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02/05/13
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November 08, 2011
30 and under
BY EUSH TAYCO
A Future in Frosting
Sweet Patti Cakes doesn’t just sell cupcakes, it sells “tiny works of art that have the ultimate sweet treat appeal.” Started, owned, and operated by Patti Grandidge, the business serves up artisan cupcakes baked fresh in her home.
The 24-year-old Pepperdine alumna moved back to the Philippines after graduating in 2009 with the intent to start her own cupcake business in Manila. “I knew I was moving back, and I knew I was going to be doing something with food, so I narrowed it down to dessert, then decided on cupcakes,” Ms. Grandidge explained in a phone interview. “I wanted to scale down and then take it step by step.”
Prior to returning to the Philippines, she interned at Sprinkles, a famous Beverly Hills cupcake bakery, for six months. She also took a baking and pâtisserie class to see if she wanted a career in that industry, but most of her baking comes from her personal experience.
Ms. Grandidge used these experiences along with careful planning to start Sweet Patti Cakes, which opened in May 2010. “I dove right into starting the business. I had to do my research, get familiar with the landscape, meet with suppliers. And I had to make sure that people know about me and my business,” she said.
To this end, Ms. Grandidge used the Internet and social media extensively. She set up a Web site where customers can see the menu and place their orders. Using the interactivity of Twitter and Facebook, she made posts on those social networks about Sweet Patti Cakes. She also started gifting cupcakes to friends, hoping that they would tweet about it and share the products with their friends.
Soon enough, Sweet Patti Cakes captured public attention and enjoyed the patronage of customers all over the Metro, including local celebrities. It is now one of the most popular cupcake bakeries in Manila.
Despite its reach, Sweet Patti Cakes remains a home-run business. Ms. Grandidge runs it entirely from her home with an assistant, and all the cupcakes are baked fresh to order, for customers to pick up.
“We use quality ingredients and we don’t compromise on them, because we know if we put out good products, people will come to us." She uses real lemons in her cupcakes, for example, and only original Nutella.
From these quality ingredients, Sweet Patti Cakes offers 10 different flavors for every palate: Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter, Banana Bliss, Lotsa Lemon, Seriously Chocolate, Vanilla Manila, Mad About Mocha, Coco Cabana, Rock My Swirl (strawberry and raspberry), Nanatella (banana and Nutella), and Lemon Colada. There are also two flavors Ms. Grandidge will roll out soon: carrot and cookie dough.
To come up with these flavors, she takes some from experience and invents the rest. "My mom's been doing the banana recipe forever. The simpler flavors are the ones I've been doing with my family, and the newer flavors are our experiments."
In addition to baking, Ms. Grandidge just started a hosting gig with ETC's new short-format program, Etcetera. But, this hasn't affected her work with Sweet Patti Cakes, which she considers her passion. Right now, she is considering plans for expansion and perhaps moving to a bigger space, but nothing is decided yet.
"I took the time to have my business set in place, so I would love it to run without me having to be there every single day. I know it takes time, but Sweet Patti Cakes is something I want to expand and grow."
New Media Group
Raul L. Locsin Building I
95 Balete Drive Extension,
New Manila, Quezon City,
1112 Philippines
Trunkline: (632)535-9901
Extensions: 706, 709-711
Direct Line: (632)535-9923
Fax No.: (632)535-9925
Email: New Media Group
