( Creative Director/Owner of Wild Flour)
Wild Flour just happens to be one of the Premier bakeries in all of New York City.
Founded by Gina Spinelli, we spoke with Gina about what it takes to be the owner of such a specialized bakery in America’s biggest city.
Q – Gina, I’ve never heard the term Creative Director applied to anyone in the bakery business before. What exactly are your job duties?
A – Essentially as Creative Director there a number of other titles that also exist alongside that. I’m Executive Pastry Chef and I make all the creative decisions in terms of what we’re going to be showcasing in the Bridal season, what we’re going to be selling on Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
I’m the sole proprietor of this business which has been in existence for ten years. As the owner of this business I just do a number of things. I oversee almost everything.
So, Creative Director is just a great way to say that I’m the gal in charge of steering the ship.
Q – I have you down as a Wedding Cake maker but you make more than just wedding cakes, correct?
A – That is correct. So, in the last three and a half years I’ve opened up this business in a number of other facets of business.
So, we have a catering sector that operates Monday through Friday. Of course I built this co. up making the wedding cakes. I’ve expanded this business from just wedding cakes to corporate catering and we also have a little physical café and bakery.
At this bakery I built this kitchen out three and a half years ago in Long Island City and we offer breakfast, lunch, and a really beautiful coffee program as well as our cakes and little cookies.
Q – And in between you manage to get in some sleep.
A – Of course I have to, sometimes. Sometimes I don’t.
Q – You started Wild Flour with your Best Friend of 25 years. Were you always interested in baking cakes? Did you go to culinary school? And I take it your Best Friend isn’t involved in the business anymore.
A – So, she’s not although she’s a dear, dear friend of mine.
I have always been involved in baking and actually believe it or not, before I did anything culinary I went to the School of Visual Arts and I studied illustration.
My former business partner had a business degree and essentially I was always someone who would make cakes for all of my loved ones birthdays. I would know that someone loves raspberry and custard. So I would come up with a cake or dessert that would be celebratory for their birthday incorporating those flavors.
I did this just ‘cause it’s what I wanted to do. My former business partner had recognized it and she loved the idea of starting Wild Flour.
I honestly said to her,’Christina what are we going to do? Sell my cakes for $20?’ And she said, ‘Oh, you won’t be in charge of finances’, ( laughs).
I just kept doing the things I wanted to do and we introduced ourselves into the Wedding world of New York City by just showing up.
I would just show up at open houses where prospective couples were touring venues where they were going to get married and I would just show up with all my little bite sized very well presented pieces of cake and talk to people and I was able to get a jump start with her help of course.
About seven years ago she had left the New York City area. Some family things were going on and so she had said to me. ‘Take my 50% and see what you can do.’ And I did.
Q – You did and here you are.
A – Yeah.
Q – What’s the significance of the name of your business Wild Flour? Did you originally come up with say Wild Flower?
A – No. It’s always been Wild Flour. That actually was the name I came up with. Wild Flour is derivative of what we’re doing here. We use flour that you bake things with. That’s really where the name came from.
Q – I realize that New York City is a big city but is there enough business to go around for all the bakeries? I heard that people are delaying getting married.
A – It’s such a great question and so interesting. Being in this industry for the last ten years I have seen such a change . For example, then years ago there were so many more couples in their 20’s and 30’s. That’s really not the case anymore. Most of the weddings that I do are, Oh My God, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. The age has certainly changed and some of these folks are on their second or third marriage.
It’s interesting though. They have unfortunately and I wish it wasn’t so, they’re not in the same volume. I don’t know the statistics of how many people are getting married in comparison to six or seven years ago or whatever it may be but I do know that in this business that I have become an established wedding cake baker in New York City and I have noticed there’s a little bit less people getting married.
Q – It doesn’t seem that long ago if you wanted a wedding cake you got the traditional white frosting cake with the bride and groom on top. When did these elaborate wedding cakes come to be? Can that be traced back to Sylvia Weinstock?
A – She’s everything I want to be. A lot of this is certainly attributed to her. A lot of the aesthetic changes in this industry are also attributed to Chef Christina Tossi. She was one of the first that created this aesthetic of the naked cake.
This is a cake where you can see the actual layers of cake on the exterior of the cake which is a far cry away from what Sylvia Weinstock was doing.
I enjoy both aesthetics. Certainly in our Instagrams you will see a number of naked cakes . But, you’ll also see a tremendous amount of that more traditional white decorative cake that you spoke about and used to be trending a bit more.
And so we offer both. We offer a lot. I think people have a little more fun with their flavors. That’s certainly something I like to specialize in. All the cakes we make are my recipe.
If I could say what I’m most known for it would be my Champagne cake. I make a vanilla Champagne cake. A make a dark chocolate Champagne cake and I make a sparkling Rose’ cake. Those are quite delicious. They’re wonderful and they’re very popular.
Q – Since the website I’m doing this interview for is famousinterview.com do you have any famous people come through your doors?
A – I just did a cake for Leslie Bibb. She was one of the starring actresses in the latest season of The White Lotus which is really a big hit on HBO. And that was a really great honor. Outside of that we do corporate catering for Steve Madden. There’s a lot of big names we do corporate catering for, Bluemercury. DeShaw, one of the largest hedge funds is someone we work with quite often.
Q – You almost have to be an artist to do the kind of work you’re doing, right?
A – Absolutely. Artistry is just as important as the science of baking and the focus that goes into doing that. A similar kind of focus.
©Gary James
Official Website: www.wildflournyc.com
