Sunday, August 31, 2008
Food
Bake Me A Wish
A cake helps set the tone of any party..
Photos/Courtesy of Bake me a Wish
Josh Kaye, founding president, Bake Me A Wish
By Hope S. Philbrick
A cake helps set the tone of any party, whether it’s to celebrate a birthday, a retirement or a wedding. And so when we heard American-made cakes can be shipped anywhere in the world—including to soldiers serving in Iraq—we had to learn more. Josh Kaye, founder and president of Bake Me A Wish, recently spilled the details.
Q How did Bake Me A Wish get started?
A I started Bake Me A Wish in 2004. I’d had a successful diamond business, but decided that I wanted something more personal but still within the gifting industry. I partnered with a bakery in New York, and started the company with a focus on corporate gifts and casinos’ VIP gifts. In early 2006, I brought the company online and it’s come along quite nicely: Currently, we ship probably 60,000 cakes a year.
The origins for the idea of this company are really quite personal. I grew up in a very difficult background and never got to enjoy that birthday party like other kids; we were financially challenged, and there was no chance for a big party with a big cake. I started with the great idea that people could send a cake to a loved one no matter where they are. At the time I started, there was nothing else like it online, and I saw it as an alternative to sending flowers.
The name of the company, Bake Me A Wish, is a play off the nursery rhyme “Bake me a cake.” We sell gourmet cakes and ship them around the world. But it’s not even really about the cake as much as about the sentiment behind it, the wish and the feeling that you want the recipient to feel good, appreciated and remembered.
What’s your most popular cake?
Anything chocolate sells well. The chocolate mousse torte cake is king. Cookies and cream is also very popular.
We have just one exclusive bakery partner who does the cakes for us and 15 flavors are exclusive just to us. Some of our cake flavors are often difficult to find elsewhere, such as red velvet—in the south there may be a proliferation of red velvet cakes, but it’s much more difficult to find in the north. Our cakes are really tasty, in-demand flavors that you can ship anywhere.
What is “Operation Birthday Cake”?
Almost two years ago, someone called to ask if we could ship to a soldier serving in Iraq. At first I didn’t think it could be possible; our cakes are frosted and we need to ship overnight or two-day for fresh delivery within the United States. But I know how appreciated people feel when they receive a cake and I wanted soldiers to feel the same way, so I started thinking about how we’d be able to do it. I came up with some cakes that can last through an extended 14-day shipment (which is what it takes to get over to the military), like the double fudge crunch cake and our brownie cakes. I gave it a try and it was successful. About one and a half years ago, we officially launched “Operation Birthday Cake” to ship cakes to soldiers, and Anderson Cooper did a feature about it on CNN.
I partnered with Soldiers’ Angels, an online organization for U.S. military personnel, which provides us with 75 to 100 names each month for us to send cakes to as a gift from us. But, as much as we’d like to, we can’t afford to help everyone, since there are 100,000 deployed in Iraq. So we get help from people around the country who sponsor cakes for soldiers as well. Anyone can order one and help that way.
We use 5 percent of all of our online revenues toward shipping more cakes to soldiers. The more revenue we have, the more we can ship. We’d like to see all soldiers receive a cake on their birthday. SP
To order a cake or learn more about Bake Me A Wish, call toll-free 888-YUR-WISH or visit www.bakemeawish.com.