Glass of Milk Cake Company
6513 NW Barry Rd.
Kansas City, MO 64154
Owner: Amanda Phillips
Exiting the Taco Bell drive-thru, I noticed a new store front (Glass of Milk) and was immediately intrigued. I emailed the owner, Amanda Phillips, and asked for an interview. The Yelp reviews did not seem fair, so I was determined to prove them wrong. (It wasn't hard to do!) In all fairness, what could a person named Amanda ever do wrong ;)
I got to stop in today to taste a cupcake and talk to Amanda about her cute shop. The walls white and purple, dotted in white, purple and black. This theme is carried on through her website, to the deliver truck and marketing material.
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| The remains of my cupcake 'Vintage Bliss'. Vanilla cake, chocolate frosting and white chocolate savings; cradled in a chocolate brown wrapper. |
The Cake Company had their soft opening May 20-26th and their Grand Opening May 27th. For the Grand Opening, 105.1 Jack FM was onsite to promote the event. Customers were lined up out the door all the way to Beauty Brands. Kansas City loves their sweets!!! The business hasn't slowed down since the opening. The store has processed over 2,500 transactions in 3 weeks. Breaking down the numbers, that's 833 transactions/week and 119/day!!! To keep up with demand, she has hired a staff of 12 employees who slave around the clock and place an order for 2 more ovens to keep the customer's sweet tooth happy. To tell you the quality of product, they had a repeat customer come in the store while I was there.
One message that really came out of our discussion is that this is a Cake Company who happens to bake a few cupcakes to 'keep the lights on' as her husband puts it. I asked her about the buzz on the internet about the 'cupcake craze being over' and she was not at all worried since her business model is about custom cakes.
"I realized within the first week that we lived in a McDonald's society. People want their food fast, fresh and cheap. Unfortunately we do not fit into that model. Everything that comes from our kitchen is baked fresh, meaning no older than a few hours, and completely from scratch."
"I realized within the first week that we lived in a McDonald's society. People want their food fast, fresh and cheap. Unfortunately we do not fit into that model. Everything that comes from our kitchen is baked fresh, meaning no older than a few hours, and completely from scratch."
We talked a bit more about baking and I learned that the process of making a batch of cupcakes takes roughly two hours of time to produce. Time to mix, bake, cool and frost. Now I can understand the higher cost of the cupcakes. Her cupcakes come with ample frosting, unlike generic grocery cupcakes. If you count the number of cupcakes available at the time of the pictures, you will see 53 cupcakes (round up to the nearest dozen) and you have 10 hours of labor on those shelves!!!
"There are many times we have empty shelves because we have just been bought out. I encourage everyone to call ahead if there is a flavor they want."
"There are many times we have empty shelves because we have just been bought out. I encourage everyone to call ahead if there is a flavor they want."
Amanda is a hard workin' Cake maker. If you can believe it, she has 5 sons, a husband and a brand new cake company! If you're a parent, you can appreciate how much work she's putting into this Cake Company! To boot she does it all while still be super nice! I guess Amanda has found the magic to make it work. Let's hope she gets her wish for a day off at some point.
I gave Amanda the tough task of describing to me a custom cake she could make for me. All I gave her was my favorite color and that I like shiny/glittery objects. That gal did her research and a beautiful cake was described.
"If price weren't an issue and I had the time, it would be a two tiered cake. Bottom tier would be the downtown landscape of Kansas City, because that's where you live. Top tier would be painting of the dogs and cats at Wayside Waifs and then as a topper I would use your gold sparkling thing, a dog collar for Toby. Then we would probably have to auction off the whole cake to raise money for Wayside :)"
I was blown away by the research. I'm no stranger on the internet, so I'm not surprised she found that information. She really nailed my two loves...Downtown KC and animals. That just shows you how much thought she gives to each of her cakes. Cannot go wrong there. I guess the only change I'd make is to update the name of the dog I have now to Dita, as poor Toby passed 11/2009 :(. No harm though, I am enamored with my dogs and I am sure there's tons about him on the internet. I think i'd feel just like the customers on those custom cake shows if I got this cake: "I'm too afraid to eat such a beautiful cake."
I'd like to thank Amanda for her time and being polite enough to answer all my questions. GL in your business!
I'd like to thank Amanda for her time and being polite enough to answer all my questions. GL in your business!
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| Inside the shop looking out. |
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| Consultation area and door way to restroom (which does have a changing station). |
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| Beverage and cake display to the left of the register |
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| Customer purchasing a Cake Pop |
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| Owner Amanda checking the computer. |
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| The long wall is lined with pictures of her boys holding cupcakes. |
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| Her husband is an Army Officer...gotta give them the discounts :) |
http://twitter.com/#!/glassofmilkcake
Thanks for this interview / review. It sounds like Glass of Milk Cake Company is doing well. I hope it continues to do so! I might have to help them out... ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat an exciting experience!/Hilarious! Delightful! True!/wonderful stuff! thank you!
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I would like to say a couple of things about this. I was a current employee and at the beginning it would be so cool to work at a cupcake bakery. But GL of milk is not all amanda talks it up to be. First off the some cupcakes are not as fresh as she says they are. Her employees slave all day while she sits and plays games on her phone. She is not a good employer. The cupcakes may come off as impressive but really I would never pay the money for them. I just think that once you know the owner and what she is like and how she treats her employees and how much of a mask she puts up for other people I think you might think twice.
ReplyDeleteHappened upon this article again today and I have to agree with the above comment. I was also an employee when the bakery opened and it was a horrific experience. I worried about most of what we did because if the Health Dept. found out, we'd have been shut down in a heartbeat! I'm so shocked they didn't end up with a huge lawsuit over food poisoning. Yes, it was that bad. My kids would have never touched one of these cupcakes because they heard the stories. And Amanda and Josiah were the worst employers ever! Clueless, bossy, we-won't-do-a-thing-while-you-do-just-what-we-say-while-treating-you-like-you-are-beneath-us people. They could do no wrong, but could blame the employees for everything! Training was non-existent. It was a dreadful job and I can't believe they stayed in business. And her custom cakes? Pretty, yes, but I'd never eat one in a million years. Like the cake pops? That cake is about a week old and has been stored, probably mostly uncovered, at room temperature, even if it had fruit filling. I wish I had something good to say about Glass of Milk, but all I can say is anyplace has to be better.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry you two had such a terrible experience working there. Is it still even in business? I haven't been back since I checked the place out. Baby Cakes is where I buy my cupcakes as they taste so much better.
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