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How Sweet Tweets Take the Cake to the People

     When Kate McEachern gave up her job as an editor to follow her passion and bake, she imagined she would have a brick and mortar store. But then the Cal journalism graduate, using her budgeting experience from her media jobs, spun the numbers — and didn’t like what she saw.
     How Cupkates (a play on her name) became the first mobile cupcake truck in the Bay Area is, to quote her, “a funny story.”
     She’d decided to make cupcakes because of “the portability, and the fact that you can do so much with them. Also, buying a cupcake requires a small commitment from the customer.”
     She was scratching her head, pondering the financial implications and wondering what to do when, “My husband suggested I get a cart.”
     Her response? “I said, ‘That’s ridiculous. Get out of here.’ ”
     But then a former colleague from Dwell magazine, where she’d worked, told her how huge street food is in New York City and suggested a truck.
     “I said, ‘Oh, that’s brilliant. I can take it mobile.” She told her husband she’d found the solution. His response, naturally: “That’s just what I’ve been saying.”
     While starting the business from a truck still involved a significant capital outlay, says McEachern, it made for a softer launch.
     Having been involved in web publishing meant she could build her own website. And her former colleague, the senior designer at Dwell, “designed everything for me. The logo for the truck; the cards; all the way down to the sticker on the cupcake box.”
     McEachern’s day now starts around 7 a.m. in a commercial kitchen in Richmond where the number of cupcakes she bakes each day can range from “a couple of hundred to several hundred, depending on orders.” She then loads the truck and sets off on her route of the day, using Facebook and Twitter to tell her followers where she will be, advising them on what she’s baked; answering questions; and finally, letting them know when she’s about to sell out.
     “I do all my marketing online. I even get votes this way for new cupcake flavors.”
     McEachern opened her business in August 2009 and when we spoke, had been up and running for just four months. “There’s still a lot to be determined.” But business was brisk and growing fast and, she said, “I think my ultimate goal is
to have another mobile unit, plus a brick and mortar shop.”
     Oh, and McEachern is still married. “We’ve just celebrated our first anniversary,” she laughs, then sells her last cupcake, today on Berkeley’s Fourth Street, then it’s back to the Richmond kitchen to clean and clear.                        

Call “CupKate” McEachern at (510) 384-6544; follow her on Twitter at #cupkatestruck; to find her on Facebook and become a fan, search for “cupkatestruck”; or visit the website www.cupkatesbakery.com.