Luke’s Custom Cakes

The newest bakery on High Street “Luke’s Custom Cakes” opened in August of 2021 by 22-year-old, selftaught local Luke Heizer in the historic Robinson Schewnn building. After operating out of his parent’s house for several years before outgrowing the space, Luke has already begun to work on an expansion into the back of the new location due to how booming the business is. The 12 employees, plus Luke himself, take on roughly 50 custom orders a week. The new shop offers custom cakes as well as a selection of ready-made sweets including cupcakes, cookies, and slices of pre-prepared cakes from the display case. Customers can also purchase coffee and party supplies such as balloons and cards.

Where are you from?

I live in Trenton, so only 15 minutes away. I went to school at Edgewood. I’ve always gone to Hamilton for everything though, I feel like.

What’s it like owning a business so young?

It’s very fun, but it’s also so much stress. Being 22 and having this much responsibility can be hard, especially because other people my age are not doing this, so there aren’t a lot of people to relate to. But I feel like I might as well try now, versus later down the road when I might have children or other responsibilities that would make it a lot more difficult. So that’s why I was like, let’s just try it. And it’s been fun, and a lot of challenges, which I like.

How did cake decorating go from a hobby to a business?

I’ve always liked baking. My mom and I would bake together, and l also had this babysitter who would take me to the library to get cookbooks, and then we’d come back and bake a bunch of stuff and decorate it, leaving the kitchen a complete mess while my parents were at work. So I was always experimenting and trying things on my own. At one point my mom took a picture of one of my cakes and showed her coworkers, and they were like “oh my gosh, can you make a cake for my son’s birthday?” So that was the first cake that I “sold.” It was never like “Okay, I’m starting a business, this is what I’m doing.” It was just, I liked doing it, and then people started wanting me to do it for them.

Why did you decide to open a storefront?

Well, I knew we needed to do something because I was killing myself with all the orders at the house. And I knew there was the potential to get more, except I couldn’t because it was just me and my mom. So I was like, what do I do? I was essentially stuck there unless I moved, that was the only other option. I’m the kind of person that whenever I think of doing something, it’s already done. So I talked to several different people, and a lot of them, surprisingly, were like “I don’t know if you should do that.” They were very unsure. And that made me even more motivated, like I’m really gonna do it now, just to prove you wrong.

How was the transition from home to storefront?

It’s a lot different in the sense that before, at my parent’s house, it all had to be pre-orders. So I could plan my week based on that, and I knew what to expect, versus here, it can change one day to the next. Someone could call right now and order 10 dozen cupcakes, whereas at the house that couldn’t happen. So it’s nice that we’re able to take on more orders and get them done quicker, when at the house we needed more notice. Also, having employees. I definitely had to employ my mom, but I also have 12 more employees. It went from just us to a whole lot more. So that has been very different.

What was the process of getting this location?

We started looking for space in different areas. We knew we wanted to stay relatively close to Trenton, just because I had already built up such a large clientele base there. So we looked there first, but I didn’t feel like it was the best area in terms of foot traffic, and it was also extremely expensive. Then we met with Mallory Greenham and Aaron Hufford with the City of Hamilton. It was all very relaxed, like we were just going to see what it was, what it would be like, how much it would be. They showed us several different properties, and then Mallory found out this one was going to be available soon. I wanted to make sure I moved relatively fast on it because I knew this space would be rented right away, and I didn’t really want to take that chance. So we moved pretty quickly. I signed the lease for the space, and then we started renovating it.

How was the renovation?

I do a lot of projects at home, and my dad has always done that too, so I knew a lot of the stuff we wanted to do ourselves. It was really fun, but it was a lot of work. Because at the same time, I was still taking all these cake orders. I mean, I couldn’t pause them, because then I would have no money to pay for the renovation. So we would do cakes all day and then come here at night, or my dad would come after work. All week, every weekend, all my family would come and help too. It’s been a lot of work to get to this point, but it was all kind of just, let’s just try it and see how it goes. And if it doesn’t work out then it doesn’t work out. So that’s kind of why I was like, let’s just try it. We’ll see what happens.

How has the business grown?

I remember several years ago, I would only have four or five cakes in a weekend. Because, I mean, it was just me doing it and I was still learning. And then that number grew over the years because I was growing myself, my skills were improving, and I could get things done faster. Then my mom started reducing her hours at work to help me because I was getting so many orders that I couldn’t do it all. So she started taking over the baking aspect. Then, when we moved in here, I knew that we needed to take even more orders, just because we have a lot more overhead now. So I had to figure out how to balance what I needed to make in order to have everything get paid, as the bare minimum, and then how many more we could do on top of that without compromising quality, because I can slap cakes together all day to get them out there, but may not look great. So, for example, on Easter weekend we had over 20 cakes, and then several dozen orders of cupcakes and cookies. So I don’t know the exact number, but I know it’s definitely quadrupled from even last year.

Do you still decorate?

It’s a hard balance. I like decorating cakes still, and I obviously want things done to the standard my customers have expected from me in the past 6 years. But then that pulls me away from doing the business side of things, which also needs to get done. So usually I jump around; I’m in my office doing stuff on my computer, or I’ll be in the front, or I’ll be decorating. Just whatever needs to get done is usually where I’m at.

What was it like working with the city?

Aaron and Mallory had both ordered cakes from me before, but at that time I didn’t know they worked with the city. And one day Aaron came over and was like, “Hey, if you ever want to talk and see what your options would be, let’s do it.” So we set up a meeting, and everything was very different from some of the other places that I’d looked at, where it wasn’t so easy or accessible. We just walked in, and they had all this stuff ready to go for us. From that very first meeting, all the way up until I opened the store, Mallory has been the most helpful person. If she doesn’t know, she directs me to someone that will. She laid out exactly what she needed us to do, that way I could just go down the list like, okay, it’s all done. Everything has been very easy with the city, especially with the different programs they have, like helping with the decals and the seating outside. And the fact that they’re willing to make sure we’re happy, in a sense. I mean, Mallory has reached out, numerous different people have reached out, just saying “how are things going?” Or like, “is there anything that we can do?” I think it’s just nice to know that they hear us, or they’re going to help in any way that they can. That’s been really great.

Significant progress was made on the highly anticipated Spooky Nook Sports Complex at Champion Mill in 2021. Major construction work was completed, including framing, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, windows, and drywall. The job portal also launched early in the year, and the first two hires were announced in March: Lisa Disbro, a Hamilton native with over 28 years of industry experience, as Director of Hospitality; and Matt Lengel, a former Bengals player who has trained and taught at the Lancaster location, as Director of Facility Operations. The project is expected to open in Spring of 2022, after first breaking ground in 2018. It will be the largest indoor sports complex in North America, bringing over 650,000 square feet of athletic surfaces, as well as a 233 room hotel with on-site restaurant and retail space. The $156 million project will create over 500 jobs, generate over $90 million in annual revenue, and bring over 10,000 visitors in a single weekend, who will spill over into local businesses throughout the city.