8 | FEATURE | Iowa State Daily | Thursday, June 14, 2012
Business
Cupcake Emporium whips up personality By Frances.Myers @iowastatedaily.com Walking in, the atmosphere feels like something out of the ‘50s. Oldies music plays in the background, just loud enough to be heard but not at a distracting level. The smells of chocolate and peanut butter waft through the air, luring customers to a display case filled with rows upon rows of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes topped with frosting, sprinkles, caramel, peanut butter cups and cherries. The style of the place is unique, just the way the owner, Tawnya Zerr, likes it. “I definitely didn’t want a place where a guy would come in and feel like he had to hurry
up in here and get out of here,” Zerr said. “I didn’t want a pink place like most of the cupcake places are.” Everybody told her she was crazy to think such a thing could bring a profit. But that did not stop Zerr from opening her own shop on Main Street in Ames. Now she is the proud owner of a thriving Cupcake Emporium. “They thought I was crazy,” Zerr said. “I mean, now cupcakes are everywhere, but two and a half years ago, it wasn’t in the Midwest at all yet. I remember telling people at church and they were like, ‘Ooh what are you doing? Well, you know Johnny just lost his job.’ That’s all I ever heard was,
‘Oh that’s not smart.’” Graduating from Des Moines Area Community College with a degree in welding, baking may not be the first thing that comes to mind when utilizing such a degree, but baking had become a hobby of Zerr’s while in college. “Once I went to college, I got sick of noodles within a month,” Zerr said. “So I started trying to figure out how to make my own food. From there I started realizing that homemade things were much better than store bought things. So I started getting pickier and pickier and then I only wanted fresh, homemade things.” When Zerr opened up the
CUPCAKES.p9 >>
Photo: Kendra Plathe/Iowa State Daily Cupcake Emporium is located on Main Street and makes, bakes and decorates more than 90 different kinds of cupcakes.