Syracuse, N.Y. — Owning a bakery kept Kadesha Carter grounded. In fact, it kept her chained ... to her kitchen, and that’s exactly what she didn’t want.
For five years, Carter sold designer cakes from her brick-and-mortar shop on Syracuse’s Near West. She got so busy that she would also sell her desserts out of the trunk of her Honda SUV.
“I love to travel, but I love to bake. But I felt trapped running an actual bakery,” she said. “I needed to figure out a way to satisfy my creative side, make money and still be able to travel. And I think I finally figured it out.”
Carter’s solution—Cupcakes R Me—opens today. She’s given up an actual store for a vending machine that dispenses her homemade cupcakes, mini layer cakes, cookies and brownie bites.
The pink dispensary is located in the lobby of the office building at 404 Oak St. It officially goes online at 4 p.m. Aside from Carter’s baked goods, she also will be selling traditional candy bars for $1.50, bottled water and soda.
Carter shelled out about $2,000 for the refrigerated machine and had it re-wrapped with her custom logo. It’s equipped to take cash, credit cards and Apple Pay. It also will keep the merchandise at a cool 35 degrees, long enough to keep the cakes fresh for a few days.
The Cupcakes R Me vending machine the day before being stocked for the first time. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)Charlie Miller
The ATM for sweet-tooths will be stocked with strawberry and chocolate brownie bites, cheesecake bites and bags of mini chocolate chip or sugar cookies. Those are $3 each. Carter also will stuff half-pint jars with mini cakes, such as layered strawberry cheesecake and banana pudding cakes. Those go for $5.
“I’m basically selling the products that did well in my shop, but they’re modified and repackaged to work in a vending machine,” she said. “You’re not going to find a basic vanilla cupcake in my inventory.”
Carter, who grew up on the city’s South Side and graduated from Henninger High School, is self-taught. She occasionally baked cakes for company gatherings and then for private parties. Her unique flavor combinations were an instant hit, and friends urged her to go into business.
Cakes for grown-up parties that incorporated liquor became her most popular. You can get a visual taste of them on her Instagram page.
Carter, who just turned 28, rents kitchen space in a church near Syracuse University for $15 per hour to make her desserts. The vending machine will send her analytics on what sells well so she can prepare more throughout the week.
If this venture takes off, Carter hopes to expand to other office buildings in Syracuse and perhaps move into Rochester and Buffalo.
“It’s risky, but I’m confident this will satisfy a need out there,” she said. “I want to inspire other young people to take chances like this.”
Charlie Miller finds the best in food, drink and fun across Central New York. Contact him at (315) 382-1984, or by email at cmiller@syracuse.com. You can also find him under @HoosierCuse on Twitter and on Instagram. Sign up for his free weekly Where Syracuse Eats newsletter here.
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