By Khalida Sarwari
Ryan Flanigan is no stranger to flour, sugar and oil; he’s been around the stuff as long as he can remember. But it wasn’t until this year that the 22-year-old West Valley College student decided to take those ingredients and bake himself a new career.
Along with business partner Amber Yang, 21, Flanigan started a business called Caked with Love. The two entered their business model into the Silicon Valley StartUp Cup, a regional competition that provides an outlet for entrepreneurs who want to take an idea to market or grow an existing business.
“I’ve been baking all my life,” Flanigan said. “My mom and grandma both decorated cakes professionally, so it runs in the family.”
Flanigan described Caked with Love as a “mobile cake company.” Thanks to the newly passed cottage food operations law, which allows the preparation of non-hazardous foods in private home kitchens, Flanigan and Yang will be able to bake cakes and cupcakes at home and then deliver them to clients. Their demographic is anyone who wants to serve a customized cake at a gathering or party.
“Amber and I are the ones doing the baking,” Flanigan explained. “It was basically born out of our passion; we love baking and thought it’d be fun to take it to the next level and start a company and start sharing our love of baking.”
The two are working on building a client list and website where people can place orders. The duo’s long-term vision is to transition into a bricks-and-mortar operation, but maintain the catering element of the business. They’re targeting Santana Row or a similar place to open their first shop with plans to expand from the South Bay to the rest of the Bay Area and state, and eventually across the country.
StartUp Cup has given Flanigan and Yang an opportunity to receive free coaching from business experts in sessions held at West Valley College. After giving a five-minute pitch to a panel of judges in the second round in September, Flanigan and Yang were among seven finalists to advance to the final round, which will be held Oct. 30 at CreaTV in San Jose.
“It’s totally awesome. We honestly didn’t expect to make it this far,” Flanigan said. “The coaching and judging has helped us a lot with getting our business started. It’s well worth looking into for anyone that’s starting a company.”
At the conclusion of the competition, judges will select the top three business models, which will be announced on Nov. 21 at an awards celebration during Global Entrepreneurship Week. The winners of StartUp Cup will receive targeted coaching time focused on their business model needs.
Meanwhile, Flanigan will focus on not only improving his business model, but also on his work and courses at West Valley College. He has a degree in business communications, but is taking additional courses while he works as a facilities manager on campus. He lives in San Jose.
Yang is a senior at Santa Clara University and lives in Santa Clara.
For a complete list of finalists, visit siliconvalley.startupcup.com.
