LadyCakes nears grand reopening at new location
A popular Cape Coral bakery that closed earlier this year to find a new location is poised to reopen after a tumultuous seven months.
LadyCakes Bakery, a Cape go-to that has spent the last 10 years providing tasty sweet treats to members of the community and beyond, is just about ready to write its next chapter in its new home.
On Jan. 1, LadyCakes will reopen its doors, now along Cape Coral Parkway, with a fresh look and new recipes, while still concocting the favorites its customers love.
LadyCakes has a long history of success during its time in the city, including being voted “Best Bakery” from 2014 to 2023 in The Breeze’s “Best Of” readers choice competition, and was honored as one of the top 10 Best Bakeries in the state in 2019.
Owner Bess Charles, who operates the bakery with her husband Jeff, said the new spot, located at 447 Cape Coral Parkway East, will feature all of the same beloved cake and cupcake creations, with a new, fun urban twist.
LadyCakes will feature a graffiti wall created by Charles, a one-of-a-kind space for fun photo opportunities, and other experiences.
“When you walk in the door, you’re immediately greeted with just fun, creative energy,” Charles said. “I’m really excited for everyone to come visit the space and see what we’ve done with it. It’s new, and it’s bright, and it’s colorful, and it’s fun. It’s got a little edgy twist about it which is kind of cool.”
Charles is excited about the new integrations to the cupcake menu, with time-tested favorites still available.
LadyCakes is also chomping at the bit to be able to welcome back patrons to a brick-and-mortar location.
Starting out a revamped venture on the first day of a new year, the sky’s the limit for LadyCakes.
“I feel refreshed,” Charles said. “I feel we can only go up from here. We might have taken a few steps back over the last few months, but we’re ready. We’re ready to kick this thing into high-gear, and we’re hoping the community rallies around us. Without the support of our community,Landraces wouldn’t have been a thing 10 years ago, and it certainly wouldn’t be what it is today without them.”
Charles, who grew up baking with her mother and grandmother, has always had a passion for baking and letting her creative side out. What started as a passion project in her kitchen that became overwhelming, she and her husband, who has a background in restaurant management, dove head-first into creating Landraces in 2014 and haven’t looked back.
LadyCakes specializes in custom creations and custom cakes for all occasions. Every day on-site they offer cupcakes, brownies, cookies, and plenty of other goodies, including pre-made cakes that can be inscribed. You can’t pass up on their popular “crumb-bun” that sells out every day, which is a rich, buttery cake base topped with a pile of cinnamon and sugar crumble mixture.
The new location is at 447 Cape Coral Pkwy E., units 102/103.
For more information on LadyCakes, visit iloveladycakes.com or find them on social media @iloveladycakes.
Challenges overcome
For local customers impatiently awaiting the reopening at the new location, Charles said the process was arduous — painfully lengthy and ultimately, needlessly costly.
When LadyCakes announced its closure back in June, Charles thought the new spot would be ready to open by the end of July/early August.
As time passed, so did the opportunity for business, especially during the busy holiday season.
“The process has been absolutely grueling,” Charles said. “Over the last seven months, I’ve heard of so many businesses closing, because of permitting and because of hiccups with the city. I didn’t really understand until now. Anything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong, but the city has made it so difficult. I don’t understand some of the procedures and policies in place with the city. They’re not very small-business-friendly, and it really makes it hard for small businesses to do what they need to do and follow the rules.
“I’ve missed now both holiday seasons that I really rely on.”
Charles said she found major frustrations with the building permit processes, saying there was a lot of waiting around and cumbersome steps for approval.
“There’s nothing that can be expedited,” Charles said. “If you follow the rules, you end up waiting three times longer than those that don’t follow the rules. Lots of work gets done without a permit.”
Charles said for the sake of wanting to follow the process and set an example for other business owners, she paid a price in when LadyCake’s reopening date would be.
“It just goes to show that unfortunately, the city’s procedures really need to change,” Charles added. “And those people who are in charge of making those decisions, or at least reviewing the procedures that are affecting our local businesses in Cape Coral, they really need to take a hard, long look at how this is impacting small business.”
Charles added that she did speak directly to Mayor John Gunter about what she said were delays towards the later part of the permitting process, and said that “he was able to push things along and help.”
Charles also questioned how the city is looking out for small, family-owned business as opposed to large, big-box chains.
“Cape Coral was built on small business, that’s what Cape Coral was, and if we continue to make the process more conducive to those bigger-pocketed franchise companies, those mom-and-pop businesses are going to be gone. It’s amazing we were able to make it through, to be honest.”
Now, the final fire inspection has been completed (despite needing two separate ones, which Charles questioned why they couldn’t be done at the same time), and the application for the location’s final certificate of occupancy has been submitted, which is expected to be approved in the very near future.
“We’re finally at the end of this really strenuous process,” she said. “Now, more than ever, we really need the support of the community.”
Despite the process and doubt that crept into Charles’ mind, she said there have been so many times that at those crossroads, messages of support from clients have pushed her forward.
“It seems as if throughout this entire process, any roadblock that I came across, there was always someone on the other end that was a customer of ours wanting to do their very best to help us,” Charles said. “If nothing else, that was a really great reminder of how many people LadyCakes has touched, to where they want to put themselves out there to help us get to the next level.
“We have amazing and loyal customers that want to help and are good people.”
The city said the delays were caused by the need to switch occupancy type.
“The delay in this project resulted from a required Change of Occupancy for the unit LadyCakes will occupy, shifting from Business to Mercantile classification,” city spokesperson Kaitlyn Mullen said. “This requirement complies with both the Florida Building Code and the Florida Fire Prevention Code. We encourage business owners to consult with the City’s Economic Development Office to review a unit’s existing and proposed occupancy classification before signing a lease to prevent potential delays.”