Korina Thompson was looking for a good location for her new cupcake store. Grand Rapids had one on every corner. Kalamazoo only had one. So she put plans in place to open in the Milwood neighborhood when she found out the property was not zoned for--wait for it--mixing dough.
She could sell her cupcakes, she couldn't make them there. That obviously was not going to work. The next day she found a store in downtown Schoolcraft and has never looked back.
She turned what formerly was an antique store into The Salted Cupcake and moved into the apartment over the store. With the help of her then boyfriend the antiques were cleared away, the old bricks exposed, and display cases went in.
Soon Schoolcraft natives turned out to welcome her, customers traveling up and down the streets looking for antiques stopped in for cupcakes and coffee, and commuters traveling up and down U.S. 131 slowed down long enough to come in and try her cupcakes.
Orders for baby showers, bridal showers and work parties started to come in.
"I love this location," Thompson says. "I had no idea what Schoolcraft was."
Thompson grew up in Ionia, halfway between Grand Rapids and Lansing. In her family her mother did not enjoy cooking so it often fell to Thompson. She liked it so much she decided to go into a food related business. She got her business degree and went on to culinary school.
She spent three years creating her business plan and that planning is paying off. Her financials are doing better than projected and a startup loan from her mother is almost paid off.
Thompson has built her cupcake business around the taste combination of sweet and salty. It started when she fell in love with the taste of salted caramel. It became her signature cupcake and many of the cupcakes on her menu have a sweet and salty taste.
She also tries to make her cupcakes as healthy as cupcakes can be. Her recipes are all her own and ingredients are locally sourced to ensure they are "healthy and delicious," she says. She knows cupcakes can never be considered health food but with non-GMO dairy, non-homogenized milk, local wildflower honey, locally grown and milled flour, and eggs from free range chicken that are fed organic flax seed they are as healthy as she can make them.
Thompson also uses sweets from Confections with Convictions for those candies that she can't make herself.
Each day she posts a menu of cup cakes on Facebook. A recent menu featured flavors such as White Wine Goat Cheese, Salted Caramel Vanilla Bean, Strawberry Fields Forever, Champagne Manhattan, Thai Coconut, and Wheat Free Vanilla Strawberry.
She's also started selling cupcakes with flowers or balloons for special events.
Individual cupcakes sell for $3 each or $2.90 for larger orders for events. When she opened Thompson told customers she was open each day until the last crumb was sold, but they insisted she set a closing time. Summer hours for the shop at 224 N. Grand St. in Schoolcraft are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. 269.568.8696 or thesaltedcupcake@outlook.com
Source: Korina Thompson
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.