Business Spotlight: HappyCakes Cupcakery

After entering and winning Food Network’s Cupcake Wars competition in October 2013, the “Happy Bakers” started selling their all-natural cupcakes out of a friend’s restaurant in downtown Morehead City, NC. They opened their own storefront in May 2014 and continue to serve lines of hungry customers while giving back to the community.

Video Transcript

Angela Diaz: We have so many flavors. We have about 50 flavors so we have to alternate. We do a monthly calendar and, of course, we do surprise flavors. The most specialty one we do is Strawberry Bacon French Toast cupcake.

Angela Diaz: I’m Angela Diaz and I’m one of the owners here at HappyCakes Cupcakery.

Angela Diaz: We do not use any food colorings. We didn’t use any artificial flavors. Everything we do is all-natural.

Angela Diaz: We applied for Cupcake Wars in April of 2013. Got a call in May that we had been accepted. We couldn’t even tell people we were on the show. So we filmed in June, came back…could not even tell people why we were in L.A. until a week before the show. Then we were allowed to announce “Hey, our show’s airing next week.”

Angela Diaz: A friend of ours owned a restaurant in downtown Morehead so we worked out a deal with him. Open there just a few hours, 4 days a week. Our show aired on a Saturday, we opened on a Monday, and we were like, “What the heck, let’s just do 500 cupcakes.” I thought it was too much and we sold out in 2 hours. And then that Saturday, we did 1,000 cupcakes and we sold out in, like, an hour and 45 minutes.

Angela Diaz: We’d been open for 3 weeks. I was in the back, my daughter was up front there behind the counter, and we just heard this explosion. So, I ran out not expecting to see a car all the way up there. It’s just stuff, it can all be replaced. Everybody’s okay. This isn’t going to stop us.

Angela Diaz: My daughter-in-law, the one who started the business, Kaylee. She is now in charge of all the social media, emails, all that stuff. All the promotions. She just is constantly promoting us on Facebook, having contests, letting people know what we’re about.

Angela Diaz: From the very beginning, we wanted to go with a vintage look. We all love old movies and old music and all that stuff. And then we loved the industrial look. “Okay, we want brick on the wall back there and we want Edison bulbs.” We wanted a really cozy spot where people can come in and sit and have a cup of coffee, or tea, and cupcake. Where they could feel relaxed and at home.