Six Years And A Few Million Cupcakes Later
Cake Crumbs Owner and First Employee Still Covered in Flour
By Cara DeGette
In October, Denon Moore will celebrate six years of leaving a trail of Cake Crumbs through Park Hill. Her bakery has grown beyond all expectations. Moore credits her first employee, Nelson Mendez, with riding shotgun from day one.
The story of how Mendez ended up in her employ, working what he calls his dream job – the last he ever wants before retiring – is one of bumpy roads and perseverance.
Mendez, 62, lives with schizophrenia. It’s a challenging mental illness to manage. And, as with any mental illness, it can be a challenge to find an employer willing to hire you.
Moore first met Mendez at the Mental Health Center of Denver, after he had arrived in Denver, homeless. He had landed here from Hawaii, and New York before that.
At the time, Moore was a case manager at the center, with dreams of one day opening a bakery. She and Mendez, who enrolled at the center’s 2Succeed job training program, began talking. He was working in the kitchen of the Mental Health Center, and was a little bit shy. Moore approached him with an offer that, in retrospect, turned out to be good and true.
“I said, ‘Nelson, I have this crazy idea to open a bakery. If I do, will you come and work for me?’ ” Moore says.
The two recently sat down at a patio outside the bakery, to share the lowdown of what’s happened since.
Mendez says his personal favorite is the bakery’s blueberry scones. To which Moore reminds Mendez not to forget to mention his specialty: the delicious chocolate sandwich cookie filled with cream cheese frosting, which earned a place in 5280’s “Top Bites.”
“We’ve come so far it’s unbelievable,” Moore says.
“She’s the best boss I ever had,” says Mendez.
“We’ve come a long way,” Moore says.
Mendez is now assistant baker in a bakery that whips out 10,000 gourmet cupcakes a week. And that’s not even counting the full strength cakes, the scones and cookies, that Cake Crumbs produces. When it outgrew its original West City Park location, Moore and her husband and co-owner Sean Moore opened the Kearney Street retail store and restaurant. The bakery is less than a mile away, at 28th and Fairfax.
In all, the operation now averages 25 employees – “an eclectic bunch of dynamic individuals” – is how Denon Moore describes her talent. Mendez still struggles with his schizophrenia at times, but he’s self-sufficient, living in a Park Hill apartment. When he’s not baking, Mendez says he watches lots of TV – the news and the Broncos and a heavy dose of sermons on the Christian stations.
“This is like a dream come true,” he says. “I hope it lasts forever.”