Photo by Brett Thorne

Celena McGuill was feeling burned out the first time she thought about leaving her corporate job to take a position in a kitchen. McGuill had just moved from San Marcos to Corpus Christi to follow a job in retail marketing after being laid off from the marketing director position at Prime Outlets in San Marcos.

"While I was living in Corpus, I just didn't like it," McGuill said. "I was miserable and felt like it was probably time to get out of marketing retail."

During her time in Corpus Christi, McGuill stayed in touch with India Moore, a friend from San Marcos who had an affinity for baking and had provided cupcakes for a few of McGuill's clients.

Moore floated the idea of turning her small-scale cupcake operation into a full-fledged business venture to McGuill, who decided it was the best offer she had received.

"I thought, 'Yeah, maybe it's time for me to try something different,' because I just wasn't enjoying what I was doing," she said.

In McGuill, Moore found the one ingredient that had been missing from her business. The duo formed Lovebaked LLC in November 2011 and set up shop at Mimi's Trailer Park in June. McGuill handles all of the marketing, and Moore runs the show in the kitchen.

McGuill said she and Moore have exceeded every monthly sales goal they have set for themselves and are moving thousands of cupcakes each month as well as a variety of drinks and baked goods including cookies and homemade marshmallows.

"I'm much happier, but I can't say the work is any easier, because it's not," she said.

A typical day at Lovebaked begins at 4 a.m. when McGuill and Moore arrive at the trailer to begin baking that day's goods. The duo hired two employees and a baker to help ease the load, but McGuill said 80-hour workweeks are not unusual.

"When you compromise quality, then you're compromising your consumer, because people really notice the difference when they come here," McGuill said. "So many people tell us when they come here that it's the best cupcake they've ever eaten."

McGuill said she and Moore are hoping to move into a permanent space by mid-2013, but the duo have no plans to close their Airstream.

"Food trailers are an emerging trend right now in San Marcos," McGuill said.