Lighthouse Cake Company has just the right ingredients to cook up an appearance on the Food Network.
Vikki Smith, a Red Seal baker and co-owner of Lighthouse Cake Company on Goldstream Avenue in Langford, said she was surprised when she was contacted in August 2020 by a casting company associated with the Food Network about appearing on Project Bakeover.
“It didn’t seem real at first,” said Smith, who started working at the bakery on Goldstream Avenue in Langford in 2014 before taking over the business in 2018 with her husband Richard Martin. “It was hard to believe that someone from the Food Network was contacting me, but the more I spoke to them, the more confident and excited I felt to be part of Project Bakeover. We did an interview on Skype, put together a video and sent that as an application to the Food Network.”
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On the show, renowned pastry chef, chocolatier, and entrepreneur Steve Hodge and Tiffany Pratt, a multi-disciplinary designer based in Toronto, lend their expertise and creativity to inspire and reinvigorate bakery businesses in need of a makeover. The cost of about $20,000 for the renovations to the front of the business was provided by Food Network Canada.
“It was definitely intimidating to work with Steve because of his reputation, but he has a big heart and means well,” Smith noted. “It was a challenging but rewarding experience and I’m so grateful to Steve and Tiffany for their support.
“Tiffany did the interior to fit my personality, and it really does feel like me. The feedback from our customers has been phenomenal, everyone loves the new look. My passion and creativity revolve around baking, so I say to myself all the time, ‘I can’t believe I do this for a living.’”
Smith admitted that keeping their business afloat during the pandemic was a major challenge, the likes of which she had never dealt with before.
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“I used to say buying a house was the most stressful thing we ever did, but running a business during the pandemic has definitely taken the cake,” she noted. “But business is improving now, and I’m so grateful for the support from our customers and the community.”
The episode of Project Bakeover, which aired on June 10, is aptly titled A Light in the Dark. That episode and others are available for viewing at foodnetwork.ca.
For more on the bakery, visit lighthousecakecompany.ca.
rick.stiebel@goldstreamgazette.com
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