The long and winding road to the 80Cakes Cake Studio

I wanted to share some pictures of my beautiful in-home cake studio. I’d like to thank the wonderful team at D. Romano Construction who made my dream a reality.

Many of my close friends and family know just how long it took me to open my business, but for everyone else I thought I would share some of the journey.

I’ve always been an avid baker, but back in early 2004 I discovered that I had a skill for cake decorating as well. It wasn’t long before I started dreaming about opening my own business. I first learned to cake decorate while living in Virginia. Cake decorating is very big there, probably because the state allows cake decorating businesses to be run out of your home.

In late 2006 I moved to NJ for my job, along with my fiance (now my hubby). Between planning our wedding and buying our first house the dream of opening a business was put on hold for a while. Once things settled I started planning again. To my dismay I discovered that running a cake decorating business out of your home is not so easy in NJ. I considered opening a store front, but that is a big step, and finding the right space was difficult. After talking with the health department I decided to go for it and try building a commercial kitchen in our basement.

I started the whole process in early 2009. I spent a lot of time planning out the space to make it as functional as possible. Then I had to find a contractor willing to take on such a challenge. I was lucky to find Dave, owner of D. Romano Construction in Washington, NJ.

The next step, getting the permits approved, took a very long time. I couldn’t have done it without the help of Dave. He worked very closely with the construction office to make sure everything was done to code. One might say, “isn’t that what always happens?” However, this was the first time someone tried to build a commercial kitchen in their home, so it was not so straightforward. By the time construction was complete we were able to pass all the inspections without any problems.

It took about a year and a half from initial planning to officially opening for business, but the trip was definitely worth it. Around the world in 80 Cakes started in 2009, officially opened in July 2010, and as of February 2011 I quit my full time job so I could spend 100% of my time running the business.

Peace, Love, and Cake…