After nearly 30 years in various medical businesses and more than 110 flights a year over the past few years between Indianapolis, New York, Atlanta, Denver and other major cities, Susan Tingley is ready to give it all up for cupcakes.

Caboodle Cupcakes, a new business in Terre Haute, is a way for Tingley to have her cake and eat it too. Used to being seen in a suit with a briefcase, her former boss and co-workers couldn’t believe it when she told them she was hanging up her management position with Lincare and “retiring” into a baking business.

“I’m retiring to go bake,” she simply told them. The most common reaction was “You bake?” she laughed. “I’m preparing for my retirement career,” she explained.

“I met a guy at a party in New York — a stockbroker, you know, with the high pressure, intense job — and he was talking about going to school on the side to learn to be a massage therapist. He said it was his retirement career. Had future plans to move to Florida and take up massage therapy. It really got me thinking. I had been thinking of doing something different. I wanted a big change,” Tingley said. She explained there is the job you’re doing right now — raising a family, sustaining life, but there comes a point where you ask: “Is this the thing I want to do for the rest of my life?”

“I wanted to do something different. I wanted a second career.”

“I’ve always loved to bake. When traveling, I’d get home and my husband wanted to take me out. I just wanted to stay home and cook. It’s a creative release. I love doing it,” Tingley said.

“I was telling a friend who worked for me in North Carolina that I was having fun with cupcakes, doing different things with them. She told me, ‘That’s big business now.’ I started researching cupcake businesses and finding out how big this business really was right now. I knew how to start a business, and thought about the cupcake business being a business that makes people smile, and I wanted a business that made people smile. I just kept thinking, ‘Maybe in a few years.’”

One of the research stories Tingley read was about a man who started his cupcake business at a local Farmers Market to test the demand. “I said, ‘I can do that’.”

By the next Saturday, Tingley had booth space. From then on “I would get home Friday evening and bake all evening. My husband and I would get up at 6 a.m. on Saturday, pack them in coolers and take off for the Farmers Market. They sold and people were so happy! People loved them!” she said. “I would watch the kids bite into them and have icing all over their faces and have great big smiles. We just had a blast at the Farmers Market. Half the fun is talking to the people and seeing people come back the next week.”

But Tingley wanted more . . . she wanted a place that would provide an experience. A whole experience. A really fun experience. That’s why at Caboodle Cupcakes you’ll find the pink, green and yellow painted building, the nice awning and the colorful fun inside. It’s perfect for ladies’ get-togethers, for kids’ birthday parties or just a place to come in and buy beautiful, flavorful, colorful cakes the size of a cup.

Tingley opened in a home near Seventh Street and Davis Avenue, one house away from Miller Floral. “It was a good house and I liked the layout.” Tingley decided to take the plunge into her retirement business. “I told my husband, ‘ I think I’m going to give my two-month notice.’ “

The local B&B Foods helped her get the equipment and supplies she would need, and, with some painting and start-up work, Caboodle Cupcakes was born for fun.

Even though her manager was sad to see her go, he did confess to Tingley he had just read a story on a cupcake bakery and how that business is flourishing even in bad economic times.

“How are you going to treat yourself in bad economic times?” she asked. “Well, you treat yourself with a $2 cupcake. The whole candy industry started during the Great Depression,” Tingley said. “That’s where penny candy originated. It made people feel good.”

“I wanted to have this sweet, cool place that’s uplifting and makes you feel good. I wanted to have pictures around of people eating cupcakes.” So, Caboodle Cupcakes is not just a place to buy wonderful cupcakes, it’s an experience.

At least 19 different flavors are available with specials each day of the week. Although Tingley is a well-known local artist, the cupcakes “are all about taste,” she said. They are decorated, but nothing lavish, just pretty and cute. “They will be the kind that when you bite into one, you’re going to get icing on your nose,” she laughed.

“I’ve tried all my life to bring smiles to people,” Tingley said. “This is a no brainier. It’s a joy. You get a cupcake and you’re happy!” Caboodle Cupcakes also offers fair-trade organic coffees and teas, along with gluten-free cupcakes.

You can “get happy” at Caboodle Cupcakes at 3419 S. Seventh St. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Call (812) 232-5551 to place orders. Check out the bakery Web site at
caboodlecupcakes.com.

Other articles by Marjorie Hopkins

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