Specialty Bakery Expands onto Internet

Retail bakers are always looking for new ideas for marketing products. One gift food company is building a niche by moving its marketing efforts beyond the store and onto the World Wide Web.

Creative Cakery, a Long Beach, CA.-based retail cake bakery has expanded its personal and corporate gift-giving business to the Internet. Now, it can't keep up with the demand for its specialty bundt-shaped cakes at its corporate and franchise locations.

"Everyone is tired of the same old cookie and candy gifts. We offer a new and different way to please that special someone or to celebrate an occasion," says Patty Newkirk, owner and co-founder. "Since we deliver locally and anywhere throughout the United States, it was natural to make our specialty cakes available through the Internet."

The Creative Cakery web site at www.creative-cakery.com offers colorful, high-resolution photos of the dozens of specialty cakes for all occasions so the consumer can see exactly what the product looks like. Customers then can order individualized, custom cakes by clicking a few buttons and filling in a simple form.

"We also can help customers design a custom-made cake that fits each person's personality or that highlights the special joy of the occasion," explains Laurie Newkirk, one of the two daughters who co-founded the cakery business with their mother.

The specialty bundt-shaped cakes are made from the firm's own custom recipes and then frosted, stacked and decorated with ribbons, toys, and miniature props designed to celebrate any special occasion. The cakes are available in seven different flavors, including chocolatey-chocolate chip, lemon, carrot, French vanilla, poppy seed, banana-butterscotch chip and crumb coffee cake. Cakes are available in five sizes from an individual "Just For You" serving to a large cake that serves 18 to 24 people.