“Baking is love. Cake is love. Celebration is love. When we find a time to gather and recognize a special moment big or small, we are saying “I love you, I see you, and I care”.  This is what I love most about what I do. I get to be part of that message over and over again every week through custom confections and experiences.”

                -Janina Owner and Founder of Red Poppy Cakery

Janina Kotulich, owner and founder of Red Poppy Cakery, fell in love with baking and cake design at 14 years old. She began making custom cakes for family and friends and accidently started a business by the age of 15. She made her first wedding cake for a stranger at only 16 years old. Opening her own shop was always her dream. She hasn’t stopped making cakes for family and friends (even out of her college dorm) and has had a decade of professional experience working in bakeries, cafes, and kitchens across New England. She strategically paired this with a bachelors degree in business administration with a concentration in entrepreneurship from Babson College which has been ranked #1 in entrepreneurship for the last 26 years consecutively.

Red Poppy Cakery officially opened in April 2019 out of a shared commercial kitchen space in Burlington, VT. It began as a classic story of a young bootstrapper who held down 3 other part time jobs to get it up and running. Even when a pandemic shut this business down for 2 months and severely impacted the demand and sizes of celebration cakes, Red Poppy Cakery was able to triple its business in 2020. Part of that success was due to an additional innovative business model in facilitating virtual baking workshops and private events.

Overtime, it has grown and grown to the point that the shared commercial kitchen we started in, just isn’t enough time or space to meet the demand for Red Poppy confections and experiences. Since May, we have reached out capacity every week and had to close down ordering on our website early. We are ready for a space with more access and the ability to take on staff to help us meet the demand.

In 2021, Red Poppy Cakery found it’s next home in the heart of Downtown Waterbury, Vermont. This space can accommodate a full time cake schedule to meet the demand of the area and also capture the magic of teaching the team found virtually during the pandemic. The new space will be broken up into a commercial bakery and a teaching area for baking related workshops and private events to carry on our passion for teaching in a new way.

This is where we need your help, we launched this campaign to help us fit up the space to our needs and to the technical codes of food safety. In addition, these funds will help us purchase the necessary equipment such as our oven, fridges, shelves, and tables. The space was formerly a hair salon and will require lots of plumbing work, moving of walls, structural changes, new flooring and lighting, and a touch of creative flair to make it functional and special. From the moment we saw it, it felt like home.

Thank you for being curious with us. We hope you will be part of our journey by selecting a reward that matches your ability and excitement or sharing our story with your community. Every contribution matters. Thank you.