Cakes bring a smile to the faces of all who encounter them, and that in turn brings a smile to the owner and founder of Sweetdreams Custom Cakes, Janelle Joyeux. Originally from Laborie, Joyeux has delighted her customers with the highest quality cakes for about a decade. Though the business is based at her Corinth home, it often takes her to every part of our lovely island. Joyeux sat down with Businessweek to discuss the unique flavour her business has brought to the island’s cake baking industry.
What inspired you to start the business?
Joyeux: Actually, my daughter’s been my inspiration. When I had her 14 years ago, I wanted to make sure she had a better life and so I started with her first birthday cake. I built up from there. She’s motivated me to just push forward.
What got you into cake baking?
Joyeux: I come from a family of bakers. When I started I literally learnt how to do what we call fondant in half an hour from my aunt.
How did you come up with the name?
Joyeux: When I think about a cake, it’s one of the things that makes you happy. Usually when you have sweet dreams, you wake up and you’re always in a smiley mood; so that’s where the name comes from.
Is there any cake that’s the same as one you’ve done before?
Joyeux: I try my best never to use the same cake twice. Sometimes you can’t avoid it because when styles are trending, people actually go for the same things but I always try to make them different. But most of the time customising cakes is based on clients, and on what’s trending.
What are the reviews like?
Joyeux: They’re great! I have an average review score of 4.9 out of 5 on Facebook.
What flavours do you bake?
Joyeux: I am not a plain person, so my flavours are not plain. I offer basic flavours but my listing includes vanilla, orange and lemon. I also bake cakes like lemon basil, which is a signature flavour that I have. I do strawberry, carrot, banana nut; sometimes I try mixing and matching flavours like an orange spice, which is an orange cake with regular spices. It tastes really good.
How much demand is there for your product?
Joyeux: There are times when things are slow but you have to know how to balance. There are particular months, like August, you find are slow because parents are preparing for school. July is usually a heavy wedding month so that’s where the balance comes in. Christmas is also a heavy cake season but in January, February and even March sometimes, things become slower.
How did you grow your customer base?
Joyeux: I started to build my clientele using social media. At the time it was Facebook. We didn’t have Instagram then. When I started to post pictures on Facebook, I got inquiries. While building my brand, my quality and consistency grew and I began improving upon my craft. So word of mouth has also helped spread the word.
How are sales going?
Joyeux: As I said before, it depends on the season. On a busy weekend I can sell up to eight cakes.
Your cakes, how much do they cost?
Joyeux: Because my cakes are custom, there’s a wide price range. A basic cake can go anywhere from EC$145 and, based on many factors, it can go for more. Time spent, gas used, electricity, transportation and ingredients all play a role in determining price.
Do you deliver the cakes yourself?
Joyeux: Wedding cakes excepting, I provide two options. I do deliveries islandwide but that comes at a fee. And also customers have the option to pick up the cakes themselves. I don’t allow wedding couples to pick up their cakes because of the occasion. I don’t want anything to go wrong.
Do you employ any staff?
Joyeux: No I don’t. It’s just my partner and me, and before that it was just me.
Do you see the business growing to the point where you would need staff?
Joyeux: I would like the business to grow beyond what it is now but, because of our state of affairs in Saint Lucia, it’s kind of difficult to see where it’s going in terms of expanding. I’d have to look into producing other things besides cakes. For instance, I do buttercream, so that’s one of the things I’m looking at in terms of expanding.
If you’d like to purchase one or more custom baked cakes, you can contact Sweetdreams Cakes on 485 6465 or via its Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/sweetdreamscustomc
