately
so I could get used to working a register, figure out how much product I would
need daily so I wasn’t wasting or undercutting, etc. 
