Profile: Foiled Again!
Foiled Cupcakes delicious treats (via Foiled Cupcakes)
In an earlier post, By the Bootstraps spoke with Mari Luangrath, owner of Foiled Cupcakes, a cupcake delivery service based out of Naperville. Mari did a great job speaking to us about how her business has used social media to grow, but there’s more to Foiled Cupcakes than just Facebook and Twitter.
Unlike previous businesses I’ve spoken with, Foiled Cupcakes is a relatively new business that finds opening during the recession to be a boon in many ways. It launched its website in June after six months of planning and preparation. Like all great business ideas, Luangrath’s company was started to address a gap in service: there were no cupcake options in her suburb of Naperville. Having ran two businesses prior to Foiled, the wheels in Luangrath’s head began turning. She created focus groups and used the money she saved from the two previous ventures as seed money. In April, she started a Twitter account to build word of mouth buzz, a strategy that still proves effective for the popular business.
Luangrath originally envisioned a store-front/bakery (which she believes would help her with upselling), she says not having traditional overhead costs such as rent is helpful. The company targets corporate businesses and catering jobs (although individual orders make a good part of its operation) and deliver their sweet treats to Chicago and the west suburbs. Although lots of people are staying away from unnecessary spending, cupcakes are “indulgent” but consumer friendly since they are cheaper than other desserts and “customizable,” Luangrath says.
While other people may believe starting a business during a recession is a death wish, Luangrath sees the positive:
- Foiled Cupcakes is able to deal with suppliers who probably wouldn’t have dealt with them in the past because of their size or the fact that they’re just beginning.
- “Everything is growth-based” because they are a new business, Luangrath says.
- They are smarter with money and know how to make everything every dollar holler, as the old saying goes. Foiled Cupcakes has learned how to make more lemonade out of a few lemons, a skill every small business owner learns to acquire.
[...] Once the door sign changes from “closed” to “open,” customers more or less have an idea of what goes on in the store. Sales associates or the owner themselves meet their needs, show them around the store and ring up their purchases. But what happens behind the scenes before a customer walks through the door? By the Bootsraps visited Peter Rios, executive chef and owner of Alliance Bakery in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood to find out. (What can we say? We have a sweet tooth. [...]