Business of the Week: Sadie Mae's Cupcake Cafe

Here is a little known fact. The humble cupcake has been part of American life since 1796, a historic part of the development of the country.

Hingham residents are surrounded by history but Sadie Mae’s Cupcake Café is a recent addition to the town having opened in May last year. Despite being a relative newcomer to the area, it feels like the café has been a fixture in Hingham for a lot longer.

Having started out with the intention of bringing fresh cupcakes to Main Street, Sadie Mae’s has began branching out into other fresh goods and recently started serving breakfast to those who like to indulge in something sweet before the day really starts.

Patch sat down with Elizabeth Fleck, baker/manager of Sadie Mae’s, to talk about the business of cupcakes and why everyone should “indulge a little”. 

Where are you from? 

I’m from Hull. Born and raised. Sadie Mae’s is owned by Sarah D’Souza and it has been open for nearly a year. We opened on May 5 2011.

How did you get involved with Sadie Mae’s?

This is the only Sadie Mae’s and I’ve been here for just over a month…I’m fresh, just like the cupcakes! The owner was looking for a part-time cupcake baker and I was living in Hingham while commuting to Cambridge. I was looking for something local so that I could have free time to do some “life” things…and not commute 3 hours every day! I met with Sarah, loved what they were doing here with their all-natural, baked-from-scratch and nut-free cupcake. As it turned out, they were looking for a little more help than they realized…Sarah wanted to take what she was doing which was great and make it better. So I came in as the full baker/manager to oversee the back and front of the house. 

You aren’t limited to cupcakes at the moment as you now offer breakfast… 

We have just started this. We were here anyway as we get to work at 5 to 5:30 a.m. and we were making coffee as we needed it at that time of the morning…so we thought why not! We wanted to build the coffee business as we had this great coffee (Jim’s Organic Coffee), which is local. We wanted people to be aware of our coffee business but people who want a cup of coffee generally want something to eat with it. So, as I say, we were here anyway and we wanted to publicize the coffee so why don’t we just bake some muffins to go with it. Muffins and cupcakes go hand in hand…a muffin is really a disguised cupcake (laughs).

Has breakfast been successful?

It’s been a huge hit and really well received. We’ve started building on it; we’re doing some current scones and blueberry turnovers. We are going to move onto cinnamon rolls and brioches to get people interested in our breakfast menu.

So Atlantic Bagel has some competition?

(Smiles) We don’t think so. We’re not doing an egg sandwich or anything like that. We are not making bagels which is what they’ve done and done well for 15 plus years. We don’t do sandwiches, wraps or anything like that…we are more about the concept of “indulge a little” – that’s our tagline! We want to get people to come in, have their coffee and indulge themselves whether it’s 8 a.m. or 2 p.m.

Why do you think that your cupcakes are so popular in Hingham? 

There isn’t really much else in the area, other than ice-cream. If you want to indulge yourself on a Tuesday afternoon, where do you go? A cupcake café! Sometimes an ice-cream is a little too much or a little too heavy so we’ve started to do cookies as well for that afternoon snack sort of thing. There is a demand for it because there is nothing else.

Do you find that there is sometimes a demand for mass cupcake production?

We do weddings and birthday parties. We mass-produce in the sense that 500 cupcakes is like…whew! We have a small space here and currently only one oven but we get it done.

Here is a fascinating fact; the cupcake actually dates back to 1796, which is the first mention of the recipe. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that they became what they are today…a phenomenon and a trend where shops just sell cupcakes! We make more cupcakes on the weekends because people tend to indulge a little more than on a Tuesday but we probably produce around 200 cupcakes a day on average. When we do weddings etc, our day just starts earlier…normally around 4:30 a.m. We think we may need another oven soon to increase our baking output.

The first anniversary of the store is approaching, is there anything new on the horizon for Sadie Mae’s?

Yes, on May 5 we start at the Hingham Farmers Market and we will be debuting our cupcake truck! It will be at the Bathing Beach on Saturdays and at the Wednesday market as well. We will be doing cupcakes, cookies, iced drinks, coffees and serving Mem Teas (from Somerville). The truck will be around town all summer. 

You have only been open a year but do you feel that you have planted yourself firmly in the community consciousness?

We spent some time just opening our doors and getting things baked but now that our feet are solidly on the ground, we can jump out into the community a bit more. We have done a couple of cupcakes for a “cause”, we did one for breast cancer and now we are selling the Red Velvet cupcake to aid the Hingham Education Foundation that is a local cause. Each Red Velvet we sell, we donate 25 cents to the foundation, which is super.

Hingham is well known for championing local business, especially when it comes to food (Taste of Hingham for example). Do you agree?

Yes, Hingham doesn’t allow any fast-food chains or franchises, which is a beautiful thing in society today. To have a town in modern-day America that really stands behind you…it’s huge! Where else can you go where there isn’t a Wal-Mart or Dunkin Donuts? Places like that are killing that small-time American Dream. Hingham allows small business to flourish so if you are a young entrepreneur, who wants to highlight their craft, what better place to do it then Hingham?

Is that what makes Hingham special? 

Absolutely. More than anywhere else in the area. It’s hard to find places that are dedicated to that, even with the state of the economy the town encourages people to do something…here is your spot!

Has the community been supportive of Sadie Mae’s, even though you are located at the “other end” of Main Street?

We couldn’t be here every day opening our doors without the residents of Hingham. We are on Main Street, just not in the Downtown area. It encourages people even more to come and help the local businesses. Hingham Square is an easy place to go to and it is the center of town but where we are located also has it’s own identity…one that I didn’t know about! It brings our product to a whole new part of town, which is nice. Take last 4^th July…it was huge! We were brand new, had only been open for two months and there were so many people that didn’t know about us…all of a sudden, here we were. I think that this location is a great spot! 

Do you use social media?

It’s really helpful. We’re just starting to do some daily flavors, we come up with stuff, pop it on Facebook and people will comment or ask to try it. It’s a great way to get feedback from our followers as to what they want; it’s a one-on-one dialogue with the customer. Yelp.com was helpful in the beginning and people are very honest on Yelp! It gave us some constructive criticism that we took and it helped us improve. Harsh words are sometimes hard to hear but it’s exactly what we needed.

Although the cupcake café has only been open for less than a year, have you noticed any changes in the business?

Starting to serve breakfast, as it wasn’t something the owner was going to do in the beginning. It was just going to be cupcakes but as Sadie Mae’s got established in the community and people became aware of what we were doing, they wanted to come in. Not many people want a cupcake at 7 a.m. but they want to be part of Sadie Mae’s. We’re just evolving as we go. We’re not a bakery, a breakfast place or a café but we are that spot in town where you come to indulge!

Indulging yourself is at the core of Sadie Mae’s appeal, but what is your favorite cupcake?

I’m a sucker for the chocolate chocolate…and I’m not a chocolate person! It’s sweet and not in your face; it’s rich, moist and you just want more of it!

In case anyone has forgotten, what is the store tagline again?

(Smiles) Indulge A Little…

Sadie Mae’s Cupcake Café can be found at 288 Main Street, Hingham. Cupcakes, Coffee and Breakfast are available Tuesday through Sunday.