Cupcake Baker of the Week: Arleen Scavone, Sweet Arleen's Cupcakes & Bread Puddings

When Arleen Scavone’s banking job became a victim of the economic downturn, she decided it was the perfect opportunity to follow her dreams. After 30 years in the financial industry, Arleen turned her lifelong passion for baking into Sweet Arleen’s Cupcakes & Bread Puddings, and never looked back. Read on to learn how Arleen started her business, her advice to other cupcake shop owners, and how Sweet Arleen’s took home their Cupcake Wars title.

Arleen Scavone
Location: Westlake Village, CA
Website: http://www.sweetarleens.com/

1. How did you get started baking cupcakes?
   I started baking cupcakes, cookies, and cakes with my mom and sister when I was about 5. Baking and being in the kitchen has always been my passion. But I got serious about creating gourmet style cupcakes about 4 years ago when I was considering opening a bakery. They seemed like the perfect boutique comfort product at an affordable price into today's economy. 
2. Do you have any formal training? 
   No, I took years of cooking and baking classes in school many years ago and learned some invaluable lessons in baking, but I am a banker by trade and a baker by desire. 
3. What other kinds of products do you offer at your shop? 
   Bread puddings - sweet and now savory, all paired with the perfect sauces. Cakes made from our cupcake recipes, for birthdays, weddings, or just because. We offer our peanut brittle, from our Cupcake Wars Season 1 winning cupcake, Popcorn, Peanut & Candy. We also offer gluten free line of cupcakes, cakes, bread pudding and our peanut brittle is gluten free. 
4. Do you have a signature cupcake, or a personal favorite?
   Sweet Arleens’ two signatures are the Red Velvet Cupcake and our French Toast and Praline Bread Pudding. I am very proud of both of the flavors, layers and that “not too sweet” balance in both. My cream cheese icing is the best, it has a secret ingredient that softens that "sweet" cream cheese taste and texture. I created the French Toast Bread Pudding because my kids growing up loved french toast for breakfast, but I dreaded standing in front of the griddle turning a few slices at a time. This bread pudding can be made in a jumbo size serving 9 to 11. I use real maple syrup, brown sugar, and toasted pecans - breakfast anytime! 
5. What lead you to open your own business? 
   Dream it, do it, or move on - I dreamt about opening my own "foodie" suite for friends, family, and anyone that wanted to come and eat. My personal kitchen is always filled with food, that's how I grew up. We wouldn't cook just one entree but maybe chicken and some fish and pasta on the side....just to make sure there was plenty for all. I love being in the kitchen and sharing my creations with anyone who will come and try. So with the banking industry going into a tail spin, after 30 some years in senior management roles in the largest financial institutions, I was laid off. I believed this was a sign that it was my time to "do it" to build a business for me, after helping so many in their business needs for so many years. After about a year of financial planning, product planning, and sales planning - my husband and I secured a prime location in Westlake Village and about 6 months later Sweet Arleen's opened it's doors. 
6. How did you get involved with Cupcake Wars? 
   About 3 months after we were open, SuperDelicious, their Production Company, called the store. A producer had tasted our cupcakes, and I was asked to come in and audition. They recorded some footage of an interview Julia and I did at their studio and they sent it to Food Network. About a week later they called and said, “You are on Cupcake Wars!” 
7. How did you prepare going into the show? 
   The one advantage I may have above my competitors is being an expert “project manager.” Just give me a beginning and an end and I will lay out all of the steps to achieve a successful outcome.
   
   First, we focused on a must win product for round 1 – over the top, we agreed to use as many ingredients as we possible could – over achieve the requirement to incorporate 1 or 2. I’m sure we must get more points for using more of those secret ingredients. Second, practice makes perfect and practice we did. Crazy stuff – we timed ourselves beginning to end to think, create, measure, mix, bake, fill, ice and of course – decorate. Third, we talked through everything that could go wrong. Knowing and planning in advance for the possible disasters just makes us stronger and more confident competitors – the final edge in any competition. Ready, set – go to set! 
8. What did you do with the winnings? 
   Honestly, there's a lot of costs to just participate so much of the winnings just covered what we spent, but the remaining amount went to signage for our Delivery Vehicle, our Range Rover. 
9. How has appearing on Cupcake Wars impacted your business and/or life? 
   I never thought of myself as a celebrity but it was quite an eye opener how many people recognized me everywhere I went, using my name ... "Arleen we saw you on Cupcake Wars!" I continue today to take photos and sign autographs on my menus for customers. Our business definitely benefited. We know when they air repeats as our lobby traffic and telephone calls always spike. 
10. What is the best business advice you've ever gotten? 
    Capital is king!” Many small businesses fail as they don't have enough capital set aside for the unplanned and unexpected - and you need to reinvest in the business all the time to grow it, develop it and market it - so whatever you think you need set aside to start your business, add to it! 
11. Any advice you wish someone had given you before you started?
    Be very clear, precise, and committed to what your product will be, why it will sell, and who will buy it. I stayed very focused and narrow in just cupcakes and bread puddings to start. We added flavors in both and cakes as we grew. We stay true to our brand - boutique comfort for all to enjoy. I believe staying focused and narrow on our original vision has disciplined me and my team to make good decisions when tempted with diversions. Diversions can be fun but also costly, and distracts from primary product focus. New product, new distribution strategy, new marketing should all align and extend your brand not compete with it. 
12. What’s the most difficult aspect of running your own business?
    Staffing - finding and retaining those that are as loyal, committed, and as passionate as I am to my product and the quality standards I have for delivering to our customers each and every time. We have very high standards for product quality, presentation, packaging, and service. I'm constantly in the back of the house and front to inspect what I expect and course correct with staff when appropriate processes or service levels are missed. But we have some of the best staff out there, they just need ongoing training and coaching and they look to me and our management team to facilitate strong communications between all roles. 
13. Do you work with original recipes? How do you come up with those? 
    Most all are those I spent creating and testing in the first year of planning. Some newer recipes Julia and staff have contributed to. I come up with most of my creations by seeing flavors combined in another form of dessert in cooking magazines and books such as cheesecakes, pies, cookies - and I think "hmm can I make a cupcake or bread pudding with these ingredients"? 
14. How do you market yourself? 
    Coming from a lot of years in sales and marketing in the financial services industry, I truly appreciate the value of product placement, packaging, positioning, and promotion. I use a balance of select advertising, publicity/PR opportunities, in-store merchandising, banners and exterior posters, participation in key events, charity functions and schools/community donations, website, social media, and direct mail. I also used coupon marketing when we got started to create initial awareness of our store. 
15. How does social media play a role in your business?
    Personally, I don't tweet or facebook, but Sweet Arleen's does and our fans love it! We have weekly winners that come into the store for their free cupcake. We have re-tweets and fans posting after their wedding or event where Sweet Arleen's was the dessert. Social media is a central strategy of our marketing plan. We are launching our cupcake and bread pudding MOBILE in just a few weeks and social media will be our primary marketing strategy - where can you find Sweet Arleen's in your neighborhood? 
16. Any goals for expanding your store? 
    We are currently expanding with our mobile unit, shipping, opening on Sundays, adding Savory Bread Puddings this summer and looking at additional store fronts in the near future. 
17. Any cupcake horror stories? 
    I can't think of any horror stories but it's amazing how many chocolate, vanilla and red velvet cupcakes we tested and tasted to select the perfect ones. My family would say the only horror story was waking up every Saturday and Sunday morning with dozens, I mean dozens of cupcakes on the counter that they knew I was just waiting for them to taste! It may not sound horrible but this was every weekend for over a year, I'm surprised they still enjoy a cupcake today! 

Thanks, Arleen! Stay tuned for the next Cupcake Baker of the Week. Leave us questions, feedback, and suggestions for future bakers in the comments below, or e-mail Jackie at cupcakestakethecake@gmail.com with the subject "Hey Jackie! Meet this Cupcake Baker!"