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Teen's sweet business
Love of baking launches girl's cupcake company
Friday, Sept. 3, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by EMILY BARNES
Ashlynn Hall's company is called Sweet Spot Cupcakes by Ashlynn. She whips up cream cheese icing to top a batch of red velvet creations.
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After meeting Ashlynn Hall, it's no surprise that the 14-year-old is a confident, budding businesswoman.
She comes from a family that has a mission statement and a family dream board that displays inspirational snippets like "get fantastic grades," "trust" and "integrity."
Articles on young entrepreneurs also are featured, which is a title the Westlake High School freshman is aiming for by launching Sweet Spot Cupcakes by Ashlynn.
It all started at the beginning of summer when Ashlynn noticed that her brother, Xavier, 15, was making spending money by mowing lawns and washing cars when he wasn't fulfilling his substitute lifeguarding duties at area pools.
Ashlynn said she wanted a job. Trouble was no one was going to hire the then-13-year-old.
Interested in cooking — a dog-eared copy of Julia Child's classic cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" sits on a living room table (reading list book, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," is mixed up among the mixing bowls on the kitchen island) — Ashlynn lit upon the idea of selling cupcakes.
"Cupcakes are fun and adorable," she reasoned. "It's like your own little bit of cake. Who doesn't like cupcakes?"
"I was originally selling them at church," said Ashlynn, who goes to Spirit of Faith Christian Center. "Then I started expanding … salons, barbershops, car dealerships."
Mom Tawanda insisted that Ashlynn do all of the networking on her own, going into businesses to sell, her idea — the cupcakes.
It isn't really a hard deal to close.
"People usually don't say, ‘No'," she admitted.
Who could when the teen's signature flavors are red velvet, carrot cake, lemon and chocolate? And then there are the "specialty" flavors like banana pudding, German chocolate, mint chocolate and pina colada.
She is noodling on a cherry lemonade cupcake, too. She relies on Xavier and her father, Andre, to be official "tasters."
She must have hit on some winning recipes because soon bigger orders were rolling in for weddings, birthday parties and baby showers — word was getting out via social networking sites, the business cards being passed around, just through word of mouth.
With Tawanda's help, and late nights, orders that reach more than 175 cupcakes are filled. But that was over summer.
Now back at school ("I love Westlake," Ashlynn said, exhibiting school pride) the business might have to be scaled down to weekends. Not that she isn't hounded by friends to whip up a batch or two, while a teacher already has talked to her about maybe hiring Sweet Spot to provide treats for an upcoming birthday party.
Always an "artsy" type of person, Ashlynn has other pursuits like drawing, photography and painting.
"Cooking is just another way of doing art," said Ashlynn, who has won cooking competitions at her church. "Except when you're done you can eat it."
Ashlynn also said she is enamored with vintage cars and, like her father, loves playing tennis. It was the sport that inspired the name of her business.
"There is a part of a tennis racket that when you hit it, it goes, ‘Pong!'" she said. "That's the called the sweet spot."
The base of Sweet Spot's operation is the kitchen of the family's White Plains home. Right now, the standard electric stove can handle two batches of cupcakes, but Tawanda would like to upgrade to a convection oven or find an industrial kitchen to use when bigger orders come in.
It's still sinking in that Sweet Spot has taken off like this.
"It's exciting just to see her make a name for herself," Tawanda said of her daughter, who thinks Ashlynn's love of food might come from her grandmother and great-grandmothers who themselves are no slouches in the kitchen. "I never thought it would bloom into something like this."
