For fourth-year College student Margot Mellon, what started out as a casual baking hobby for service projects has turned into a fruitful and promising entrepreneurial endeavor.
Mellon recently started her own business — Merci, Margot Cupcakes — which delivers homemade cupcakes for $2 per treat. After gaining experience at a bakery during the summer and baking for many events for her service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, she decided to take that knowledge and turn it into a business venture. To place an order, all that’s needed is a text to Mellon, and a bit of patience for the delivery.
“I think there is a niche within U.Va. for this kind of service,” Mellon said. “There is Campus Cookies, and this is kind of on par with that … I deliver to people [and] it’s not as expensive as going to an actual bakery and buying cupcakes.”
Though Mellon has tried various marketing techniques to let people know about her business, she said the most effective method of promotion has been word of mouth.
“I think that cupcakes make people happy,” Mellon said with a giggle. “I know they’re not very good for people, but I think [they’re] definitely worth a lot — just to get somebody a moment of their day when they can enjoy a cupcake.”
The business is run entirely out of Mellon’s kitchen, allowing her to be very flexible and to cater to individual needs.
“I like the fact that she hand delivers her cupcakes so you really get to know her,” said third-year College student Lydia Prokosch, Mellon’s roommate. “Each [cupcake] you can tell has a lot of love put into it.”
At the moment, Mellon offers red velvet with cream cheese icing, pumpkin cake with cream cheese buttercream icing, chocolate cake with peanut buttercream icing, and any combination of chocolate and vanilla.
“I’m not a particularly science-y person, but I like the precision of baking, and the science of food really fascinates me,” Mellon said. “I have the classic mother who is a great cook and baked a lot [when I was] growing up.”
Though she’ll be graduating in a little more than two months, Mellon’s not looking too far into the future when it comes to her cupcake business.
“I definitely am interested in the business side of it and how I could possibly grow it, but no plans right now to open a shop,” she said. “We’ll see.”
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