“Eileen's Special Cheesecake opened for
business in December, 1975, and arrived in lower Manhattan on December 4, 1976. Our location
at 17 Cleveland Place,
opposite Spring and Lafayette Streets at the corner of Kenmare and Centre
Streets, was not even listed on most maps. Cleveland Place has only about five
buildings on the street. The Police headquarters on Centre Street had vacated, and all the
area businesses closed up. It was a “ghost town” when I first arrived, but that
didn’t bother me because the rent was low and I desperately needed a place to
bake for my growing wholesale business. I hadn’t considered the retail aspects
of the business until people started knocking on the door of the bakery wanting
to buy cheesecake. With that encouragement, I purchased a bakery case and began
to conduct retail business. Soon after our cheesecake attracted the Press and
we were listed in “Best Bites” in New York Magazine. Radio station WOR rated us
“Number One cheesecake” and we appeared on television quite often whipping up a
batter of cheesecake. We eventually began to ship our cheesecakes overnight
anywhere in the United
States, which opened up a new market for us.
However, Cleveland Place
continued to be a difficult location for New Yorkers to find. Although we are around
the corner from the Spring Street subway stop, there was not much to bring
people to the area in those days, except for cheesecake. The summer of 2000, we
signed our first lease with the Port
of Authority to put a
kiosk in the outdoor area between the two towers of The World Trade Center.
Every afternoon, from May to September, we would sell our cheesecakes to people
who worked in the buildings and to tourists. There was entertainment every
afternoon, and it was great being able to represent New York’s favorite dessert (cheesecake). Unfortunately,
that all ended on September 11th. Our kiosk was destroyed, but fortunately our
employee was not on duty yet. Business at Cleveland Place declined, because subway
service was cut off and no one was walking around downtown. For six months, we
kept our workforce busy baking for the rescue workers. Time passed, and now Cleveland Place is
in a popular area where the mix of people and restaurants and shops are so
unique. Downtown is becoming the “place to be”, and we are actually on most
maps now. We survived difficult times, and now “let the good times roll”! Eileen's
Special Cheesecake is open every day Monday-Friday from 9AM till 9PM; Saturday
and Sunday from 10AM till 7PM. Daily delivery is available in Manhattan;
overnight delivery to anywhere in the U.S.A. Call us at 212.966.5585 or
1.800.521.CAKE.
www.eileenscheesecake.com”.
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento