Cupcake Kitchen offers more than its namesake. (Contributed photo)Chattanooga's Cupcake Kitchen is officially the sweetest bakery in Tennessee. The local confectioner took the state's top prize in bakery industry supplier Dawn Foods' inaugural Sweetest Bakery in America Contest.
Cupcake Kitchen owner Helene Grzybowski said she first heard about the contest, which ran from February through July, from her Dawn sales representative when she dropped a ballot box off at the bakery in March. Customers at 1,600 bakeries participating in the contest across the country could vote by placing their ballots in the in-store boxes or online.
Two weeks after Cupcake Kitchen joined the contest, Grzybowski said she heard from the Dawn representative that the business was leading the state in votes. The winners - one per state and one nationwide - were announced on the first-ever National Bakery Day Sept. 28. Toward the end of the contest, Cupcake Kitchen was neck-in-neck with another Tennessee bakery, but the local bakery prevailed and was presented with a plaque and party by Dawn in October.
"It was a huge honor; something I wasn't expecting," Grzybowski said, adding that she never would have received the award if it weren't for her amazing staff. "It was a big pat on the back for all of us. It's good feeling [that] everyone likes and enjoys [our products]."
Cupcake Kitchen, which opened its first location in Hixson in 2011, opened a second location downtown at 500 Broad St. two years later and has since closed the Hixson location.
"We love what we do, and it shows in the product," said Grzybowski. "We make the most awesome, delicious cupcakes, but there's something for everyone; not just cupcakes."
Email Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com.