SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) Rebecca Riley had been in the food industry for many years, but never thought about opening up her own shop. One night at her former job at Denny’s, she encountered a woman who told her she should think about selling the baked goods that she would serve at the restaurant. She believed that if Riley was so good at making the desserts at that restaurant, she should be amazing at creating her own. At first, Riley didn’t think anything of it until the woman left her with a special tip
“She said there’s an extra $10 there,” Riley said. “Start out by selling to your friends and family, charge them really cheap and just do it.”
Rebecca was able to take that $10 and start out by selling locally from her house with the help of her husband. When that started to grow, they decided to rent out a kitchen to meet the demands of the people who wanted her desserts. They hadn’t thought about a storefront until a friend messaged her on Facebook about another bakery that had closed down. The owner was looking to rent out the building.
“She offered his number, and I didn’t talk to him for a while because I didn’t think it was in the cards for us.” Riley said. “Finally I turned to my husband one night and told him, ‘We can do this,’ and I called him the next day and then the building was ours.”
They opened Peace, Love and Cupcakes within the next few months but would soon have to shut down due to health violations from the building. This devastated Riley, but she would not let that stop her. She and her husband would soon start up again selling cookie dough from their home. One day out delivering, Riley encountered a woman who said she knew of a vacant building in downtown Syracuse Armory Square that she could use.
Unsure if she should risk it again, Riley went to her husband again and together they created a game plan of how they would be able to fundraise enough to open again.
“I told him we would have to sell about 150 orders for about $20 then we can really try to do this. Four days later we had about 300 orders,” Riley said.
They would sign their lease and reopen Peace Love and Cupcakes in October of 2020 despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout all of this, Rebecca Riley has her husband Chris Riley in her corner.
“My role here is mainly supporting her,” Chris Riley said. “I do a lot for everything else but the only thing I don’t do is decorate right now, I leave that to her.”
However, there would be one more challenge they would have to face. Rebecca Riley unfortunately tested post for COVID-19 back in February and had to shut down the bakery for a couple weeks. Despite this, she was astonished by the amount of support she received from her customers.
“They were asking me how they can help, some even said they could come in and help my husband if we were able to be open and I was so grateful for that,” Riley said. “It was amazing.”
In the end, Riley got back on her feet and reopened the bakery with no plans on looking back. She continues making people happy with her creations and has more plans to grow. In the end, she is happy to bring Peace, Love and Cupcakes.
