Entrepreneurship in Belgium: Queen of cupcakes, Leila Strebelle

Name: Leila Strebelle
Nationality: Belgian-American
Age: 44
Location: Brussels
Sector: Bakery

Ah, cupcakes. These sweet morsels of sugary goodness have become a veritable craze in popular culture since Carrie Bradshaw first adored them in Sex and the City over a decade ago. With whimsical and colorful confections, cupcakes conjure up memories of childhood and stir a sense of cute femininity among their legions of fans. (Er… unless you read Jezebel). Cupcakes are after all just plain fun. No serving utensils are required, just unwrap and eat…even in the bathtub like Lena Dunham in HBO’s hit series Girls.

Why cupcakes?
I grew up in Brussels with an American mother who often made cakes as a treat. Cookingquickly became a passion that I shared with my mother, but never thought I could pursue professionally. Instead, I followed in my Belgian father’s footsteps. He was a sculptor and I too developed my artistic side as a painter. At one point I worked in Santa Barbara, California, as a children’s illustrator. At 31, I discovered that cupcakes were the perfect combination of my love for baking and fanciful, fun art. 

How did you get started?
I had been working as a caterer at a raw, slow food restaurant in Brussels for eight years when I started Lilicup. I had just had my first child and I wanted a job with more flexibility. On a whim, I decided to try baking and selling cupcakes out of my house with my neighbour Vanessa, who has great business acumen. I advertised in my social network from my catering years and among my ‘new mom’ friends. We started out selling 200 cupcakes a day and we sold out by noon each day. We simply couldn’t keep up with demand and knew we had something big.

How did you develop your recipes?
Cupcakes had become an international craze and I didn’t want to rely on my own recipes alone. So, Vanessa and I went on a cupcake eating tour of the world! We went to the best bakeries in London and Paris and then made our way to New York. We found that the best cakes were moist and soft with just the right amount of rich ingredients to avoid overpowering the taste. We decided to avoid buttercream in frosting wherever possible in favour of lighter cream cheese. After years of experimenting, today we offer 24 flavors and two specials each day.

How many cupcakes do you typically sell?
Saturday is our biggest day, when we sell 2,000 cupcakes with prices starting at €2.90. During the week, we sell between 600 and 800 a day. We do a lot of custom orders for special events like weddings and have a growing number of corporate clients since we can add logos to the frosting. Cupcakes are a delicious way to promote your business.

Cupcakes have been great business for the last decade, but the ‘cupcake bubble’ burst recently with prominent bakeries like Magnolia in New York falling on hard times. Are you concerned about the longevity of your business?      
No, because we have been exceptionally careful to avoid their mistakes. We want to maintain our boutique-business model. Although we are looking to expand our business with another location, we are carefully planning this decision so we can maintain our signature quality. We do not want to sacrifice our great taste for growth. We don’t intend to franchise, even though we have received offers.  We feel good about our competitiveness. Even though there are now three other cupcake shops in Brussels, our customers continue to choose us because we offer the best taste, service and overall experience.

You are exactly the type of model female entrepreneur that the Belgian government is anxious to promote. Do you have any advice for lawmakers?
The business environment continues to be very male-dominated here. I didn’t have any female role models or mentors when I started out. I felt very much on my own. Other countries in Europe perform better than Belgium when it comes to supporting female-owned small businesses. Legislators should look to foreign models to identify and implement best practices. I think that all business owners can agree, regardless of gender, that the labour laws need to become more flexible. It is ridiculously expensive to hire staff and hard to fire them if it doesn’t work out. We employ eight people, but if the labour laws were more flexible I would hire more.