Baking Changing Lives into Your Business Model

By Dan Winter and Amy Vodarek

April 6, 2023

In this episode, Dan Winter and Amy Vodarek discuss how Cake4Kids makes birthdays memorable for kids across the U.S. 

Allison Bakewell is the executive director for Cake4Kids, a multistate volunteer-powered organization that delivers free custom birthday cakes to at-risk children and youth around the country. 

Cake4kids' unique business model ensures birthday cakes are baked and delivered to kids in foster care, kinship care, group homes, survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, and those living in low-income housing with or without parents, or experiencing homelessness.

Originally a volunteer baker, Alison realized she could be more valuable in operations and in helping to scale up the whole organization. While expanding rapidly to cities across the country, she found that the most important thing is finding the balance between growing more, preserving the organization’s ethos, and ensuring they have the right leaders and volunteers to create new chapters and ensure they thrive.

‘’Our mission is to make the child happy with the cake and give the baker a seamless volunteer experience. ‘’

Alison is looking at the horizon of new possibilities. The company started with 13 cakes in its first year and has grown to make 12,000 kids smile with their custom birthday cakes. Cake4kids is developing the infrastructure, processes, funding, and membership to deliver 50,000 cakes per year. 

‘’I definitely see kids who have had birthday cakes and are now in a situation where they don't get one. So they know the importance of someone remembering their day and making a big deal about them, celebrating them. And then you have kids who have never had a birthday cake. We've had 22-year-olds who've never had a birthday cake in their entire life. And the first time they get it, it's like, ‘Wow, someone cared enough to take the time out of their day to do something for me. They don't even know me; I must be special if someone's willing to do that for me.“ 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Check out Cake4kids here: https://www.cake4kids.org/
If you’re interested in starting Cake4Kids in your area, learn how to Start a Chapter!