By LILLIAN KIARIE
An increase in blood sugar levels can turn around a long, boring day at the office. So what better way to do this than going online, ordering your cupcake and having it delivered to you minutes later?
Sounds just about right, doesn’t it? And thanks to Ms Sandra Zhao, 25, the brains behind Sugarpie, this is possible.
Ms Zhao, a young woman of Chinese ancestry, runs an online cupcake business that delivers sweet treats to customers around her Lavington location and in Nairobi’s Central Business District.
The inspiration
Before she came to Kenya, she was a cook at a restaurant in New York, USA. She moved here for a change of pace.
“When I came to Kenya to live with a friend, I realised that while many people were doing cakes, not many were doing cupcakes,” Zhao says.
“I was inspired by the hard work my housekeeper, Benedetta, put into cleaning my house, and decided to start a business that would create opportunities for women like her — women with minimal education but willing to work hard and learn.”
Zhao has a passion for eating and baking cupcakes, and knew that with the help of women like Benedetta, she could start a profitable venture. She had learnt from her talks with friends and neighbours that there would be no shortage of demand for cake in Kenya.
“A small cake with fewer calories is ideal for most people. These cupcakes are portable and you can also try a lot of different flavours with each,” she says.
To better define her niche, Zhao knew she had to be creative and come up with flavours that had not been extensively explored.
“I used savings from my previous job, and with the assistance of my family members, I was able to start baking professionally.”
In November last year, www.sugarpiecupcakes.com started business.
The cupcakes come in six flavours: dark chocolate and mocha buttercream (which is a Belgian chocolate cake with a frosting made with Kenyan coffee); vanilla chai and chai buttercream (a spicy cake with lots of masala); banana chocolate chip and peanut buttercream; spiced cardamom and tree tomato buttercream; red velvet and cream cheese frosting; and lavender and acacia honey cake.
Customers have the option of choosing a Sugarpie Sampler, which includes one of each of the flavours on offer.
The ingredients are mostly locally sourced. For instance, the eggs used are bought from a smallholder poultry farmer in Rift Valley, the peanut butter comes from the Maseno Agricultural Training Centre in Western Kenya, the tree tomatoes are from a small farm in Limuru, the butter and cream cheese are from Brown’s Cheese firm in Tigoni, while the vanilla is from Western Uganda.
Quality ingredients
Procuring the ingredients can get expensive, so a cupcake retails at Sh250.
“If you are buying more than 12 cupcakes, however, the cost goes down to Sh200. We charge a flat delivery fee of Sh200, though some orders have free delivery, while certain locations attract an additional Sh50. Orders are paid for on delivery through cash or M-Pesa,” Zhao says.
Sugarpie recently partnered with Big Square Café in Lavington, Karen and Gigiri to increase its sales from the current average of 200 cupcakes a week.
Prior to starting her business in Nairobi, Zhao had another start-up in New York where she developed a mobile application for location-based social games, but it was not launched.
Sugarpie, which has three members of staff, is focused on employing women who have not had access to schooling.
“We provide them with the training and skills to build long-term professional careers. Also, 10 per cent of Sugarpie profits go to a scholarship fund for our team, which allows them to pursue an education in a field of their choice,” Zhao says.
Her long-term plan is to have a sustainable social impact in Kenya by creating jobs in the low-skilled market.
“Unemployment is increasing at a staggering pace, and providing access to education and professional development that would empower my team with the tools and opportunities to radically improve their lives is of key importance to me.”
bizbeat@standardmedia.co.ke
