Career paths, like life, never go in a straight line. When two Guelph sisters, Jenn Bonner and Tara Riddell, found themselves questioning their career paths, they decided to take matters into their own hands instead of waiting for fate to dictate “what comes next.”
“We discussed it and thought we should turn my sister’s basement into a little bakery so we could do some online baking at our pace, just something to do on the side while we figured out what we were going to do,” said Bonner.
On a trip to a Brantford business to buy a mixer, Bonner discovered that all the equipment and lease were available. After some discussion, the sisters made the decision to take over that business instead. After a year, they decided to move Decadently Yours to Guelph.
Nine years later, that leap of faith coupled with hard work has resulted in the sisters operating Guelph’s most popular bakery, and for six years in a row have been awarded Guelph’s Top Choice Bakery by the community.
Customizable cupcakes and cakes for any occasion are available at Decadently Yours
Decadently Yours offers 120 cupcake flavours, each of which can be made into a custom cake. While their bakery provides walk-in customers their choice of cupcakes, cookies, a slice of cookie pie or brownies, cupcakes are the most popular product both in-house and for custom orders.
“I think the cupcakes, are simple, everybody loves them,” Bonner said. “They’re convenient, a simple grab and go in a variety of flavours which offers guests a choice”
However, they wouldn’t be so popular without also tasting great. Riddell said they pride themselves on the quality of their products, with everything made fresh daily, in-house, and using fresh and local ingredients as much as possible.
“We bake from scratch, we do not use any mixes in our store, we have good recipes, all of our icing is made with butter,” she said.
They have 12 cupcake flavours available daily, including toffee crunch, chocolate peanut butter, chocolate and vanilla, and rotate eight new flavours which are posted daily on Facebook and Instagram. Current favourites include strawberry, peach cheesecake, and chocolate salted caramel, to name a few.
Their cakes are available in a variety of flavours and fillings, and are customizable in design to suit any occasion including weddings, birthdays, and corporate events.
Decadently Yours credits the community for helping to maintain business throughout the pandemic
When the pandemic hit last year, Bonner said with events big and small cancelled, and indoor gatherings prohibited, business was slow for a time.
However, a month or so later, zoom meetings and calls became the new way of socializing and staying connected to family and friends. All of a sudden, Bonner said, people were hosting zoom parties and wanted a cake for themselves and cupcakes to drop off to family and friends.
“When people starting hearing about that we just went from zero to 80 overnight,” Bonner said. “So for all those people that didn’t know about us, all of a sudden they’re getting six cupcakes with our logo on it and they get to eat them while they’re on that livestream at the birthday party or the event.”
The importance of supporting the Guelph community and giving back to those in need
Riddell describes Guelph as a community that’s supportive of one another and considers themselves fortunate to have continued community support. This is one of the reason they support local charities and organizations whenever they can.
They recently sponsored the first annual Freedom from Addiction Golf Tournament in support of Portage, are regular supporters of Hospice Wellington, St. Joe’s Hospital, Big Brothers and Sisters of Guelph, and are sponsors of local hockey team, Guelph Storm.
“It’s important that we give back to our community,” Bonner said. “There are people out there that depend on these charities to help support them everyday. We’re a successful business in Guelph, we feel that it’s our job to give back and help people that need it.”
Decadently Yours is open with health and safety measures in place. Drop by today for a sweet decadent treat. Email [email protected] or call them at 519-265-5314 to make a custom order for your next event. Visit their Facebook page for the cupcake flavours of the day!