SusieCakes—a Dallas-based specialty bakery chain whose scratch-made recipes were handed down by two grandmothers—is marking its 20th anniversary this summer with a community storytelling giveaway, a fan-voted menu comeback, and an annual BOGO event.
SusieCakes Founder and CEO Susan Sarich [Photo: SusieCakes]
Founded by Susie Sarich two decades ago in Brentwood, California, SusieCakes expanded to Dallas in 2016 with a location in Preston Center. The company moved its headquarters to Dallas in January 2022, with Sarich making the same move herself the same year.
Sarich still lives in Dallas full-time, the company confirmed, and SusieCakes operates two other DFW locations: one in Fort Worth’s WestBend retail center, which opened in 2017, and one in Dallas’ Hillside Shopping Center, which opened in 2022. The company now has over 30 locations across California, Texas, Tennessee, and Oklahoma.
“What I’ve watched over 20 years is the industry come back around to what we were doing from the start,” Sarich said in a statement. “There have been so many food fads and viral desserts, but a really good chocolate cake never goes out of style.”
Sarich said today‘s customers are more educated about ingredients than ever—”they want simple, recognizable things they can trust. That’s always been SusieCakes.”
That simplicity was handed down to her. Sarich says her company is based on her two grandmothers’ handwritten recipe cards, a dedication to scratch baking, and a conviction that the best baked goods are “the classic, nostalgic ones.”
Mmmm, chocolate. [Photo: SusieCakes]
A bakery built on grandmothers’ 3×5 recipe cards
Sarich’s grandmothers, Mildred and Madeline, filled her Chicago childhood with the daily ritual of after-school baking, the company said. She took their handwritten 3×5 recipe cards west to California and in 2006, opened a bakery in Brentwood to share the desserts she grew up loving. Her philosophy: “Bake everything from scratch, every day, with real ingredients like slow-churned butter, premium chocolate, and nothing you can’t pronounce.”
“SusieCakes is about more than great cake,” Sarich says. “It’s about the relationships we build and the moments we’re honored to be part of,” said Sarich.
“We’ve watched families grow up with us: the engagement cake that led to the wedding cake, which led to the baby shower, which led to the birthday. For 20 years, our guests have invited us to their most important milestones, and that trust is something we have never taken for granted. Everything we are doing this summer is a way of saying thank you to the people who made it possible.”
Inside a SusieCakes location [Photo: SusieCakes]
The best story wins a year of SusieCakes
In one anniversary initiative, SusieCakes is asking guests to share their favorite SusieCakes memory. Through midnight tonight, June 24, anyone can submit a written story—with bonus consideration for a nostalgic photo—by going here.
On July 8, SusieCakes will announce 20 grand prize winners, one for each year in business, with each winner receiving a “Year of SusieCakes” totaling 12 gift certificates.
Sarich’s grandmothers passed down their recipes. [Photo: SusieCakes]
Ahead of the July 8 birthday, fans are being asked to vote on Instagram to bring back a beloved menu item for a limited run. The candidates are: Lemon Bars, Celebration Sugar Cookies, Whoopie Pies, & Susie’s Animal Crackers. The winning item returns to bakeries from July 18 to July 2, the company said.
On July 18, every SusieCakes location will celebrate the anniversary with a BOGO cupcake event. Loyalty program members get a free regular-size cupcake with the purchase of any regular-size cupcake, up to three free cupcakes per purchase. The first 20 guests to make a purchase at each location will also receive a limited-edition SusieCakes mini tote bag, the company said.
SusieCakes’ throwback scratch-made ethos shows up on the walls of its locations. [Photo: SusieCakes]
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