Asking new business owner Clarissa Garcia if she misses her former life as a teacher is like asking Winter Texans if they miss the ice and snow.
In September, Garcia opened Sweet Escapes Cupcakery with her sister Sandra and brother-in-law Joe Trevino in Weslaco. Garcia combined her lifelong love of baking with administrative skills learned while teaching and the business aptitudes she picked up from a business her parents had run. She researched regional and state cupcake sellers to determine the average price for the products.
“I determined what would be the best price I could offer to customers and be fair to myself, too.”
Garcia is Sweet Escapes’ chief baker, and Trevino is the public face of the company who is out developing sales. Sandra Garcia splits her working hours between the bakery and part-time employment as a physical therapist.
“We’ve all pitched in equally,” Clarissa Garcia said. “That’s why it’s not just me or my sister. Everybody has their part to play. It takes the three of us” and their complementary skills.
Last summer Sweet Escapes Cupcakery tested the waters and got their name out by selling cupcakes during Weslaco’s Movies in the Park series. Their small shop along the Expressway frontage at the Westgate exit gave them a place to showcase their picture-perfect treats. Sweet Escapes rotates through a menu of 50 flavors and displays the beautifully decorated, large pastries on tiered plates underneath chandeliers topped with cupcake candles.
Garcia slid a single scrumptious cupcake to-go into a form-fitting clear plastic shell. Multiple cupcakes orders are carefully nestled into Tiffany blue boxes. The favorite flavor of the moment is red velvet, followed closely by anything with strawberries.
Cupcakes may be old-fashioned, but the business owners chose a new way of rewarding their frequent customers. After verifying the usefulness of Square Wallet, Garcia selected that Android and iPhone app over a paper-card rewards system. Square Wallet gives customers a mobile method of payment (swiping the screen to link to debit and credit cards) and also tracks their purchases and the rewards due for repeat purchases. As customers work their way through the menu of pineapple delight, chocolate turtle, luscious lemon, s’mores, Mississippi mud pie, orange creamsicle, carrot cake, rocky road and the many candy bar-based cupcakes, they accumulate rewards. While customers have been heard to say, ‘It’s so pretty I don’t even want to eat it,’ they do eventually sink their teeth into them. Eaten on the premises, cupcakes include a free coffee.
Another bakery innovation is the adults-only Cocktail cupcake, which contains small amounts of alcohol in the cupcakes and the frosting. Available for the big kids on Friday, cocktail cupcake flavors include margarita, pina colada, strawberry daiquiri, blue Hawaiian and pineapple amaretto.
Cupcakes and kids have always been a happy mix. Sweet Escapes not only makes birthday cakes of cupcakes and a cake that looks like a giant cupcake, the owners can help the parents put on a cupcake party.
To read more of this story by Eileen Mattei, pick up a copy of the February edition of Valley Business Report, on news stands now, or visit the “Current & Past Issues” tab on this Web site.