Cupcakes and cake pops success

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cupcakes

Cupcakes and cake pops success

A few years ago, Elizabeth Reddinger started cooking meals for some of husband Jon’s co-workers at GAF in Myerstown.

The meals would include a different homemade dessert every day. Soon, Jon’s co-workers began calling for Elizabeth to start a business with her baked goods.

She took that advice, and about a year and a half ago started Sweet Sanctions, specializing in gourmet cupcakes and cakepops (small cupcakes on a stick).

She recently launched a website and began advertising, and since then, business has taken off.

“We’ve been swamped,” she said Monday while taking a break from decorating another batch of cupcakes. “It’s been great. We’ve definitely been blessed. We weren’t prepared for how quickly it took off.

cupcakes

My main goal was to have one order per week, and we’ve beyond exceeded that.

She was hoping to have some time to iron out the kinks, she said, but they didn’t have that opportunity.

“There’s no room for messing up,” she said.

In addition to cupcakes and cakepops, Sweet Sanctions also offers cupcakes and cakepops bouquets. The business offers 27 flavors of cupcakes and 26 flavors of cakepops. The flavors include staples such as chocolate, vanilla and red velvet, to unique flavors such as mojito, Coke float and spiked raspberry lemonade.

“We started with base recipes, and we ultimately ended up changing every single one of them one way or the other,” she said. “Some of them took quite some time to get it right. We’re really picky.”

There are a multitude of options for decoration of her cupcakes, mostly flowers like roses, daisies, sunflowers and poinsettias. The bouquets come in painted flowerpots, or, for men, a six-pack holder.

The business is a full-time job for Elizabeth. Jon continues to work full-time at GAF in Myerstown and often comes home and puts in several hours baking or delivering goods.

He often hears jokes at work about moonlighting as a cupcake maker, he said.

cupcakes

“I work with a bunch of guys in a factory, so I take some beatings,” he said.

Eventually, Elizabeth said, they hope the company is successful enough that Jon can leave his job at GAF.

In addition to Elizabeth and Jon, their sister-in-law, Megan Reddinger, and Jon’s co-worker from GAF, Tom Fields, help out.

The business offers free delivery in Lebanon County, and their products can also be purchased at Kettering Corner in Annville. They are negotiating with two other local locations to sell Sweet Sanctions products in their stores, but those deals have not been finalized.

Down the road, Elizabeth Reddinger said, they may open their own retail location.

“We have other personal goals that we’d like to see accomplished before we open a storefront,” she said.

cupcakes

Although the business is based in the Reddingers’ North Cornwall Township home, she stressed that it is certified by the state Department of Agriculture and the township.

“There’s a horrible stigma to people thinking home-based business – they automatically think that you’re not registered, you’re not licensed, and there is a ton around here,” she said. “We are registered with the state. We are a legal business. We bake out of a registered kitchen.”

Despite the success, don’t expect to see Sweet Sanctions compete on Cupcake Wars anytime soon, Elizabeth said.

“We get asked all the time: ‘Would you do cupcake wars? Would you do this? Would you do that?’ and we’ve talked about it, and we’re like, ‘No,’” she said. “When you get busy on that level, you lose sight of your core values, and that’s really important to us, and that’s what makes us who we are.

“We want to know our customers, and we want them to know us, because if we can’t put out something personal, then it’s not going to touch anybody, and we’re just another cupcake company,” she added. “We don’t want to be that.”

[email protected]; 272-5611, ext. 145

baking with Bill & Sheila

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