Women’s Entrepreneurship Day: Entrepreneur Thrives Serving up Sweet Treats to her Capital Customers

Posted on Thursday, November 18th, 2021

In honour of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day on November 19, 2021, we are profiling a few Algonquin students past and present who are entrepreneurs.

The Cupcake Lounge has been an Ottawa success story from the day the first outlet opened in the ByWard Market in 2011. Not even a pandemic could diminish the consistent appeal of this haven for dessert lovers established by entrepreneur and life-long baker Claudia Arizmendi.

“We have a very strong business,” says Arizmendi, President and CEO of The Cupcake Lounge and a graduate of Algonquin College’s Baking and Pastry Arts program (Class of 2007). “At some point, people began to worry that we were too focused, that cupcakes were a trend that might fade. But we held firm because we felt that a cupcake is like a slice of a really good-quality cake, baked fresh and in a perfect single portion.

“That’s what I wanted to give to my customers right from the start and that’s what they keep coming back to enjoy.”

Arizmendi moved to Canada from Mexico in 1994 and started a family shortly thereafter. At this stage, the prospect of one day launching her own business was little more than a dream.

Her education had prepared her to work as a kindergarten teacher. But one of her greatest passions was baking. Since she was a little girl, it was something she could never get enough of. Now, with a new life to begin in Canada, she had an opportunity to apply herself to the trade seriously.

“I decided in coming here to Canada that I was going to recreate myself. I knew that I could go back to teaching if I wanted to. But this was my best opportunity to create something new. I didn’t have enough knowledge to be able to create a business, so I went back to school full-time in Algonquin’s baking program. It was wonderful. It provided me with theory and practice and a little bit about running a business. The program was just one year then, but it was perfect for me.”

‘Perfect’ but not easy: Arizmendi had a passion for learning, but she was also the mother of three young children. During the day, she was a student taking classes. When her children came home from school, she was a mom helping them with their homework and taking them to hockey, ballet, Kumon and other extracurricular activities. She would set her alarm for 1 am every weekday so she could have the quiet time she needed to concentrate on her schoolwork.

After graduation, Arizmendi went to work with the team at Ottawa’s 3 Tarts bakery. During her time there, she formulated the kind of business she wanted to launch: a bakery specializing in cupcakes made fresh from scratch every day using all-natural ingredients. Four years after graduation, armed with 50 recipes and a solid business plan, she opened her first outlet along these lines. It was a hit, and in 2012, as part of that year’s Latin American Heritage Day in Ottawa, she was selected as Latin American Entrepreneur of the Year in the National Capital Region.

A second location opened in 2013 on Richmond Road in Westboro. This almost didn’t happen. Just as Arizmendi was ready to expand the business, she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a chronic eye disease for which there is no cure that caused her difficulty with her vision and compelled her to stop driving. Could she run stores in different parts of the city without being able to travel readily between them? She decided that with the help of her dedicated team, she could. The new shop opened and became another popular success.

When the pandemic first hit in early 2020, both stores were compelled to close. They reopened quickly, but without in-store service. Arizmendi adapted to the new business environment. Many new products were added to the website such as cupcake and cookie activity kits to engage children during the lockdowns and give parents a break. Customers also still wanted to treat themselves – perhaps more than ever, given the gloomy times. Arizmendi and her staff still wanted to supply the need, so they set to work.

There have been a few changes over the years at The Cupcake Lounge, including the addition of many new products. In addition to cupcakes, the bakery now features cakes and cookies and numerous seasonal items, including for the holiday season champagne and cupcake gift ideas, a Hanukkah box, a Rudolph cake and much more. In making and selling all her bakery items, Arizmendi has never wavered from her dedication to quality all-natural products.

“I know that this can be an expensive choice,” she says. “There are times that particularly the price of real vanilla can become difficult to afford. But when this happened, I told my team this is not something I ever want to change. I cannot cut real vanilla, real butter, real fruit or real chocolate. The Cupcake Lounge has been running for 10 years and our customers keep coming back because they know we will never scrimp on the quality ingredients.”

 


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