Too Sweet Cakes’ wholesales business has paved the way for the new flagship. | Photo courtesy of Too Sweet Cakes.
Shelbi Geyer made her first wedding cake at age 15.
By age 20, she had made hundreds of wedding cakes. That led to a wholesale business, Too Sweet Cakes, which she launched in 2016 in Bend, Oregon. And that wholesale business grew, now providing baked goods to about 100 outlets, including chains like Black Rock Coffee and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, as well as Zupan’s Markets in three states.
Once she had the “muscle memory” to get that production ramped up for the wholesale business, then why not also do retail, she thought.
So, in 2018, Geyer opened her first Too Sweet Cakes bakery outlet. Now there are three.
But all along, Geyer was saving up. There was something bigger she wanted to build. And now she’s ready to take that next step.
Coming to Phoenix in October will be Geyer’s fourth location of Too Sweet Cakes. But this one will be a full café.
A rendering of the coming Too Sweet Cakes in Phoenix. | Rendering courtesy of Too Sweet Cakes.
It’s in the redesigned Paradise Valley Mall, and this flagship Too Sweet Cakes outlet will feature her baked goods as well as Roman-style pizzas, baguette sandwiches, and more. There will be a full coffee program, and the 1,800-square-foot space also offers a separate window for grab-and-go service.
Geyer has moved from Oregon to Arizona to build the flagship. “I wanted to be around the sun all the time,” she said. But she also wants her guests to know she is part of the community there, shopping at the local Whole Foods and dining at the local restaurants.
Too Sweet has had a bakery facility in Phoenix for four years, making products for the wholesale business. But the Paradise Valley outlet will allow her and her staff to “really hone in to what we want and what we want our guests to experience, and to create something that’s really magical for people,” she said.
Cakes at Too Sweet Cakes. | Photo courtesy of Too Sweet Cakes.
Baking for wholesale is a great business, she said. But fundamentally, Geyer missed interacting with guests.
“Wholesale is very copy-and-paste. You’re doing the same thing every day, and you’re catering to someone else’s vision,” said Geyer.
That part of the business will continue, because it helps fund the “face-to-face, create-for-our-guests” side of the business, she said.
In fact, growth on the wholesale side has helped Geyer raise the funding to buy out her early partners.
Now she is proud to call Too Sweet a fully woman-owned operation. “And that it’s mine,” she added.
She’s also planning to do more.
Geyer is tapping into what seems to be a growing hunger for artisan bakery-café operations that serve as a third place for consumers.
Korea-born chains like Paris Baguette and Tous les Jours are growing aggressively across the U.S. Startups like Bonrue Bakery are catching the eye of serious investors. Multi-concept operators like the parent of the Jinya Ramen franchise are adding bakery brands to their portfolio.
There are lots of places to buy baked goods. But Geyer contends there is something fulfilling when that celebratory treat is made onsite.
“It makes a difference if you don’t see who you bake for every day,” she said. “At the new flagship, [guests] will get to see their cake being decorated in the back. That’s not only fulfilling for the guest, but it’s fulfilling for my team.”
