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Boasting thousands of active retail bakery members and repeat corporate delivery business—including a recent $60,000 corporate gift order—in its network, Cakes Across America is poised to bring new dollars into the baking industry.

By Bob Sperber

Table of Contents
Cake, the nephew of invention
A business solution
The 60,000 delivery
Building the net(work)
Retailer membership, pricing

Cakes Across America (CAA) has a mission: to bring more attention—and dollars—to retail bakers across the United States by delivering cake to consumers and businesses. The concept is simple: Set up a national network of retail bakers, do some marketing, take orders and have cakes delivered to consumers and business customers.

In the process, the company hopes to make cake the gift of choice among gift-givers across the nation, the world and, yes, the World Wide Web.

Cake, the nephew of invention
Since delivering its first cake on January 9, 1993, CAA built a service that revolves around a growing network of neighborhood bakeries capable of creating and delivering custom, decorated cakes to consumers across the country.

The recipient of that first cake was Greene's eight-year-old nephew.

"Necessity is the mother invention," said Fran Greene, founder and president, told Bakery Online. "People need to give gifts, and there was no service like this. The call I made to have a cake delivered to my out-of-state nephew became our first market test!"

The retail baker was happy to get business from out-of-state, Greene said, "and my nephew was delighted to get something home-made, even though I was far away."

How far away? "We got an order from Italy just yesterday for U.S. delivery," said Greene. CAA has a map in the office with pushpins from customers from a growing list of nations.

Through its website (www.cakesacrossamerica.com) and toll free order hotline (1-800-422-5387), a virtually unlimited audience can order cakes for delivery throughout the United States.

Word of mouth and accidental Web hits were a start, and now the company is preparing to launch a major Internet marketing campaign. Financials were not disclosed, nor were future marketing plans, or an answer to the question: Is an angel investor waiting in the wings? We were told, however, that a financial consultant has been retained and an internal audit is underway in preparation for bigger things to come.

The company cites a current retail network of thousands and a database of 33,000 potential, additional retail bakeries it can call upon if needed.

Today, CAA is trying to unite bakers to bring baked goods, rather than less-than-memorable corporate premiums, to the public. Having opened with a single individual consumer in mind, the company is now opening markets for retail bakers and is also marketing to corporations with celebrations on the calendar.

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A business solution
Speaking of tee-shirts and pens, though, the company is pursuing another untapped venue: the multimillion, perhaps multibillion-dollar advertising specialties business. In the next two to three years, Greene expects corporate gift-giving to account for upwards of 70% of Cakes' business.

The thing about giving cake instead of corporate premiums," says Kim Mills, director of corporate operations, "is that it's something people share; it creates a memorable experience."

The plan is to transform cake delivery into a "business solution," a one-stop shop for companies looking to celebrate record earnings, new business and the like—all the while, delivering hand-made treats with the company's name and logo—which often appears right on the cake. Add the service's ability to consolidate orders with centralized customer service order handling and payment, and the business can be seen as approaching "solution" status.

Greene and company might just be on to something, positioned to eliminate the hassle and productivity drain of orchestrating a simultaneous cake delivery to large numbers of company offices, distributor-resellers or key customer sites.

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The $60,000 delivery
Business is picking up, with repeat, satisfied customers. For instance, a San Francisco-based Internet (DSL) service provider and repeat customer, NorthPoint Communications, recently ordered 41 cakes to serve 1,131 people at 33 locations in one day. The order was delivered with all the trimmings, including party balloons. NorthPoint's gift-giver, "Steve P." wrote:

"Thank you, thank you, thank you... The event was a great success and everyone across the nation loved the cakes and were very pleased with the service. You've done, once again, a terrific job, and NorthPoint appreciates you and all of Cakes Across America. Thanks again. I look forward to working with you again the near future..."

On yet another very fine day, Cakes took the Pepsi challenge and won. PepsiCo Bottling Group celebrated the one-year anniversary of its initial public offering in May 1.

"The president called and ordered cakes for all their bottling plants across America. We ultimately served 37,000 at 350 locations over a 2-day period," said Greene. The amount of the order was in excess of $60,000, "dollars that were put into the baking industry," she was quick to add.

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Building the net(work)
In Cake's national network, the bakers are the retail equivalent of contract manufacturers and Cakes is the brand marketer. If the business takes off, it can turn retailers into not-just local shops.

The idea is to have a retail baker in every corner of the map across the nation—and then some.

How does the service work for retailers? CAA says that by joining as a member in its national network marketing service, it will bring in new business, provide processing for the transactions and absorb the risk of bad debts, freeing the baker to what he or she does best: bake. The company passes on completed orders for the cake deliveries in the local area and pays by company check or credit card the day the order is placed.

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Retailer membership, pricing
There are different levels of membership that correspond to the level of orders a bakery can expect to receive. These levels range from those who let CAA know they're out there, to those who fill out a membership form to those who pay a fee. The price is now being set, but it's reported to be very low.

In terms of generating revenue, CAA wants to ensure that pricing is competitive, but doesn't ask retailers to mark-down their custom creations—instead, prices to the customer come as a package deal. There is a minimum order amount of $45 for cake and delivery. Utensils and accessories are sold at additional cost. Examples of popular items sold through the network include:

• $45 The Round – A two layer round cake serving approximately 10-12 people
• $55 The Quarter – A quarter of a sheet cake serving approximately 15-20 people
• $70 The Half – A half of a sheet cake serving approximately 30-40 people
• $115 The Full – A full sheet cake serving approximately 70-80 people

Custom shapes and sizes are available in most areas, with special pricing considerations for consumers or businesses with extraordinary theme cakes.

For full company information, web links and request-for-information functions, click to visit the Storefront of Cakes Across America.

Or, contact Cakes Across America at P. O. Box 1717 Flagler Beach, FL 32136; Telephone (800) 422-5387 or (904) 439-3311; fax (904) 439-4411; or email cakes@cakesacrossamerica.com using the below link to forward this article with your request for information.