Today we’d like to introduce you to Celine Marie.
Celine, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
San Dimas Cake Co. was inspired and developed by my daughter and I. While I carry the creative and artistic talents, my daughter has a hand for baking. “Baking is what we do best! At first, baking was a hobby and a time for bonding. We would share our little creations with our friends and family. As time went on we would get calls for birthdays and other events. We were baking so much!” I then decided to go full force and turn the shared hobby into a business. I came up with a business name of came Mi Dolce Vita Cupcakery (meaning My Sweet Life) from the Italian quote, “Mi Bella Vita.” I also wanted to teach my daughter a sense of real responsibility of the real world by working hard, saving money while doing something she loved. It was not to long after that my daughter slowly felt that this was not what she wanted to do. But, I was not done building my empire.
The community is where I would turn to next. I started to get involved with city events all over Los Angeles County such as cheer competitions, holiday events, spring and summer events and large conventions. All the while being supported by my family and having my daughter by my side.
I knew I wanted to take this passion further. I wanted a store front or a studio. I struggled with how I would do this. I didn’t have a lot of money. Honestly, I just prayed about it and continued to do my thing. This may sound weird but I had a dream. In my dream I seen a pink and white store. I didn’t know where it would be or how much this would cost. I just knew that this was my goal. As I worked towards this things just fell into place.
After 3 years of hard work I opened our first store front in San Dimas. It was so rewarding. However, it was just a storefront. I didn’t have a kitchen though. I needed a kitchen. For a year-and-a-half I was renting and baking out of someone else’s commercial kitchen. I’m paying 2 rents! I was commuting our product from the kitchen to the store every morning sometimes twice a day. On weekends it was even worse. We were commuting cakes! It was frustrating. I always knew something else would open up and I would be able to have a complete Bakery of my own. And then it happened. Today I have a beautiful storefront and bakery together!
Has it been a smooth road?
I don’t think building a business ever is smooth for anyone. You’re always going to have struggles. My biggest struggle was my relationship with my husband. It was financial! I was a stay at home mom trying to build a business with one income being his. Even though I was making money, I was saving all the money we earned. Under no circumstances was I going to use this money. I had a goal set and I was not going to let anyone take this away from me. It was somewhat being selfish. But I wanted to do this for my family. I had to. I just figured the struggle was being misinterpreted for sacrifice. That has been my biggest struggle.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with San Dimas Cake Co. – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
San Dimas Cake Specializes in gourmet cupcakes, cookies and Custom Cakes. All of our recipe development is rooted to are American, southern and Hispanic culture. We are a scratch Bakery and only use high quality ingredients to produce our flavors. There are not many “scratch” bakeries around anymore. Most bakeries will buy their products already pre-made. I refuse! You will not find a bucket of frosting, feelings, chocolate in our Bakery. We use fresh fruit (unless the fruit is not in season) to make all of our fillings. Butter -butter -butter is our biggest staple.
We have a few flavors that our customers love!! I’d have to say that our Lemon Berry Cheesecake Cupcake is our biggest seller and most requested. Then we have two other flavors that are only available once a year being Butterscotch Poppyseed and maple cake, as well as our Southern Buttered Pineapple Cake. Yummm!
Customer service is what sets us apart from other bakeries. We want to give you that Homestyle vibe. We want to make you feel at home and like you’re part of the family. I think consumers miss that these days.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Los Angeles is a beautiful city. There’s so much color, tradition and beauty! You don’t have to go very far for anything. If you can’t afford to travel to a different country you can probably just go down the street and you’ll feel like you have. You don’t have to go to India to eat authentic Indian food. You don’t have to go to Mexico to eat delicious authentic Mexican food either and so on. It’s all here. We are so blessed to be a part of this LA life.
There really isn’t much I can think of that I least like about the city. But if I had to choose, I would say change. We need to change how we treat each other, how we take care of our city. We need to come together to make Los Angeles better community and continue to instill values to our youth.
I’m glad that I can help out doing this by being a business owner. Our future is our youth. I can hire anybody I want that is going to help my business grow. But I get gratification by being able to give someone less fortunate an opportunity that maybe somebody else wouldn’t. If I could change just a small piece of their life then I think I’ve done my job in that makes me so happy.
Pricing:
- Cakes start as low as $35
- Cupcakes start as low as $4
- We offer cake decorating classes too. Starting at $99
Contact Info:
- Address: 156 W Bonita Ave., San Dimas, CA. 91773
- Website: Www.Sandimascakeco.com
- Phone: 9095996444
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @SanDimasCakeCo
- Facebook: @SanDimasCakeCo
- Yelp: San Dimas Cake https://yelp.to/qTKq/yhKAMUOcOP
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
