Every group that comes into Lisa’s Rum Cake seems to have someone who knows the family running the business.
That could be the sign of a very small business, such as a retail bakery set in an industrial building off the beaten track. But with a customer database that the Power family said is approaching 20,000 listings, perhaps a high degree of customer service would be a better explanation.
Lisa Power, the co-owner with her name on the business, said she looks at is as more the customers than the service.
“Don’t you girls think we have the best customers?” she asked of daughters Madison and Megan.
“We really do,” Madison answered, punctuated by Megan’s “Honestly.”
They proceed to tell stories about people who come in, from celebrities to old friends to regulars met along the way.
“We literally call [Lisa] the cake doctor because people come in here to order a cake, they’ll be here for hours telling my mom their whole life story, and she’ll counsel them,” Madison said. “She’s a people person.”
The business is a from-the-cradle outfit. Lisa learned the business from age 13 working for her mother at Cathy’s Rum Cakes. Madison, Megan and their oldest sister, Lauren, started even younger.
In 2009, Lisa and her husband, Kelly, started a shipping arm for Cathy’s in the industrial building. But her mom retired, the recession hit and the family found their way into doing retail.
The daughters, all in their 30s, still work there to one degree or another. And granddaughter Madelyn Rose, age 3 1/2, may even take your order.
“If something ever happened to me, they know what they’re doing,” Lisa said of her daughters. “I can trust them to carry on the tradition with the quality.”
A Gilbert and ASU tradition
The Powers will happily tell anyone how much they love Gilbert and Arizona State University. The family has long ties to both. The old Power homestead gave rise to Power Road on the town’s eastern border, and ancestor James Power was on ASU’s first football team in 1896.
Lisa's Rum Cake
219 S. William Dillard Drive, Bldg. 4, Ste. 135, Gilbert
480-304-5077
www.lisasrumcake.com
Hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. 9-11 a.m., closed Sun.
