Today we’d like to introduce you to Henry Adeleye.
Hi Henry, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Our journey began when Kascha was experimenting with cupcakes many years back. Henry originally wanted to use his business background as a DJ to help her market her business but the original plan never materialized. Fast forward a few years, after reading the Steve Jobs biography, Henry had a desire to jump into the business world but didn’t really know what to do. He and Kascha revisited the cupcake idea, with a plan to add a coffee shop element as a place for our community to gather. We originally started baking out of our apartment at the time in September of 2014 because we were too broke to afford a storefront. We delivered around the Atlanta area until we were able to piece enough pennies together to open our store in East Point in May of 2016. We quickly found a family of customers and supporters, offering fresh baked goods, coffee and pastries, and an event space to host community, social, and creative events.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The only smooth road for Kupcakerie is our frosting. Owning a business is not for the faint of heart. As with most businesses, and people for that matter, we had to pivot our business during Covid. We were very unsure of how the world around us was going to change. Literally no one was coming into our store, where most of our revenue comes from. We also weren’t able to host any events in our event space and all of our catering orders had to be cancelled and refunded. However, our online ordering and delivery system was still up and running, both our in-house website and 3rd party UberEats partnership. Our Sysco rep told us about another bakery that was selling cake decorating kits and said we should try to see if it could drum up some business for us. So we came up with a cupcake decorating kit that we still offer today, posted a tutorial video and started taking orders online for people to have it delivered to them. It created enough buzz to reignite the rest of our products online and our delivery service ended up increasing enough to cover our costs through Covid, and we were fortunate enough to not have to close or do any layoffs.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Kupcakerie is a bakery and cafe located in East Point, GA. Why are we different from any other cupcake shop in Atlanta? Well, you can come and stay a while. We have created an epic third space where people can come and enjoy a cupcake and a cup of coffee all while working or planning their next big move. Additionally, everything we sell is baked from scratch. No box mixes, no canned frosting, just love and human hands. Kupcakerie has been formed out of pure love and hard work.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Both of us have always had entrepreneurial spirits. I sold CD’s in high school, and Kascha was known to hold garage sales while her parents were out of town. I would describe us both as extremely curious, consistent questioners, and lifelong learners. We both always had creative interests in music, art, film, and graphic design. You could say that we were both meant to create something.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kupcakerie.com
- Instagram: @kupcakerie
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/kupcakerie/
