Now that spring is here and “cake season” is in full swing, Jefferson Market & Cakery, located at 609 W. Jefferson, is busier than ever.

This is good news for owner Mary Rasmussen, who took over the vacant market in April 2008 right before the economy tanked. Her existing cake business in Saline, Bake Shop Wedding Cakes, had relied on rented kitchen space and meeting customers in her home, which limited her.

“The thing about cakes is that it is very seasonal, running pretty much April to October,” said Rasmussen. “My hope was that by having space where I could do other things I would come up with a mix that would pull us through the whole year.”

Under the previous owners, Jefferson Market was more of a neighborhood store, featuring groceries and toys along with gourmet take-out dinners and some bakery items.

Rasmussen changed up the offerings, eliminating most of the groceries except for staples like milk and bread, and expanding the bakery to feature all kinds of pastries and cakes.

She also began offering lunch during the week to accommodate people who work in the area, including employees from Bach Elementary directly across the street and the University of Michigan Argus building. The menu features sandwiches served with their homemade lemon pepper potato chips, soups and salads. 

This led Jefferson Market to develop a breakfast and lunch catering business to serve local businesses and the university, which is now filling several orders a week for catered events ranging from 20 to 200 people in size.

When the economy took a nosedive shortly after Rasmussen took over, the business became more strategic about pulling dollars in the door.

“We had a lot of neighborhood people who wanted a place where they could bring their family and friends on the weekend and hang out for breakfast,” said Rasmussen, whose store can seat 35 people as well as an additional 10 to 12 people outside in the summer.

The business started offering a full brunch with monthly specials on Sundays from 11-2 pm, which has been very popular.

Rasmussen, a pastry chef, creates the specials in conjunction with assistant Alli Bila, who has culinary training. In May, the specials will be strawberry rhubarb pancakes and savory bread pudding with sausage and mushroom.

“We do these Guinness pancakes every September that have bacon and Guinness beer and cheese in them and people love them,” said Rasmussen.

Rasmussen also began renting out the kitchen space in the evenings, which was something that was important to her to do for others.

“Before I moved here, I rented space in a kitchen, which is a great way to launch a business without being stuck in a lease," she said. "If I hadn’t been able to rent a kitchen while growing my business I would never be able to be here now.”

When the economy was really bad, the space was rented out almost every night, says Rasmussen. “There were no jobs and people were trying to think out of the box by starting cooking businesses," she said.

Current renters include a vegan baker, someone who makes cookies and sells them online and a gourmet pretzel business in Grand Rapids that is trying to expand into Ann Arbor.
The most successful part of her business remains custom cakes, which accounts for almost 60 percent of her sales.

During the six-month peak cake season, Jefferson makes about a total of 150 wedding cakes in addition to about 20 to 25 smaller cakes a week. Occasions include birthdays, bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs, graduations, retirements, showers, baptisms and even Sweet 16 parties.

“Our place is really iconic and people in this neighborhood love that this building is here,” said Rasmussen. “Everyone tells us we should do this or that. Everyone’s intentions are good, but I’ve come to realize that there is just not the street traffic here to have a lot of retail sales. We are more of a destination location.”

She feels confident that Jefferson has made it through the economic downturn and is happy with the current mix of offerings she has developed at the market.

“We’re using the space in the winter more with brunch and lunch catering at the university, and then when that slows down for the summer, we’re keeping busy with wedding and summer cakes. I’m able to maintain revenue all year and offer the neighbors a place to hang out," Rasmussen said.

Laura Blodgett is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com.