WHETHER YOU LOVE tantalising cupcakes or mouth-watering, creative cakes, they can be had at The Cupcake Empire.
Started by Kamell Bridgeman in February, 2015, his cakes are so moist and so delicious that one would swear somebody’s grandmother baked them.
As a matter of fact, Bridgeman told the DAILY NATION that was the assumption often made by first-time customers.
“Tell your mum I come to collect the cakes,” customers usually request of him. Then they are shocked to learn that the youngster, just 18 years old, makes such tasty treats.
In the kitchen at his Edgehill Terrace, St Thomas bakery, he pulls out ingredients to bake his latest order of a three-dimensional football jersey. Although he attended the Barbados Community College’s Hospitality Institute straight out of secondary school and graduated last October, Bridgeman essentially taught himself baking through trial and error. His teacher was dessert cookbooks and online baking tutorials.
A chef at Colony Club, his interest began at 16 while a student at PomMarine. As with most things, love was at the centre of his story.
As a Valentine’s Day gift to his then girlfriend, he thought it would be extra romantic to bake her some cupcakes. Of course, he also made some for another special lady in his life – his mother Natasha Licorish. And the baking was carried on as he made cupcakes for other family members and friends instead of buying gifts.
“Then they all tell me, ‘Kamell, these things taste good’, and that I should start a business. It took me like a week to think it over, and then it just start from there. I started to carry to school cupcakes for my friends to taste them. My close friends started supporting me and they began telling other people about it.”
At that time, he was operating the enterprise from the family’s small kitchen and the response truly shocked him. It was somewhat difficult for him trying to balance schoolwork with the fledging undertaking, and that difficulty was compounded by some self-doubt.
“It was frightening for me at first . . . . I did not expect it to be so big. I was supposed to be coming home when I feel like, doing orders, getting . . . extra money in my pocket. When it start to blow up I asked myself, ‘You could get this do?’ I questioned myself a lot because it was a lot of hard work especially because I was going to school; I had a lot of fears.
“I had many more fears than positive thoughts, like if I fail, if it don’t work out, how that would look,” the former Alleyne School student said.
As time progressed and people learnt more about the enterprise, orders began increasing exponentially. To the point that people were now ordering more than just cupcakes, they also wanted cakes. However, Bridgeman admitted, he knew nothing about covering or piping cakes.
His first cake order was his most terrifying experience.
“When I got this cake order, I was like, ‘Kamell, take this cake order or don’t take this cake order?’ And then I said I couldn’t back out, so I took it. It took me about ten tries before I got it covered properly and it still wasn’t perfect. It actually got really frustrating, so I had to leave it and come back. Then finally I got it done.
“I bought a dummy cake and I started practising covering with icing until I got better. I started to post pictures with the cake work and I decided to take cake orders. From there I got two-tier cakes and again I didn’t know what to do, but I got it done and the cake orders started to roll in,” he said.
That March, he finally emboldened himself to take his hobby further.
Luckily, he and his family were travelling around the same time, and so he decided to take the first leap by investing in more tools for the start-up.
“So when I went away, I spent all my spending money buying things for the business. A proper mixer, all my decorating stencils, pans, moulds, cutters, piping bags, measuring cups. Initially I was going to spend my money on clothes and shoes – I like to dress up and I like a lot of fashion,” he said as he burst out in loud laughter.
“But I tell myself this is the opportunity to get some of the things I need to grow the business and so I sacrificed my fashion. I am so thankful to my mother and grandmother [Grace Licorish] too, because they helped me money-wise.”
When the family returned, things got busier until Kamell eventually outgrew the kitchen. The family home was then being renovated and so Bridgeman was given his own space for the bakery and decorating studio.
His mother and grandmother facilitated the stove and a refrigerator. However, they gave him notice that he would have to make some sacrifices of his own to transform and maintain the space.
The young entrepreneur detailed how whatever money he made went back into the bakery. Also, when his friends were out partying, he was in the bakery painting walls, installing the sink, shelves and counters, and trying to transform the space.
“I [am] young too, so I want to go partying and I want to go out with my friends and stuff. That was the hardest part for me, that sacrifice. When my friends gone out I got to be home baking. I would go out with my friends; but I got to come home early because I got orders. When my friends going out cruising I am home. I didn’t mind sacrificing. Actually, I stopped going out for a while and saved my money, because I know this is what I wanted; this is what I always wanted.”
Bridgeman was too young to register The Cupcake Empire so his mother had to co-sign the business. Although the investment called for much more sacrifice than he ever envisioned, he said he has never regretted the day he took the leap.
“I told myself, ‘Kamell, you are living your dream, sacrifice a little bit and make it better because you know in the long run it will pay off’. There are a lot of people who often say they are proud of me for where I am now because I could have been like other young men. But I told myself, ‘Kamell, don’t waste yourself by going to jail or doing something you gine regret; try to make something of your life’.
“I always wanted to make something of my life and make my mother proud. I wanted to make my family proud and that is the main reason I keep pushing myself and keep my head on,” he said. (SDB Media)
