Cupcake Royale

Make your day happy

Trends come and go, and for the longest time, financial success meant large scale and low-cost ingredients. Now we're in an era where using local products, being good to the earth, and finding your passion can pay off. And that is where the story of Jody Hall, owner of Cupcake Royale, begins (for us).

Jody worked in operations at Starbucks, moving into marketing and music. She loved the coffee aspect, yet as the company grew, she wanted to go back to hand-crafted coffee. She put together a business plan for a coffee shop named Verite Coffee ("truth in" coffee), and found herself at the beginning of the hand-crafted coffee craze we know and love. She opened in Madrona in 2003, and began thinking about doing something unique to go with the coffee. Off to New York for an inspirational trip, she found Magnolia Bakery and beautifully-frosted, hand-crafted cupcakes, reminiscent of the days when people made things from scratch. She headed home and found her grandmother's cake recipes. Cupcakes were hand-made at the shop, about 100 a day. An article in The Seattle Times shot that number to 1,000. It was the birth of Cupcake Royale, the first cupcake bakery café on the West Coast.

In Portland, she met a guy named Duane Sorenson who said he roasted coffee; she said she baked cupcakes. They decided they should know each other. Verite/Cupcake Royale was Stumptown's first account in Seattle, and is still found in all Cupcake Royale's locations.

The Ballard location opened in 2004. While the change from Verite to Cupcake Royale in Madrona changed nothing (cupcakes sell, but locals still refer to it as their coffee shop), it was a total reversal in Ballard. There were lines out the door for cupcakes. "In the beginning, the first cupcakes looked a little like a kindergartener frosted them; we didn't have expertise," says Nicki Kerbs, Director of Operations, who has been with the company five years. "Jody was in the shop one day when a woman walked in and said she was looking for work. Jody found out she'd worked at Magnolia Bakery. She started immediately, created the wonderful swirl of frosting, and stayed for eight years. Our sayings and tag lines often come from employees, and one day she had frosted so many cupcakes, she told a roommate that she felt like a 'frostitute.' Her roommate said they should legalize frostitution. It's now printed on our boxes."

Jody Hall (left) and Nicki Kerbs (right) outside Queen Anne location

West Seattle opened in 2006, Capitol Hill in 2009 (their flagship store), Bellevue in 2010, Queen Anne in 2014, and downtown Seattle near the Market in 2012. "We had a short-term lease in Bellevue. It was an old IHOP, and we turned it into a Swiss chalet cupcake shack. The building was torn down two years ago (cupcake-aholics can order in advance and pick up at Pagliacci Pizza). Capitol Hill was very meaningful to Jody. Being a lesbian business owner, it has meant a lot to have a store there and get support from the neighborhood. Queen Anne is our kids store, with a child-sized table and chairs. Our approach to stores is thoughtful. We want to be in neighborhoods, and create community."

Cupcakes were originally baked at each store, but five years ago baking was consolidated at the Capitol Hill location. "Cupcakes are made from scratch from local ingredients. We've partnered with Shepherd's Grain. They don't till, which is better for the environment, and it's not highly processed. We use cage-free organic eggs, and local growth-hormone-free dairy. Our boxes are printed to order, locally, with soy ink, and are 100% compostable. We want to do the right thing for farmers, our customers, and the planet."

Customers have asked for ice cream because 'cupcakes and ice cream are best friends.' "Once we had the 2^nd & Pine location, we started making ice cream there. That store had an existing ice cream kiosk. Now you can get ice cream in all our stores. It's the same as cupcakes: fresh and local." In addition to the stores, they do 'light wholesale," which means they pick their partners carefully. "We want the product to feel special. We sell to Metropolitan Market, cater to the private suites at CenturyLink, and serve in first class on Alaska Airlines."

The company supports the community: they have raised $10,000 for the It Gets Better project; $8,000 for the National Center for Lesbian Rights; $3,500 and over 300 toys for Mary's Place, and were part of the Save the Bee campaign. "We choose things that we can make a meaningful contribution to through our stores. We take the time to innovate, have fun, and hopefully bring joy. Over eight years ago, Jody started the Gay Cupcake, which probably raised eyebrows at the time. Now it's our most popular cupcake. We did a series of flavors with well-known chefs around town; they came up with flavor ideas and we did the research and development. Normally we have a timeline for how long a flavor will be in the stores, but our current farm fresh ice cream project is different. We go to local farms, pick the fruit, then make ice cream. Once it's gone, it's gone."

Rodeo Donut started out as something for the bakers to do, turned into a pop-up within the Ballard store, and now they're hoping to open a separate store in Ballard.

July being National Ice Cream Month (July 17 the actual day), Cupcake Royale was handpicked by Tom's of Maine to be part of the first Sustainable Ice Cream Trail. It includes 14 states that have businesses that make ice cream or gelato with no artificial ingredients, give back to the community, and source ingredients locally.

Rhubarb Rose sorbet from farm fresh ice cream project

Jody has not only created a successful business, her company of 85 employees does it by trying to do the right thing each day. "We want to be the best part of someone's day; that's our mission."

Capitol Hill
108 Pike St
Seattle, WA 98122
206-701-9579

Ballard
2052 NW Market St
Seattle, WA 98107
206-701-6238

Madrona
1101 34^th Ave
Seattle, WA 98122
206-701-6240

West Seattle
4556 California Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98116
206-701-6266

Downtown Seattle
108 Pine St
Seattle, WA 98101
206-443-8674

Queen Anne
1935 Queen Anne Ave N
Seattle, WA 98109
206-285-1447

cupcakeroyale.com

Connie Adams/July 2016