King cake season is in full swing and Baton Rouge bakeries are raking in the dough.
This year’s lengthy Mardi Gras season has presented a larger window for customers to place king cake orders with local businesses, bringing in more sales while also increasing labor costs.
Angella St Romain, manager at Gambino’s Bakery, says the Baton Rouge location has surpassed its king cake sales from last year. As of Wednesday, the bakery has sold 22,000 at the Baton Rouge storefront. King cake season began Jan. 6, but Gambino’s started selling king cakes as early as Christmas to give people visiting for the holidays a chance to take a Louisiana king cake back home, St Romain says.
Gambino’s plans to sell king cakes in-store until the Saturday after Mardi Gras, but offers made-to-order king cakes year-round. Despite inflation, Gambino’s did not increase its prices, because it preordered eggs with its manufacture. St Romain anticipates a potential price increase on other baked goods when the bakery purchases eggs again after Mardi Gras season.
Like Gambino’s Bakery, Eloise Market and Cakery has not raised king cake prices, as it had stocked up on eggs in advance after learning about the bird flu. King cake sales have doubled from last year at the Lee Drive store. Eloise Market and Cakery has used at least 2,500 king cake boxes this year, selling a combination of in-store pre-made king cakes and self-made king cakes at the bakery’s king cake classes.
CounterspaceBR has also surpassed last year’s king cake sales with 2,355 cakes sold so far. The Government Street bakery will continue selling king cakes until Feb. 28. Sarah Joy Hays says the bakery has shipped between 700 to 800 king cakes across the U.S., as well as Mexico, Canada and Switzerland.
“We end up gaining customers every year,” Hays says. “We gain a following nationally because of the shipping. It’s just a really fun opportunity for us to spread our wings.”
With king cakes flying off the shelves, Gambino’s Bakery, Eloise Market and Cakery, and CounterspaceBR all require extra labor during the busy season. Gambino’s Bakery and CounterspaceBR hire seasonal staff until the end of Mardi Gras, while Eloise Market and Cakery bumps up its existing staff to full-time hours until the end of the rush.
“It’s a blessing because so many of my baker friends all over the U.S. in January are slow, sad and worried about the future of their business,” Hays says. “It’s a really nice little bolster every year to look forward to knowing that this can help us get through those slow months and help keep us engaged with the community.”
