Today we’d like to introduce you to Lori Karmel.
Lori, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My husband and I and our 2 1/2-year-old son moved to South Florida from Canada in 2000. I was trying to find a delicious birthday cake for our son’s 3rd birthday. I wasn’t interested in grocery store cakes. I finally came across We Take The Cake in Fort Lauderdale. Since their cakes were made to order I didn’t get to taste it but I did taste the chocolate cream cheese frosting and it was delicious. I ordered the cake and received rave reviews from our birthday party guests.
A year later, in 2002, I was looking for a business to buy. My broker told me about “a small mail order company”. For some reason I asked “is it We Take The Cake?”. He said, “yes, how did you know?”. I don’t know how I knew but I bought the business. The business was very small with one full-time baker and a part-time assistant baker. The business wasn’t doing well post 9/11. I thought this was going to be easy, it’s cake after all. The first year was rough!
I hired a customer service person and brought in a high-end cake designer and started promoting the business to hotels and through charity Food and Wine Events. Then in 2004, we got the call from HARPO Studios. Our Key Lime Bundt Cake was being considered as one of “Oprah’s Favorite Things”. We were selected and the show aired in November 2004. This put us on the map.
Since then we have been featured on Good Morning America, multiple Food Network Shows, Today Show, QVC, InStyle Magazine, Oprah Magazine “O List”, CNBC’s “The Oprah Effect” and Oprah’s show “Where Are They Now?”. We currently produce and ship for Williams Sonoma, Neiman Marcus, and FoodyDirect as well as our online store. We produce cakes and wedding cakes for some of the finest South Florida Hotels and restaurants. Our bakery is hidden away in an industrial area just outside Wilton Manors in Fort Lauderdale. We bake to order but we do have some items available for walk-ins such as cupcakes, mini bundts, bundt cakes and classic cakes.
We are not the typical bakery. We do specialize in a cake from gourmet bundt cakes to classic basic made from scratch cakes and frosting to over the top custom designed cakes. A select menu of items is available for national shipping. Our cakes make incredible gifts as they are delicious and beautifully packaged. We also offer custom branding on the cakes and bundt cake tins for corporate gifts and marketing campaigns shipped nationally. We have done custom branded items for Google, Pizza Hut, bareMinerals, Swarovski, J.Jill and many more.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. We have experienced growing pains. The biggest obstacle was when we aired on Oprah and our website received 800 orders in 4 hours and then crashed. We were on a shared server and was not able to move to our own service for 2 months. We had to take all the remaining orders by phone. We only had 3 phone lines. The voicemail filled up every 45 seconds. We couldn’t even get a line out to pick up the voicemails. Every time we picked up the phone, someone was on it. The phones rang around the clock for 2 weeks.
We just celebrated our 15th anniversary and we continue to grow organically and still experience growing pains. We are outgrowing our existing space. We will need to make a big jump to a much larger space soon to take advantage of some existing large opportunities.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We specialize in made from scratch cake and frostings. Yes, we do have talented cake designers and we can create incredible cakes but it is the taste of our cake and frosting that sets us apart. Most people don’t realize that not all bakeries make their own cake and frostings. We make it the old-fashioned way using real butter, fresh eggs and dairy. We also make really delicious gluten-free cakes and an outstanding chocolate vegan cake.
There are not many companies that have the ability to ship a delicious, branded, cake nationally. Our beautiful packaging and delicious cake make a unique corporate gift or marketing campaign. Major companies have sought out service. Of course, our Key Lime bundt cake (Oprah’s Favorite Things) is our best selling item. It is what we are known for best.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
This is a tough question because we are basically a national company. We are hidden in an industrial area without any foot traffic or any kind of visibility. We don’t do any print advertising. We are mostly word of mouth and press. If we were interested in retail locations Miami would be ideal or New York City. We don’t have any interest in retail or retail rents.
We are a South Florida secret.
If someone were starting a retail bakery I would recommend Miami as the best location. People seem more willing to spend money in Miami. I would also recommend the charity Food and Wine events to get people to taste your product and promote your location.
Pricing:
- Our gourmet bundt cakes are $28 in a beautiful gift box.
- Our cupcakes are $3 each. If you buy 15 or more the price is $2.50 each.
- Our layer cakes start at $35 for a 6″ 4 layer.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1211 NE 9th Ave.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33304 - Website: www.wetakethecake.com
- Phone: 954-764-2253
- Email: sales@wetakethecake.com
- Instagram: wetakethecake
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/wetakethecake/
- Twitter: We Take The Cake
- Yelp: We Take The Cake
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
