Sweet Satisfaction: Nothing Bundt Cakes
Photos by Emma Highfill, Rose Wheat Photography
When’s the best time to start a new business? Many entrepreneurs agree there’s never a “good” time to sacrifice stability for the sake of a dream. But opening a bakery six months after your son survives a life-threatening injury? That takes faith.
Connie Casper is the owner and operator of Topeka’s Nothing Bundt Cakes, which opened this summer, 15 months after her son, Drew, woke from a six-week coma.
“I was always told you start a business when you have nothing or everything,” Casper said. “When Drew had his collision, I realized I had everything.”
Before breaking into the baked goods business, Casper spent decades building her career. Starting out as a certified public accountant, she realized she liked numbers but liked people more. So, she shifted to the sales industry and climbed her way up to executive management.
Casper felt the most satisfied when working for companies in the growth stage. Having a knack for building processes, she enjoyed the challenges of building a business. But when her job shifted toward more meetings and less work with people, something changed.
“I didn’t feel like I was being true to myself,” she said.
A Miraculous Turning Point
Casper spent years grappling with what she truly wanted from her career. But a text from an unknown number brought everything to a stop.
Her son, Drew, had been in a car crash and was on the way to the hospital.
“If you are Drew Casper’s mother, he is in an ambulance going to Stormont Vail,” the message said, “You need to get there.”
Drew was internally decapitated and suffered a traumatic brain injury that put him in a coma. Casper said the doctors warned her that the Drew who woke up may not be the son she knew.
Weeks later at a rehabilitation center in Nebraska, Drew’s healing showed remarkable progress. Casper also realized she was spending more time with her family than she had in years.
“I started to look back and ask myself, ‘What's going to make me happy?’” Casper said.
Drew surprised everyone when he woke up from his coma talking. Before his first therapy session, the speech pathologist asked Drew what soft food he wanted to eat. His request for a Nothing Bundt Cake marked the beginning of his miraculous recovery — and a new chapter for his whole family.
Revisiting an Old Hunch
Casper’s frequent trips to Lincoln, Nebraska’s Nothing Bundt Cakes became a happy part of her almost-daily routine.
“Every time I went in, it just felt good,” she said. “It made me think about that next step.”
Casper looked into opening a store in 2016 but dropped the idea after discovering the closest opportunity was in Topeka, 55 minutes away from her home in Manhattan, Kansas. But three years later, the outpouring of support in Topeka gave Casper a different outlook. In September 2019, she signed her franchise agreement.
Construction went smoothly on the Wannamaker Road storefront. But one April evening, Casper drove over to check on the site and felt doubt creep in.
“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, what did I do?’” Casper said.
It was the beginning of a world-throttling pandemic and her opening date had been pushed six weeks. Not an ideal time to forego a steady income.
“As we get older, we get more comfortable with that paycheck and benefits,” said Casper. “It takes a leap of faith to make that change.”
Casper’s positivity pulled her through the feelings of doubt, and she pressed on.
“I knew if we put the right effort into it, even if we started with a low sales volume, we could build that business,” she said.
A great staff helped build Casper’s confidence. She hired 22 employees: three full time and 19 part time. One was an unexpected surprise. Drew caught his mother off guard when he asked if he could work full time at the bakery.
“I worried,” Casper admitted. “Would we get along? Would he enjoy every menial task? But he has been along for the ride from the minute we got the keys.”
When Cake Fills a Void
On July 22, Nothing Bundt Cakes of Topeka opened its doors. Casper was at the helm, Drew was running marketing and doing deliveries. Casper’s husband and daughter were also trained and ready to help. By closing time, they broke the franchise record for opening-day sales.
“I understood not every day was going to be like that,” Casper said. “But from the welcome and positivity of people who came in, I knew this was going to be great.”
While COVID-19 was a concern, Casper said sales thrived because more people were celebrating at home. Yet, puzzlingly, curbside pickup hasn’t taken off with Topeka customers. Casper hopes to change that for the holiday season, a challenge well-suited for a process-loving strategist.
“The brand is already created, the product is great, now I just get to adjust the process, which is so much fun,” Casper said.
Casper has also been enjoying every other aspect of the business, including sweeping, waiting on guests and being on frosting duty.
“That is what I love,” she said. “I don’t have to be just one thing.”
Being a business owner allowed Casper to return to the most fulfilling aspects of her previous career. But now, she gets to do it alongside her family, including the son who has defied all odds.
“I thought I was on this road by myself to find what was going to make me happy,” Casper said. “But it’s turned into a journey for the whole family, something we can do together.”
