Bling is in! Interview with Lisa Mansour of NY Cake and Baking

 Interview with Lisa Mansour

Co-Owner NY Cake & Baking

www.nycake.com

Interview by Kathryn Gordon and Jessie Riley

Kathryn:  Hi Lisa!  We’ve spoken before about your grandmother who was a chocolatier in Salt Lake City, and your mother who was a pioneer in NYC cake decorating.  Your parents use to run the business.   Now it’s more being run by you and your siblings, right?  How did that all evolve?

Lisa:  I grew up learning about cake from my mother.  In fact, I started this location (on West 22^nd Street, NYC) with my mother in 1989.  At that point there was no store of its kind at all and most people didn’t know what “cake decorating” was at that point.  In fact, originally we were further down the street and the landlord said:  "You won’t even last a year!"  We have the same landlord in this larger location almost 25 years later and now he understands more about cake! 

Kathryn:  So do people watching TV!  I imagine the cake craze has helped your business boom?

Lisa: I came back to work in the business full time in the past 3-4 years.  Before then it was run mostly by my mom, dad and brother. Fundamentally, this is a cookie cutter and sprinkle business.  And it’s very seasonal.

Now my sister and her husband also work in the business.  My sister Jenny primarily works up in our warehouse in Westchester and is responsible for the website and all internet orders.  I am now in charge of the NYC store from A-Z.  My mom is in charge of the books.  My dad, well, he bosses everyone around! 

Kathryn:  Things have “shifted” here since I first visited you 2 years ago.  And I don’t just mean where items are located in the store…

Lisa:  Our emphasis is on introducing new cake ideas to refresh the company and to provide better customer service.  You can say that the “girls in the family” definitely have personality!  I’m really excited to get in there as an adviser to people, to help them make whatever cake they want to make. 

Jessie:  You’re launching a new line of tools this month under your own line?

Lisa:  Yes!  I decided to design tools to make it easier for people to make the cake they want to make.  These days, everyone is short on time and they have to juggle so many things in their lives.  Whether they make a cake for their family, or to sell – tools help them execute it the most efficiently.  We had the resources to help pull together a line of tools.  

My brother-in-law is responsible for manufacturing most of our tools. Because of this, I am able to introduce a line of “Couture Molds” in silicon that will work with a variety of cake decorating materials:  modeling chocolate, gum paste, fondant, pulled sugar and tempered chocolate.Basically, whatever the cake decorator wants to do!

                                                       Jessie:  What else is in the works for your line, Lisa?

Lisa:  In January, I expect to introduce a gluten-free cake mix with natural flavorings. There is such demand now for great tasting, gluten free products. I hear it all day in the store as customers come in looking for product.  I am right in the middle of the store so I get to hear all day what my customers want.

I would also like to have a school.  I love teaching now through our NY Cake Academy and I have lots of ideas.  I am teaching a class at ICE (Institute of Culinary Education) in 2 weeks, and next year will teach a class at ICE in 2013 under the CAPS program.

Kathryn:  Can you run a school here, in the store?  I remember taking my first Wilton cake decorating piping series with your mother years ago, in a location down the street.

Lisa:  Rents in Manhattan are so high but we’re looking into our options.  We will be starting to do free in-store cake demonstrations after the holidays.  I want to bring in guest chefs, and foster a sense of community in the store like we used to have when the cake business was in its infancy. 

Kathryn:  What’s the best thing about the NY store?

Lisa:  Employee loyalty.  We all work 6 days a week, including me.  I’m lucky that most of our employees have been with us a long time.

Jessie:  What’s the most current cake trend you’re seeing now?

Lisa:  The demand is still for bling!  More and more bling, in fact. 

Jessie:  What doesn’t “move anymore” in the world of cakes?

Lisa:  Cake separators and columns. Right now you can’t give them away.

Jessie:  Before we finish up, what drives you, Lisa?

Lisa:  I want to be a trend setter, and never a “copier”.  I don’t even look at what other people are doing with their cakes or cake classes.  I focus on myself, not other decorators.   Some people consider me a threat – which I think is sad.  I need to do my own thing, and I have my hands full with my own projects.

Jessie: Thanks Lisa!


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Ready to Jump In

Ready to Jump In

Interview with Cameca Johnson by Kathryn Gordon

www.creationsbycameca.com (website should be live in June)

Kathryn:  Cameca, you graduated from the pastry program at ICE August 2011, and since then you’ve said that you’re baking cakes for friends and family? 

Cameca:  I went to ICE initially with the idea that I would master plated desserts in a restaurant and open a dessert bar.  But after going through the program, a friend asked me to make a cake for her daughter’s birthday, and I continued doing that as more friends and family asked me to do it.  Now I’m really interested in all the different aspects of cakes, decorating and sugarcraft, and driving myself to learn as much as possible.

Kathryn:  How are you doing that?

Cameca:  I currently subscribe to a cake decorating magazine, and I work my way through each of their “projects” systematically.  I’ve also taken a lot of advanced classes, and I go anonymously to various classes offered at bakeries to check out what they’re doing and how they operate.  But that was difficult to do during the day with my 9-5 job.  So I’ve just resigned my day job!  Going forward, I’ll have more time flexibility. 

(Kathryn interviewed Cameca on the annual ICE Cuisine Course in France.  Cameca’s last day at her finance job was just before the trip to the Loire Valley.  www.moulinbregeoncuisinecourses.com)

Kathryn:  Wow, you quit!  Ok, so let’s talk about that decision making process.  How are you planning the steps to take to go from not charging friends and family anything except base ingredient costs – to quitting your day job and jumping into this business?

Cameca:   I took a 16-week workshop in business opportunities designed for business entrepreneurs to learn how to make their businesses sustainable, versus supporting an “expensive hobby.”  I’m just finishing those last classes now:  Workshop in Business Opportunities www.wibo.org.  I have my last session when we return from France.

Kathryn:  So you have a business plan, from having finished that course?

Cameca:  The WIBO program gives you a structure, and then you fill in the aspects of the business plan for your own specific business, customer base, etc.  They provide a wealth of information.  And they bring in actual entrepreneurs to give insight regarding their own experiences.  They provide mentoring resources via direct contact as well as seminars, workshops, etc. to participants who need specific legal or accounting questions addressed, before someone is ready to start paying for those services on their own. 

Kathryn:  So having gone through that program, what about your business incorporation, liability insurance, websites/marketing, your overhead/food/labor cost analysis…  Where are you with all of that part of the process? 

Cameca:  I did cost out each of my cakes, and know what it costs me to make using wholesale ingredient prices and packaging costs.  

Kathryn:  Up till now, you’ve worked in finance – so that must help!  Since you have that skill-set, are you planning to keep up with all of your own accounting, or use a program?

Cameca:  Right now, I am manually maintaining my own general ledger. 

Kathryn:  What about paying yourself? Do you think that your customer base will support it as compared to other market prices for cakes?

Cameca:  I think so.  Honestly, I didn’t think about paying myself at first.  But I think I should “pay myself,” because it is taking me 8-10 hours to make, decorate and deliver each cake.  I’ve also looked at what people are willing to pay for cakes – people in other markets besides people living within Manhattan.

Kathryn:  How are you charging for the cakes? By the serving?

Cameca:  Yes, but I do charge differently for simple buttercream versus the more expensive fondant, and I charge additional fees for sugarpaste flower decorations (which require more labor skill and time).

Kathryn:  How do you get your cakes to your customers? 

Cameca:  I am actually about to buy a second hand car. Friends and family can continue to pick up their cakes from me, or I will charge a delivery fee from my production place in Queens with gas and tolls.

Kathryn:  Where will you be doing your production?

Cameca:  I will be using an incubator kitchen in my area on a shift-by-shift basis (The Entrepreneur Space).  Not too many of their customers are cake bakers – so the incubator has cake pans I can use, as well as additional equipment.  I pretty much just have to schedule time to bake and bring in my ingredients.  My friend’s husband goes to Restaurant Depot, so that is one way I can get wholesale ingredients.  So I have no overhead cost unless I have a customer order.

Kathryn:  What if this takes off, what would be your next step for production?

Cameca:  Next, I would sign a lease for monthly space at an incubator kitchen that would be open 24 hours a day.  After that, I would try to rent and renovate a studio space for a commercial kitchen. I think that jumping to a retail storefront as a next step is too expensive.

Kathryn:  What does the incubator require besides the fee for the 8-hour production shift?      

Cameca:  In addition to the application, the incubator requires:  1) a security deposit; 2) proof of insurance (including worker’s compensation if applicable; 3) Food Handler’s certificate; 4) business registration and tax ID number; and 5) emergency contact information.

After I start using the kitchen I will apply for the 20C Food Processing Establishment License.

Kathryn:  How are you marketing your new business?

Cameca:  After France, I am meeting a high school friend of mine shortly to work on the website and Facebook page.  I am trying to obtain some free PR through doing competitions and charity events.   I will make samples for a charity event for 500 people in June, so I am hoping to have brochures ready by then with the website up live.  Another strategy I plan to try is advertising in small local papers.  Friends are also already helping me with referrals.  And I’ve been trying to take my own photos of all my cakes, to help get the website and Facebook pages up and my brochures ready.

Kathryn:  How many flavors of cakes are you offering, and are you doing tastings?

Cameca:  I have about 7 standard flavors, but I will customize.  I do tasting consultations and that cost is included in the final proposal to the client.  So far, most of my current customers want round, tiered cakes with fondant and “wow” colors.  Maybe from watching TV!

Kathryn:  What kind of deposit do you require?

Cameca:  Currently I collect 25%, but I am considering going to 50% upfront. 

Kathryn:  Cameca, I hate to ask, but how are you financing this?   You rent your apartment now, right?  How are you going to be able to pay for all of this?

Cameca:  I have some savings from my prior job in the finance industry that will cover me a few months, and some employee stock that will be automatically liquidated shortly since I am leaving.  This, together with the rehire policy from my employer (since I left on good terms), is my safety net.  The stock sale may actually generate some tax losses, so I am hoping that I will not have to pay any taxable income penalty.

I also still have a part-time (evening and weekend) job that I got after my externship that will be continuing, for now.  And I’m lucky it allows flexibility in scheduling, because it’s in catering and I can tell them when I’m available, and when I’m not.  If I had to start working there full-time, the catering job would pay for my rent. 

Kathryn:  So what words of advice would you give to some other person, like a recent graduate, who thinks they might also be ready to make this kind of a move?

Cameca:  Think everything out.  You need a plan prior to doing anything.  Don’t just quit your day job without a plan – if you work for someone, find out what that company’s termination procedure is.   In some positions, you might be vested.  Determine if this the right time strategically to leave, or if you wait a bit longer is it more beneficial to you in terms of future retirement pay?  Do you have any unpaid vacation days that they will owe you based on how many years you’ve worked there?  And finally, how many months will all of that accumulate to help pay your production and living space rent(s)? 

Kathryn:  OK Cameca, those are very useful questions that anyone else in your shoes who is considering jumping into this industry on your own should be ask themselves.

Thanks for sharing those thoughts, and we’d like to follow-up with you in a few months of baking cakes in the incubator kitchen!

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