Bitter-Sweet Taste of Cupcake

It was one of London's rainy Wednesdays when Melissa Morgan was heading to the Greenwich Market with three dozens of handmade cakes to sell. It was her trial day. With her mum by her side, who came specially for that day from Canada, it seemed like a first day at school. 
It was cold, Melissa wasn't sure if she had made a right decision and she was scared of other traders who would be following her every step and observing her throughout the day. Despite all that, she and her mum stayed at the Greenwich Market for the whole day - freezing but filled with joy as they sold all the cakes long before the closing time.

That was in 2010. Now Melissa Morgan is well-known London vegan sweets maker. But she is not going to finish planning and dreaming, because as she says, every time one dream is fulfilled another is born. And her cupcake oriented mind stores many dreams – having a stall and a shop was only the beginning. With her own cook book on the horizon, having a TV show will be the next step. 

From teaching to baking

The story begins some time before the stall in Greenwich Market. She was teaching drama and music in primary schools and doing a lot of consultancy, so she traveled extensively around the UK. Melissa loved her job but everyone around encouraged her to do something about her passion for baking. She had always loved making sweets and was giving them to family and friends as gifts. As a vegan she had been looking for suitable treats in London but found nothing interesting. Nagged by her friends and family she started researching how to run business from her own kitchen and sell hand-made products at the market.

She had no idea about running a business but was good in asking questions. "I went to several workshops. I phoned different kind of authorities to find out what my kitchen had to have to be considered safe. I also researched London markets to find out where could I sell the most but also where I would have a chance to build relationships with the customers" Melissa recalls.

Ms. Cupcake is born

When she was given a stall for a trial at the Greenwich Market she was ready with the products and business idea. She had already set up a fanpage on Facebook and an account on Twitter and was communicating with potential customers. For them she was Ms. Cupcake. Because of the relationship she had built, customers started coming to Greenwich. That's what market owners liked and allowed Melissa to sell there few days a week on a regular basis.

Soon another opportunity came - this time it was an offer from Brick Lane market, one of the trendiest markets in London. - I thought I would be teaching few days a week and the rest would be baking and selling cakes at the market. Very soon I realised it was impossible and I needed to  make a decision what to do. My family gave me a year to try. We made an ultimatum, if it didn't work, I would go back to teaching" says Ms. Cupcake. This is how she became full-time market trader. "I was waking up at 6 am, packing my car and from 8 am to 5.30 pm I was at the market. Boxes with supplies were everywhere, even in my bedroom" Melissa laughs. She needed help "I hired Derek, who is now Ms.Cupcake's shop manager, to help me. It meant I had a stranger in my kitchen while I wasn't at home".

In the beginning it didn't seem like fulfilling a dream. "Very quickly I realised I needed to change something, otherwise I would go mad. We had to move to a permanent shop" admits Melissa. Asked, if  it didn't happen too quick, she answers firmly "I had already made a decision that I was not going back to teaching, so I had to make a move. It meant even bigger responsibility but  it was also a chance to get closer to the customers."

Before opening a shop she took two weeks of 'holidays'. – I toured some of  the biggest American cities – NYC, Jersey, and Philadelphia and visited vegan cake shops. The owners were more than happy to talk to me when they heard I was going to open something like this in London." With every conversation, she picture of her business was getting clearer. She was on a mission of fulfilling her customers' dreams of vegan birthday and wedding cakes. She not only had the idea but also location to make it come true - it was in Brixton market in south London where she is still based. Three weeks before opening she realised she still needed around ₤1000. With her team they set up the stall in front of the shop-to-be and started selling the cakes to earn that money for. They made it.

More than just a cupcake

Shop opened the Brixton shop on anniversary of her first day at the market. It was 1st April 2011, Fool's Day. But the business wasn't a joke at all. "Once we started, I again had to think outside the box because the shop wouldn't earn all the money" says Melissa openly. She started giving classes. After hours she was teaching how to decorate cupcakes but also how to run a business from home and at the market. The classes proved successful and are now organised regularly. If you pass Ms. Cupcake's shop on some of the evenings you will see a group of several people starring at her and soaking every of her word. Asked, if she is not afraid of competition, she answers that it’s her duty to share the knowledge she got and let others open their own businesses. She knows what they need to go through, because she had to do it herself. – Each person who comes to the classes has different personality and also the business they want to set up is different than all others. This is why I’m not afraid of selling my ideas."

If that wasn't enough, Melissa speaks at the conferences, writes for magazines and is preparing a cook book to be published in 2013, as well as a TV show. Her growing popularity is not only the consequence of high quality of her products but also of Melissa's personality. "Name and character of Ms. Cupcake came before everything else. It helps me to express myself. Even my shop and home look similar" she says.

Love and passion for vegan sweets of this energetic Canadian woman, who has lived in the UK for many years, is visible and contagious. As she says, she looks at business from non-business perspective. She enjoys every day in the shop and every part of her business. And is always on the look for new opportunities.

She also does manage the business in a fair way. "I don’t pay minimum wage, because it would mean staff involvement is also minimum. By paying them fair money I get great and passionate people who are fulfilling their dreams in the shop" admits Melissa.

Derek, Sara, Fibi, Jhenn and Tracy couldn't live without Ms.Cupcake and her products. And she couldn't live without them. Every day they have great fun creating new recipes, especially when they try to turn non-vegan food into vegan. Recently they tried it with lemon curd! That must have been real fun. "I hire the most creative people from different parts of the world and we all together make this company fun" says Melissa.

Is Ms. Cupcake ever going to stop? "My brain is like one big cupcake. I want to go on a national level but I'm not ready yet". Even though different supermarket chains wanted to sell her products she keeps saying no. "I’m not yet ready. I am also not yet ready to open another shop in a different city. I feel you can only grow to the point you’re really ready for" she says. Maybe it’s not a usual business approach but Ms.Cupcake knows why and what she is doing and sooner or later she will bake many more cupcakes with her attitude. 

Brixton Village: 21st century village?

It is a village like no other. Market called previously Granville Arcade, established in 1920s, now exists with a name of Brixton Village. It was rejuvenated a few years ago and now it has a new spirit created by local traders. 

Margot, the owner of Leftovers, a shop with vintage French clothes, Anna, co-owner of Cornercopia, a restaurant selling only local food products, Emy, owner of Brixi that sells various items made mostly by young local designers, and Leona who sells vintage clothes tell their personal stories about Brixton Village.

Margot, Leftovers: Two years ago, in the village there was, among other units, a Colombian restaurant, a hairdresser but mainly drug dealers. It wasn’t a nice place, rather dodgy.

Anne, Cornercopia: No one was here before us. Units had no electricity or any other facilities. Simply nothing.

Margot: It was Spacemakers agency who wanted to re-create this place. I was coming to Brixton for shopping and found out about competition to run the business in Brixton Village.

Anne: Me and my partner had been living in Brixton for many years and heard about empty shops’ competition. We were really broken that time but wanted to give it a try. We were chosen as one of fifteen businesses and won three months free from rent. We started from making products ourselves and bringing one piece of furniture after another. Three months had passed until we got table and chairs. By the summer we had four sets. Friends helped us to paint and decorate the space – we were doing that during the day and in the night we were making jars to sell. It was exhausting.

Leona, sells vintage clothes: I was coming to Brixton Village for shopping and a friend, who is doing sequins work, recommended me to sell my vintage clothes collection in one of the existing shops. The clothes I sell are unique, authentic, different and one of a kind. This is why Brixton Village is good place to show them.

Emy, Brixi: I came here in the beginning of 2011, around a year after it had been reorganised. It was already well-developed and most of the shops were fully functioning. I saw and see a potential in this market. It has mentality of market and it is community oriented.

Margot: Brixton Village opened in December [2010]. The time before Christmas was successful but January and February were really hard because it was so cold and we didn’t have any heating here.

Anne: We were encouraging people to come but it wasn’t an easy job. Every evening and night there was an event – concert, movies screening, artistic performance or a workshop. During first six months around one thousand performances were organised in here - you never knew what was going to happen. The market became a theatre.

Margot: As a result more customers started coming in the summer. We weren’t using any advertisement, apart from the word of mouth. It was the best strategy, because people perceived Brixton Village as something mysterious and yet undiscovered, so they wanted to come and see.

Leona: Brixton went through an extraordinary change. It’s growing and now it reminds me about Brooklyn, New York. Brixton Village is going vintage and becoming very characteristic. It’s getting its own style.

Margot: It offers great food for fair money. I don’t know about similar place anywhere else. There is the Elephant with Pakistani street food and Cornercopia with ultra local products.

Emy: Village has a mix of old and new traders. Here, you can find an art boutique opposite a Colombian restaurant or Chinese medicine shop. You can’t get it anywhere else. It became more commercial than it had been in the beginning but still it has unique spirit.

Leona: It’s a collective spirit.

Emy: We are rather complementing each other than competing. Traders borrow things from each other. All together we’re family.

Leona: It has special vibe. Different ethnicities meet here. Sometimes, I feel like I was in Caribbean.

Emy: Brixton Village became a venue. Whenever you come, there is something going on. It’s popular but hidden and not so obvious for everyone. All traders share enthusiasm for this location and money is rather a bonus.

Anne: Now it’s a bit less of collective spirit but still the atmosphere is unique.

Emy: Brixton Village is developing in a good direction but it would be good if there was a balance between food places and traders, so it doesn’t become only a food destination.

Leona: I would like more shops to open here, not only with vintage clothes but with different range of products. It would create more chilled out atmosphere. And they should put Wi-Fi here. Come on we’re in 2012 and there’s no Wi-Fi in Brixton Village.

Leftovers from scratches

Margot Waggoner’s, half French, half American girl living in London, dream to open shop with vintage clothes came true much sooner than she'd expected. Once opened she thought it wouldn't survive longer than three months, but Leftovers has been growing for two and half years. She says she was lucky, I say she found her niche.

When you come in to Leftovers, a shop with French vintage clothes in Brixton Village in South London, you are welcomed by clothes hanging from the ceiling, on the walls and on the railings. Clothes are all over this tiny place. You feel like you entered an old attic where you can browse for a whole day and you can be sure you'll find a fashion gem or two. Behind the counter sits a frail brown-hair girl welcoming you with a smile and engaging small talk. That’s Margot Waggoner. Her small unit in this South London market is full of clothes brought from south of France and from Paris. She looks for them at flea markets, in vintage shops and on the clearances at the castles for sale! London  airport staff doesn’t check her documents anymore, because they know who “the girl with the bags” is. At the moment she can’t count how many clothes she displays but they are all over the shop – children’s clothes, dresses and accessories.
The beginning wasn’t easy though, and Margot didn’t even expect to run the business for longer than a few months. But it seems that her passion, energy and spirit, and courage to take a risk, won.

From Paris to London

Margot studied Fashion Design in Paris but didn’t want to be a designer. She thought she could be a stylist. While still studying life led her to work in a shop with vintage clothes and antiques run by Brigitte Compagne. It's more of an institution than an ordinary shop - top designers, film producers and costume designers go there to find an inspiration, costumes for the movies, or to have a chat with the owner. Margot continued to work there after her graduation in 2008. She admits: " I learnt there how to make a business". After she moved to London to be with her boyfriend, she did an internship at Alexander McQueen's. – While there I realised didn’t want to go deeper into the fashion industry because this business seemed too stressful and too fast paced. I love clothes but I hate fashion, because it has nothing to do with each other –  the owner of the Leftovers comments. She was dreaming to own a shop but was sure that such a thing can’t happen any sooner than in 20-30 years. The opportunity came as a surprise. - I was coming to Brixton for shopping and found out about competition to run a business in Brixton Village. My boyfriend, who is an accountant, helped me to write the business plan and the agency organising the competition accepted it – Margot tells the story. That time many new businesses moved in to Brixton Village.

Welcome to Brixton

At the time Brixton Village wasn’t a place where people wanted to go. There were Colombian restaurant, a hairdresser and… drug dealers. Spacemakers, an agency which specializes in recreating urban space, took the challenge to rejuvenate Brixton Village, and it was them, who announced the competition. Businesses that won were allowed not to pay a rent for three months but the units they were given required a fundamental refurbishment. That’s when Margot thought that her shop will survive only three months. She had some clothes ready to sell as she had been collecting them, so when the opportunity to open her own shop appeared, she was ready. - I had around twenty pieces of clothes, but Brigitte, from the antique shop in Paris, offered me some more and in return we shared the income – explains Margot. Even now her mentor supports her by advertising Leftovers on her own shop website.

What am I doing here?

In the beginning it wasn’t easy. It was cold and customers weren’t many. Doubts if she had made a right decision were unavoidable. - We opened in December, so time before Christmas was pretty successful. January and February were really hard, because it was cold and we didn’t have any heating. In the beginning, there were weeks when I wouldn’t see people in here. It was depressing. When my mum or my boyfriend called I had hoarseness because I wasn’t talking to anyone for a whole day – says Margot. She was making enough money to pay the bills and buy a lunch. Thankfully she didn't need a loan to start the business, so she could be thinking about expanding. She started her business from savings and with friends’ help. Somehow she survived the tough times.

 Her patience was rewarded that summer. It became warmer and Brixton Village became more popular. People started coming and the shop started making a real profit. She became her own boss, learnt book-keeping and other skills. Business is only in her hands, so she barely have time to rest - in past two years she had only few chances for short getaways but nothing longer. Margot started thinking to hire someone but she realises she is not yet able to pay them enough money. – I don’t want to pay minimum wage because I know what does it mean to work for such  money. I prefer to wait and find someone in the right time – a person who will be happy to come to Leftovers and meet people everyday – explains Margot. This is what can be called a responsible business.

A nose for success

Margot thinks her success lies in the clothes she sells. They all come from France, so for the English customers they are unique. Moreover, she puts her heart into searching and knows the industry she is working in. It's being noticed and Leftovers are being mentioned in press like ASOS Magazine. It was singer Jessie Ware who recommended Leftovers in an interview there. 

Now, when the business is going in the right direction, Margot can think about further development. - My next steps are to set up the website and online shop. My shop can’t be bigger, so I choose to expand online – she admits. Margot admits that London is catalyst of her success. - While I was in France I thought that opening my own shop is impossible – customers and investors there have less trust for young people. In London they see their energy and risk they take and appreciate that – admits owner of the Leftovers. Her success sets a path for others.

written by: joanna sopylo-firrisa