Category: food

career, change, entrepreneurship, food, women

Examiner.com: Interview with Lorin Rokoff and Laura Paterson, Founders of Hot Blondies Bakery

Christa Avampato

I learned about Hot Blondies Bakery through Crain’s. They were the headline business in a feature article about online bakeries. A friend of mine from business school is considering a similar avenue so I opened up the Crain’s article to have a peek at what these ladies were up to. Laura’s and Lorin’s story of making the leap from stable jobs to entrepreneurship was inspiring so I hopped over to their site. Their market positioning and branding is unique and fun – I like the edge they take with their baking and they clearly have the business savvy to match their sumptuous baked goods!

Find the interview here.

business, entrepreneurship, Examiner, food

Examiner.com: Interview with Lev Ekster, CEO of CupcakeStop

Christa Avampato

I’ve extolled my love for cupcakes before in this column. A few months ago I interviewed the owners of Crumbs, my favorite cupcake bakery in New York. Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Lev Ekster, CEO of CupcakeStop, a mobile cupcake bakery in New York City. I first learned about Lev’s story through Crain’s and I reached out to him to get more details about his career path and his start as an entrepreneur. His story is one that proves that a business can indeed be started in a tough economic time in the midst of a tight job market. He is the perfect example of an unintentional entrepreneur!

For the full interview with Lev, click here.

business, entrepreneurship, Examiner, food, health

My latest post on Examiner.com: Interview with Founders of Code Blue

Christa Avampato

Two weeks ago, I had the great fortune of spending some time with the founders of Code Blue, a recovery drink that is made for people who need to feel refreshed without caffeine, added sugar, or preservatives. In one amazing little can you’ll find an elixir that hydrates, replenishes, detoxifies and reduces inflammation. Oh, and it tastes good, too! Sweetened with agave nectar, Code Blue has a proprietary formula that contains prickly pear, Sustamine (an amino acid that promotes muscle hydration and electrolyte replacement), B12, B6, vitamin C, and potassium.

Not convinced that any drink can do all that and taste delicious? I wasn’t either so I sat down with the founders, Michael Sachs and Jeffrey Frumin, to have a little tasting of my own. Now I’m hooked!

For the full article, click here.

entrepreneurship, Examiner, food, New York City

NY Business Strategies Examiner – Interview with Jason Bauer, CEO and President of CRUMBS Bake Shop

Christa Avampato

I have a hard time thinking of any food I love more than cupcakes. When I’m happy, when I’m sad, morning, noon, and night. In New York City, the competition for the best cupcake bakery is fierce. For me, there is one clear winner: CRUMBS. I’m not sure why anyone goes anywhere else for these delicious treats. I highly recommend the Devil Dog and the Blueberry Crumb.

Jason and Mia Bauer started CRUMBS. I recently had the opportunity to interview Jason. He serves as the company’s CEO and President.

To read the full interview, please visit:
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m8d18-Interview-with-Jason-Bauer-CEO-and-President-of-CRUMBS

business, cooking, food, television

My Year of Hopefulness – Charm City Cakes

Christa Avampato

President’s Day was a company holiday. Hooray! So how did I spend it? I slept in (a little), did a couple of errands, some writing, some research, watched the Ace of Cakes marathon (for 5 hours) on the Food Network, and met my friends Linda and Monika for a glass of wine at City Winery. I had the pleasure of meeting Chef Duff, owner of Charm City Cakes and star of the show Ace of Cakes, when he delivered a cake made to look like a 64-box of Crayola crayons to the Toys R Us in Times Square. I was working at Toys R Us at the time, and my boss was giving interviews to the press that were there covering the event. We were celebrating the 50th birthday of Crayola’s 64-box.

Prior to the event, I was a huge fan of the show and of Duff. After meeting him and getting to see one of the Charm City Cakes up close, I became an even more dedicated fan. The artistry that goes into these cakes is amazing – no question. What’s even more incredible is the environment and culture of the company that Duff created. He is the only trained pastry chef in his bakery, and many of the other people at Charm City were his friends long before he opened the bakery. Charm City Cakes has one rule – you must have fun! Their website proudly states, “There are no limits to what we can do here at Charm City Cakes. You dream it, we’ll bake it, you eat it.” Just watching the show you see what great camaraderie the group has. They collaborate, they have artistic freedom, and they share a tremendous amount of trust and support. It is one of the best models for a business I’ve ever seen. They work hard, they laugh, and they play. Warning – watching too much of the show may make you want to quit your job and create a company that’s as much fun as Charm City Cakes.

Duff and his team are a great example of what’s possible in business. He wanted to do things his way and he wanted to work with his friends. Duff is a great leader – he doesn’t need to stand over them and approve all of their work. In actuality, he can’t – there’s too much to do and the only way to get all those gorgeous cakes made is to have an entire team that he trusts to do exceptional work. They’ve never once let one another down, and the resulting success is staggering. Every entrepreneur class at every business school should study the case of Charm City Cakes – the students would be better off and so would the world of business.

business, career, food, new product development, travel

Raisinets and apple juice

Christa Avampato

Sometimes my curiosity has hindered my life – just when I get going in one direction, any directions, I spot something else out of the corner of my eye and dart off to check it out. Some call this a lack of commitment or ADHD. I call it an uncontrollable commitment to learning. So match this up with my occasional insomnia and love of working very hard, and I get myself caught up in some very…interesting…adventures. 


This week, I launched a very large project which I will be advertising once it officially goes live and makes it past the test hurdles. I’ve been zig-zagging up and down the east coast this week, knocking down hurdles with my 2-ton bat. At one point, I made the mistake of calculating how many hours I had been awake: 39.5. Scary…but worth it in the end. 

I was in the Philly airport dining on a sumptuous dinner of Raisinets and apple juice. I was so exhausted that I could barely sit down – sounds counter-intuitive, though think of it as the jitters from too much adrenaline pumping through your system for too long. The thought of a full meal was making me a little queasy. So I opted for my beverage and candy of choice. Just enough to re-fuel and sending me packing off on another business trip, while I was only midway through my travels from the previous trip. 
  
Prior to my “Dinner of Warriors” as my friend, Stephen, called it, I just didn’t think I could do any more. I was so worn out and frustrated and disappointed. All I needed to do was take a deep breathe and re-evaluate. And that re-evaluation helped me take the long view. Did this suck a little bit right now, canceling all my personal plans for the week, eating candy for dinner, and living in the same clothes for several days as I got sent off in every which direction to keep the wheels on the bus that is my product launch? Sure. But I have a little secret – I kind of like the rush and the excitement of churn and the unknown. It’s when I feel most alive. And this tough economy, it’s not such a bad trait to have. And today when I advocated for the product to launch and received the green light, it was worth it. Well worth it. 

So now that I am back and cozy in my New York apartment, smiling and on my way out for a celebratory drink with my friend, Cindy, I know if need be, I’ll do it all over again. And my guess is that the need will indeed exist in the not-so-distant future. Next time, I’ll remember a change of clothes and a toothbrush. There may be a lot of Raisinets and apple juice in my future.   
failure, food, friendship

When failure leads to friendship

Christa Avampato

I have a long list of subjects to write about with everything that is happening in the world at this moment. But I’m taking a little pause tonight to talk about a very simple subject, and one that is so crucial to getting through the times we’re all finding these days: friendship.


I was part of a team today working on a local charity fundraiser. I was to be the big finale – the chocolate fountain. I got the fountain from my mom and got started about an hour and a half in advance. It was melting just fine though not flowing properly. It was too gloppy and sticky. So I added so milk to thin it out. Bad idea. It turned to fudge. I was so upset – this was supposed to be the finale event of the day and it was quickly becoming a disaster. (For the record, if you need to thin chocolate, you need to add a little vegetable oil, not milk.) 

Until my co-host looked at me and said – let’s take the rest of the chocolate, melt it in the microwave, put it in a nice bowl, and put it out with the dipping items. People will love it. And they did. A few people asked where the advertised fountain was, but no one much cared. They were just happy to have any kind of treat at all. Another co-host announced that the fountain had become a fondue. And everyone accepted that change just fine. 

Despite the fact that I was disappointed about the fountain, I did feel good that I had failed at my task and a co-host was able to pick me back up and help me keep going. It’s this leaning on each other, helping one another deal with our disappointments, that’s going to save us in this tough economy. We need to be joiners and supporters as much as we need to be leaders and innovators. 

I wrapped up the goopy fountain and brought it home to clean. As I was rinsing off the last of the chocolate, I began to laugh at myself – a sure sign that the disappointment had passed. And I smiled knowing that friendship had filled in the space where failure had been. 
cancer, charity, children, cooking, design, food, philanthropy

Cupcakes for a Cause

Christa Avampato

That delightful time of year has arrived again: the leaves are changing, the air is crisp, and we can stuff our faces with the sweet, yummy goodness of cupcakes while doing some good in the world. The annual celebration of Cupcakes for a Cause kicked off today to benefit Cancercare for Kids. For the remainder of this week you can help the organization by picking up the goods at local bakeries around the country, all conveniently listed by state on the causes’s website.

Watching your diet? No problem. For every e-cupcake you send through the site, $1 will be donated to the charity, up to a cap of $10,000. You have some controlled functionality to design your own virtual cupcake or choose from a selection of beautiful stock designs. I’ve been happily sending them out this evening to family and friends and it’s almost as much fun as baking them myself.

So what are you waiting for? No time like the present to gobble up some cupcake goodness and help a worthwhile charity, all in one delicious bite.

Africa, environment, food, friendship, girl scounts, politics, sports, television, travel

10 little things

Christa Avampato

My friend, Julie, is in Tanzania for about 2 months. She’s on assignment with the Peace Corp and has started a blog to track her experiences. http://turnyourhead.wordpress.com/


On one of her posts, she takes a cue from her blogging sister and lists 10 little known things about her that are interesting and unique. I love the idea so much that I’m stealing it. Thanks for the inspiration, Jules 🙂

1.) The first profession I ever had an interest in was paleontology because I loved dinosaurs.
2.) When I was little, I memorized every fact about Africa that I could get my hands on and my mother would patiently listen to me go on for hours – if only we had the internet then.
3.) I was a Girl Scout until I was 12.
4.) I learned how to swim when I was 30.
5.) This is the first year I have ever been registered with a political party. My mother gave me a voter registration form when I turned 18 and until this year have always been an Independent.
6.) There is a tractor crossing sign on the road I grew up on. 
7.) The two countries I must visit some time in my life are Rwanda, to see the mountain gorillas, and Cuba because of the movie For Love or Country.
8.) I hate talking on the phone – it’s my least favorite form of communication
9.) My favorite charitable cause is environmental protection
10.) Mary Lou Retton was my childhood idol  
and a bonus fact:
11.) My sister and I have two common obsessions: The Gilmore Girls (my baby niece is named after Lorelei Gilmore!) and Dunkin’ Donuts (which we affectionately refer to as “Dunks”)
Chef Duff, children, crayola, food, New York, retail, toys r us

Let Crayola Eat Cake: Chef Duff from Ace of Cakes Visits Toys R Us Times Square for the 50th Birthday of Crayola’s 64-count Box

Christa Avampato

My grandpa was a candy maker so loving sweets of all kinds is in my blood. And my sweet of choice: cake. So when my boss, Bob, mentioned that I could join him at the Toys R Us Times Square store for the 50th birthday of Crayola’s 64-count box, I was ecstatic. Chef Duff from Ace of Cakes would be there presenting the centerpiece of every good birthday – the cake. It took 15 people two days to craft a perfect over-sized replica of the 64-count Crayola crayon box. And I can verify for you that after meeting him, he is as much fun and as down-to-Earth as he appears on the show, one of my favorite programs on TV. 

I arrived slightly before 9:00am, and the second floor of the store was already buzzing. PR, cameras, lights, even Dr. Crayola! And in the middle of all those glorious spotlights, this stunning cake and Chef Duff situating it to make sure it looked absolutely perfect at the unveiling. Bob did some b-roll prior to Dr. Crayola taking the stage, and then we had to hurry off to get Bob back for a meeting at the corporate office. 
The golden anniversary of Crayola’s 64-count box was a smashing success – a PR manager’s media dream: all the major networks, happy kids, and smiles filled with cake. To celebrate the occasion, Crayola held an on-line poll of kids to choose eight new Crayola colors. Looking at them, you have to smile. After all, they have names like “super happy”, a bright, sunny yellow. Who doesn’t have happy, creative memories of spending childhood hours coloring? (Fun fact – every year, U.S. children spend a collective 6.3 million hours coloring!) And what better way to celebrate than to let them all eat cake with Duff?!  
If you’d like to check out some pictures of the cake in the making at Charm City Cakes, visit http://www.charmcitycakes.com/noflash/index.cfm?rd=blog