Today we’d like to introduce you to Renee King.
Renee, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was a senior at Worcester State University in the Fall of 2011 when I started baking out of my parent’s house for fun. I’ve always been the type of person that became obsessed with something until I mastered it. I would make all different types of flavors of cupcakes and bring them to my friends, local businesses, and my college classes. Once people started to like them, I was inspired to keep going.
I was studying Psychology and didn’t have a job lined up. I also had no desire to go back to school. I had been baking for about six months, taking orders every weekend, had an active Instagram and Facebook account and when it was time to graduate, my mom said: “why don’t you open a bakery?”
So, in October 2012, I opened my first bakery in 750 square feet in my hometown of Millbury, MA. I used my Instagram and Facebook every day to update our menu, which I always wanted to change daily and stay fresh. The first year was slow, raking in only 120k in sales. Around our third year, we had doubled our business and things started to take off. Before I knew it, we were winning awards and the business was being recognized by other successful businesses around me. As we were entering year four, I knew we needed a new home… I had 12 employees and one oven, there was no way that we could continue working in such a small area.
In January 2017, I announced that we would be moving to Worcester’s Canal District, a dream come true to me. We restored an old garage and turned it into a bakery. We now have 3500 square feet of space, two ovens, and over twenty employees. Our sales have more than quadrupled from our beginning days. We offer cupcakes, cakes, specialty desserts, decorated cookies and much more. It’s truly amazing to see the growth of the business when I truly started without any formal training or business background.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has never been easy but I can tell you that it’s been worth it. The beginning was hard because I was 23 years old and clueless. I really took a leap of faith. I look back and honestly, have no idea how we survived but we did.
Renovating a historic building in Worcester in the most epic up and coming neighborhood was the hardest thing I’ve ever asked myself to do. It cost well over $100,000. I took out a large loan and borrowed the rest of the money from my parents. My parents both left their jobs to work for me full time, taking a large pay cut and loss of benefits. The buildout took six months and cost way more than I imagined.
Another instance of being kind of clueless and learning as I went. I’ve sacrificed time with my family, my loving boyfriend, and my best friends. I’m working over 70 hours a week, I’m responsible for the livelihood of over 20 people.. some of them even being parents themselves. But, would I change it? Absolutely not. I love my job, I love what we have created, I adore my staff and I couldn’t be more grateful for the customers that we have. I am blessed.
The Queen’s Cups – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are a from scratch bakery that specializes in cupcakes and cakes. However, we also offer a large variety of gluten-free items, cheesecakes, Whoopie Pies, Brownies, Cannoli Sandwiches and our Matilda cake. It’s a chocolate cake filled with homemade ganache and drenched in more ganache. We are known for this cake and the baker was hired on the spot during her bench interview because it’s the most divine thing I’ve ever tasted.
What sets us apart is that we truly bake fresh every day. Any cupcake that doesn’t sell in 24 hours becomes a 1$ on day 2. I think when people walk through our doors and pay us, they should be having fresh creative flavors, rather than things that were baked weeks ago and taken out of the freezer. We take a lot of pride in all of our products and work hard to constantly create new things. We use our social media to update our menu throughout the day and re-post customer photos that they tag us in. We also offer Pupcakes for dogs. Every Monday we post a bunch of pictures of pups eating cups!
I am so proud of The Queen’s Cups because it was just something I created randomly… and now it’s grown to a bakery that makes thousands of cupcakes every weekend. I walk into our dining room full of customers and I am amazed. I never thought we would ever be here. I also cannot get over the talent that my staff possesses. I learn from them every day. They treat TQC as if it’s their own business, what more could you ask for as a boss?
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Being able to employ both of my parents.
Contact Info:
- Address: 56 Water Street
Worcester, Ma 01604 - Website: Thequeenscups.com
- Phone: 508/459/9600
- Email: thequeenscups@yahoo.com
- Instagram: Thequeenscups
- Facebook: Thequeenscups
- Twitter: @thequeenscups
Image Credit:
Jess Bond, Mass Foodies
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