Sweet Success: How Two Sisters Built A Cupcake Empire With Family Recipes (Win!)

Crave Cupcakes isn’t just about delicious treats—it’s a story of sisterhood, tradition, and a passion for baking that turned into a thriving Canadian business. Founded by sisters Carolyne McIntyre Jackson and Jodi Willoughby, Crave started with cherished family recipes and has grown into a beloved bakery empire across Calgary, Edmonton, and Saskatoon. Now, with a bake-at-home lineup and their first cookbook on the way, the duo continues to share their sweet creations with the world. We caught up with Carolyne and Jodi to talk about business, family, and why supporting women in entrepreneurship is always worth celebrating. —Noa Nichol

From a family kitchen to a bakery empire—did you always dream of starting a business together, or did Crave Cupcakes happen organically?  

Growing up we always shared baking with others – our Mom would bake her “famous” sugar cookies and Valentines to share with classmates and then we would share baking with friends when we attended friends’ celebrations. One of these events that we attended and brought cookies to our cousin, casually mentioned we should sell our cookies – and so the idea started to grow and together we did the research, developed a business plan and opened Calgary’s first cupcake shop, Crave in September 2004.

Your recipes are rooted in family tradition. How did your grandmother’s and mother’s 

When we first started the business, we would pull everything from our family archives and as we’ve grown they build the foundation of every recipe but we develop it with our talented team of bakers to try new and inventive flavours to keep up with the trends.

What was the biggest challenge in turning a passion for baking into a full-fledged business, and how did you overcome it? 

Being taken seriously as women who wanted to bake from scratch and finding suppliers that supplied real ingredients instead of mixes. We never wanted to compromise on the idea of homemade baking and only using ingredients found in your own kitchen.

Sisterhood and business—what are the best and most challenging aspects of working together as co-founders and family? 

First and foremost we are sisters and then business partners. We both have different areas of focus within the business, our goals for the business are the same so we can come together with ideas, and of course we have an amazing team that work with us.

You’ve expanded from one location in Calgary to six across the Prairies. What do you think has been the key ingredient to your success? 

We will always have a passion for home made baking, which is what we do every day. We surround ourselves with strong people that help grow our success and believe in our vision as much as we do.

Crave is all about community, and your Women’s Day Cookies initiative is another example of giving back. Why is supporting women’s organizations so important to you? 

The majority of our customer base is women and it’s important to support those who support us. We always support different organisations within our community as a way of saying thank you. 

What’s a customer story or moment that has really stuck with you over the years? 

My gosh there are so many lovely stories that people share we can not pick one – we love to hear them all, and love it when people begin a story with “I remember when I first had Crave….” 

You’ve introduced bake-at-home cake mixes and are now launching a cookbook—what inspired you to bring Crave into people’s kitchens? 

We’ve spent over 20 years perfecting our baking craft, and we want to make our recipes as accessible to people as possible. Whether they live near one of our bakeries, they’re using our bake at home line (made from the same recipes as our bakeries), or trying to bake from scratch with the help of our cookbook.

The food industry has changed a lot since Crave opened in 2004. How do you continue to innovate while staying true to your roots? 

We always start with our tried and true family recipe base and continue to try new flavour combinations, always challenging ourselves, every time we see a recipe for the best of anything we try it and then compare it to what we are currently baking. 

As female entrepreneurs, what advice would you give to women looking to start their own business, especially in the food industry?

Be passionate about what you are doing, when the days are hard you have to love what you do, we truly love what we do. Take the time to find a team as passionate as you are about your product and stay true to your brand values. On hard days, treat yourself to a cupcake.

Final tough question: the cupcake flavour you’d never say no to?! 

Carolyne loves chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and Jodi loves vanilla topped with coconut.

Win! A $200 Crave Gift Card (Open To Residents In Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon & Kelowna)!

Congrats Tina S. of Calgary, AB, who will receive a $200 Crave Gift Card! Please note: if you are the winner, you will receive a DM (direct message) in Instagram directly from @vitadailymedia. Please be wary of fake accounts, which often use similar handles with an extra or missing letter, number or symbol. We will never ask for a payment or for your credit card number, and we will never ask you to click through a link. If you are unsure whether you have been contacted, via Instagram, by us or a fake account, email us before responding.