A passion for pastries and three years of serving up cakes to order and desserts to delight at the St. John’s Farmer’s Market (along with a little help from CBDC Cabot) has led to the successful opening of the Paradise flagship location for CakeyHand Dessert Factory.  

Anna Paytyan and her husband Suren Margaryan moved to Newfoundland from Armenia, where Anna’s passion for baking grew from baking treats in her kitchen as a side hustle in 2019. Four years later, the couple opened their first brick-and-mortar storefront on Topsail Road in Paradise, taking orders for high-end cakes and desserts, as well as serving takeaway treats.  

Margaryan says the goal is to make the best cakes and desserts in the province. 

“Having the freedom of deciding what to, when to do, how to do, how much to do. We own our time and while we work much more and longer hours than a regular 9-5 employees, but we enjoy it incredibly so much because again we work for ourselves and don’t have to follow someone else’s instructions,” Margaryan says.  

When you visit CakeyHand Dessert Factory, you’ll surely spot the multi-layered, beautifully decorated cakes, the cases full of stunning looking (and tasting) cookies and pastries, but you’ll also spot the innovation in the business. Margaryan and Paytyan have thought to start a CakeyHand loyalty program, they offer a selection of candles and even locally-designed greeting cards to save you a trip to another store. They partner with Too Good To Go, a leftover food app, which helps reduce waste by selling excess products at reduced prices.  

Most recently, the business has announced it will be opening a second location with more seating and a classroom space to offer cake and cookie decorating classes at Stavanger Drive in St. John’s and has begun the planning process of adding another innovation.  

“We are in the process of adding another great business model to our portfolio - a vending machine,” Margaryan says. “CBDC helped us fund the purchase of the equipment which will arrive soon and we are excited to launch it in the province as the first cake vending machine.” 

CBDC Cabot helped the CakeyHand team take advantage of the Kick$tart loan program to fund the project. CBDCs throughout the province help small businesses like CakeyHand get started or grow, and we can help you too!