Entrepreneurs
Lucila V. Jimenez
Sweet Art by Lucila

by Doug Duda
South Florida Gourmet
Page 9, 05-2000

As you step into the new 6,000 square-foot commissary of Sweet Art by Lucila, you are enveloped by the heavenly aromas of Valrhona chocolate and Matusalem rum. Surrounded by pallets of sugar and flour, rows of shiny steel bowls and huge whisks, artisan bakers busily mold fondant, from pristine wedding lace and christening blankets to delicate flowers and colorful fruit, into the shapes and textures that make Lucila’s cake so gorgeous.

Until she sold her first cake in 1987 for $10, the Cuban-born Lucila Jimenez was a traditional homemaker, taking care of her husband, Andres, raising their three children, and baking cakes for her family and friends. This year, the commissary, together with Lucila’s two stores, in the Falls and on Bird Road, will gross over $2 million. From an initial investment of less than $100,000 made with a partner, and with constant re-investment of profits, the company has grown from 5 employees to over 50, currently producing an average of 40,000 portions of cake per month.

The business is still a family affair. Her husband Andrés, a psychiatrist who is also the Medical Director of the South Florida Evaluation and Treatment Center, still helps with weekend deliveries. Her eldest son, Andres, works in the business full-time, applying his MBA skills to upgrading all of the company’s systems. When she is not traveling abroad to catch up with the latest in professional dessert and cake baking, Lucila is involved in everything, especially developing new products to help expand her customer base beyond the devotees of “The Cake” as she refers to the signature rum cake that built Sweet Art by Lucila.

After a tour of her new commissary, Lucila sits in her office – still under construction – and talks to The South Florida Gourmet about her amazing personal and professional odyssey.

The South Florida Gourmet: How did this all start? Because you weren’t brought up to be a businesswoman.

Lucila Jimenez: No, I don’t have any studies or any background in business at all. I came from Cuba in 1961 when I was 15 years old. In Cuba, I liked to cook and decorate, and I was always in the kitchen, even when I was too young to light a fire or touch a knife. When I came to the US, I was hired by a lady in Key West who asked me, “can you cook?” I’m Cuban, you know, so I said, “Of Course!” But it was disastrous at the beginning.

SFG: But you learned eventually?

LJ: When my husband Andres was in medical school, I was baby-sitting at home, and we were really, really poor. I’d look at the paper every day, and say, “Oh, there’s a cooking demonstration at Burdines! A cooking class at Jordan Marsh.” I went to every class that was free. Whenever Julia Child, Jacques Pepin or other top chefs came, I was always there, in the first row, with two or three children and my mother.

SFG: And how did you come to specialize in decoration?

LJ: I took my first decorating course at Lindsey Hopkins in 1969. Later on I took a Wilton course. Then I taught Wilton at Sears in Coral Gables for about a year and a half, until my husband started saying, “Every time you go to teach, you come home with a new outfit. It costs you more that what you make. Besides, you’re not at home in the evenings when I get home.”

SFG: So did you start your home business to accommodate a Cuban Husband and a career?

LJ: Let me tell you, he has been very supportive. He was my delivery man when I had the business at home, and we called him “MD during the week,” and “DM – Delivery Man – during the weekends.”

SFG: So, why did you start the business?

LJ: When Andres was finishing high school and going off to college, I realized my children were leaving home. I got all depressed, and I thought, “I have to do something for myself.” People had suggested: “Why don’t you sell your cakes?” So I said: “Okay, I’m going to sell my cakes!”

SFG: You make it sound easy.

LJ: Well, at that time I had a maid named Benita. I first started selling cakes to my friends, so I felt bad taking money from them. It was Benita who said to me, “You cannot give them cakes for free, I’ll take care of the money.” And she’d make me leave the house when they came to get their cakes.

SFG: When did the decision to open a store come about?

LJ: After four years at home, the City of Coral Gables told me I had to move. I was doing to well it would have been a shame not to continue.

SFG: What is the secret to your success?

LJ: The cake sells itself to a lot of Latins. The recipe I got from Anna Lourdes Gomez, a famous TV cook in Cuba, is from Puerto Rico. But I find people from Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia or Santo Domingo all saying, “Oh, this is just like the cake we have.” You also have to be very persistent, have a lot of dedication, put in a lot of hours. I have put in a lot of love to make this come through.

SFG: And now you are growing in new ways. Are you exporting?

LJ: We are exporting “The Cake” in a tin. Families who have tried the cake send it for their children’s birthday. Mothers send them to their kids at college. We send them as far as Hong Kong and Spain. I’ve had to travel on several occasions to decorate them on the spot, in other countries. But I am still researching a way to ship my cakes, which have a lot syrup and are spongier than the cakes other companies ship.

SFG: Are you selling online as well?

LJ: You wouldn’t believe the e-mail I get from people who want me to send cakes all over the United States. We do a monthly update on new cakes. E-commerce could be a very big thing for us. My son Andres is developing that part.

SFG: What are your plans for the future?

LJ: The business has to grow. If we were to open one or two more stores, we should be able to double our revenues. The regular rum cake is 80% of our business. Most people don’t know the other things we make, like confections and desserts. The flourless Valrhona chocolate we made for Passover has been a hit!

SFG: What are the challenges you face?

LJ: In order to spend more time developing new products, I need to spend less time on administrative things I don’t do as well. Benita’s sister is still working for me, and there are times I wish I could tell her, “Bring Benita back!”

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Doug Duda is president of DemoGraph Corp., a management consulting firm focused on brand development in the food service industry.