Since the closing of City Diner, there has been a serious lack of late-night dining options on campus. Freshmen Alex Leiman and Jonah Bornstein, co-founders of SexyCakes, aim to fulfill students’ late-night cravings by providing an assortment of made-to-order breakfast items. 

The idea of SexyCakes was born before either of the founders stepped on campus. 

“I was working this summer at a restaurant and I had the idea. I was like, well, what if I got to college and just made my own food and started delivering it,” Leiman said.

When Leiman met Bornstein on one of the first days of school, the idea of SexyCakes started coming to fruition. They got down to business working on the logo, the brand, the menu and all of the logistics. 

After taking a few weeks to set up, SexyCakes was up and running at the beginning of September. 

Asked about their business-life balance, Leiman said, “Right now it still takes up a decent amount of time, but all the work we have been doing is to make everything run smoother. So it’s like we were able to not invest as much time.” 

Right now, the company is focusing on growth with the development of a phone app on the horizon. 

Although the company is now running more smoothly than its initial days, it had to overcome some obstacles. For example, finding a location to run the business. 

“We’ve been exploring other options and places to cook and so there’s been some off campus locations that we cooked,” Leiman said. “So that’s kind of fixed that problem.” 

Its proximity to campus allows SexyCakes to deliver straight to your door in 20 minutes.

“Everyone likes breakfast food — breakfast food is my favorite kind of food,” Leiman said when asked why they chose to sell pancakes and waffles. “The ratio of work to taste is the best, and everything is quick, too. You can make everything within three to five minutes.” 

Leiman also mentioned that they keep in mind their target consumers are college kids, so they try to aim their marketing to that population. One method they particularly like is crowdsourcing through their Instagram account and using promos. 

SexyCakes uses its Instagram to engage with its customers. Through the use of polls and surveys, it crowdsources names for new menu items and gauge interest for specials and new menu items. 

“We’re trying to provide a product that people want, and so getting the community engaged is something we’re always trying to do,” Leiman said. 

Along with customer engagement, the company gives back to its customers and generates awareness by conducting random food drops around campus. The first to get to the location gets a free meal. 

In conjunction with the free food drops, SexyCakes also has weekly specials. In the past, specials have ranged from simple blueberry pancakes to chicken and waffles with Raising Cane’s and beignets from Cafe Du Monde. It even gave a three-day Voodoo wristband to one lucky customer and gave out bags of candy on Halloween. 

Although SexyCakes is still in its early days as a company, it is consistently growing and hiring, and it has already established a loyal customer base.