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Date: 10/6/2017
WILBRAHAM – In just two and a half short years, Wilbraham resident Joelene Guzzo went from baking goodies out of her home, to opening her first bakery in the Wilbraham Shops plaza, to having a grand re-opening at a new location for Theme Cakes by Joelene, which is four times the size of her original shop.
While patrons of Guzzo’s shop would never know it, she doesn’t have any formal culinary background. Guzzo went to school for interior decorating and marketing management. She then went on to become a professional bridal consultant. Most recently, prior to her current position as owner at Theme Cakes by Joelene, she worked in customer service at Lenox American Saw in East Longmeadow.
“I YouTube everything. I baked all my life; I was the office baker. I killed them with my kindness and baked goods, and then people started giving me money to make their birthday cakes, their kids birthday cakes, and I just put everything on Facebook. I had strangers coming to my house all the time and I had to quit my job just to keep up with everything,” Guzzo recalled.
For two and a half years Guzzo baked cakes, cupcakes, cookies and more out of her home. Eventually, her baking business became too much to handle out of the home.
“It got too much with the kids and the dogs and the activities. I believe in fate, and my husband was like, ‘You need to look to rent a place somewhere, we need our house back!’ I had the kids eating pizza in the living room every Friday and Saturday,” Guzzo said.
On April 3, 2015, Guzzo had her grand opening at her original bakery location in the Wilbraham Shops at 2341 Boston Rd. Guzzo began to rent the space, which she called the “perfect location” as she lives only one mile down the road.
“It was Good Friday when I opened, which is the busiest day of the year for the seafood place [Wilbraham Seafood] next door, it was insane. I kind of planned it that way,” she remembered.
Until this fall, Guzzo kept her original location in the Wilbraham Shops, though the small space was quickly overwhelmed with the cake orders and demand for goods her shop was receiving.
“I was over there and I was refusing about 30 cakes a weekend, just doing it by myself, and it’s horrible to have to tell somebody that you can’t [bake their cake],” she said.
Though it started as a passion, Guzzo found that as time went on, her business was becoming a hindrance to her health and was taking away time from her family.
“I got to the point over there where it wasn’t fun anymore. It did a lot of damage on my back, on my feet, I have major problems. I was baking probably around 20 cakes per weekend. That was staying till midnight every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, by myself, crying!” Guzzo joked.
Theme Cakes by Joelene had its grand re-opening on Sept. 23, and Guzzo welcomed the public to her new shop. The bakery’s walls are painted in alternating baby blue and light pink stripes, with white bead board going half way up the walls. An electric fireplace adorned with a fuzzy rug welcomes visitors as they read one of the many inspirational quotes written on the walls.
“I want it to feel like you’re walking into my home, I hate stainless steel anything. I wanted it to be inviting,” Guzzo noted.
Guzzo’s vision worked. Though her bakery may only be one stop on a persons to-do list, she wants her customers to not want to leave.
“Even when I was getting my inspections it was so awesome how the plumbing inspector, the electric inspector, the health inspector were more taken in by the atmosphere than what they were actually supposed to look at. My major pull is young girls and mothers, but it’s funny, people don’t want to leave and I love that. I have guys come in and they’re skeptical, their wives sent them, and then they get into the music and the atmosphere and they’re looking at pictures and they’re like, ‘Oh, this is really cool,’” Guzzo said.
Three small-to-medium sized flat screen televisions are placed above the fireplace, which offer photo examples on repeat of Guzzo’s religious, children, and formal themed cakes. Behind the counter, she has an additional television that features a mix of photos including sports cakes and more.
“My husband is obsessed with TV’s, that was his gift to me in the last shop, that’s his gift to me here. It’s a man thing with the TV’s! But people need the visuals,” Guzzo said.
With the first week of her new and expanded shop in full swing, Guzzo was able to hire two new employees to help with her baking, though her entire family is involved in the business.
“During the grand re-opening, my daughter my husband, my son and his girlfriend were here, it’s really a family business. My boy will come after school and clean me all up, my daughter gets dropped off at the bus here, and she’ll come in and bail me out. My husband does everything, he bakes, he cleans, he jokes that he’s the only 50-year-old dishwasher,” Guzzo shared. “They’re proud of their mama. It’s really neat to have my kids saying, ‘Mom, sit down, relax.’”
With a growing and expanding company, Guzzo stressed that she needs high-energy employees. With the hiring of two new bakers, Guzzo believes she’ll be able to bake up to 40 made-to-order cakes per weekend, as well as additional grab-and-go cakes.
“These two girls that I have now, they helped me put the whole place together. My whole thing is right off the bat, I never was a boss, I don’t want to be a boss, I just want help. I feed them; I let them take whatever they want, that’s the perks. I want them to look forward to coming into work,” she said.
Guzzo’s new location is four times the size of her old one across the shopping plaza, she mentioned that her new kitchen is the size of her entire old shop combined. Additionally, the new location boasts of a birthday party room, where Guzzo will host cupcake and cake decorating parties.
“It’s soup to nuts. When they give me their deposit they get an invitation, they have pizza, they have a Hoodie ice cream cup, one of our cupcakes, they get to pick between a six-inch cake or four cupcakes to decorate. We do the presents, write down who it’s from and what they gave. We give a tour of the bakery and we give goodie bags. I know a lot of bakeries that do birthday parties, everything is a la carte, so by the time you’re done with everything it’s more expensive than my $30 a kid.”
The birthday space is off to a good start. Guzzo booked a dozen parties on the date of her grand re-opening, and an additional three parties during opening week.
With her first weekend in business at the bigger-than-ever space, Guzzo was booked solid for the weekend with 36 cakes to bake over a three-day period.
“With all of the new people coming in I couldn’t refuse any new orders, I had three wedding cakes going on, and I have 36 cakes to bake this weekend. Some of them are insane, but I have the two girls helping me, it’s triple me. I’ve always wanted a clone or two to at least help with the baking and a little fondant, I’m not going to let anyone really decorate yet because that’s one thing customers are afraid of, they want Joelene to decorate their cake, it’s kind of quite humbling,” she said.
Gearing up for the holidays and enjoying her new space, Guzzo’s main concern is that every customer of hers leaves her shop with a smile.
“I want people to walk in here who look like they’ve had the worst day ever, and I want them to leave here sparkling. Life is good. Cake makes everybody happy,” she beamed.
Theme Cakes by Joelene is located at 2341 Boston Road in the Wilbraham Shops plaza. The bakery boasts new hours, open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday strictly for birthday parties and special orders. To inquire about a cake or pick up some goodies, drop into the shop, call 427-3302, or Facebook message the Theme Cakes by Joelene page.