PAM TURKIN:
Founder of Livonia-based Just Baked Cupcakes. Turkin opened her first Just Baked specialty cupcake shop and bakery in 2009. Today, the company has seven bakeries located throughout Metro Detroit and offers more than 60 flavors of gourmet, jumbo cupcakes. Just Baked also offers homemade brownies, cookies, "munchie mix," and will soon introduce its new frozen yogurt concept, "Just Swirled." The company recently entered into an agreement with Garden Fresh Gourmet for a national franchise expansion of Just Baked Cupcakes stores across the country, along with the creation of a wholesale retail program in approximately 10,000 grocery stores during the next two years. Just Baked also received additional capital and resources from an investment team comprised of Garden Fresh Gourmet executives. Under Turkin's leadership, Just Baked recently leased a new 16,000-square-foot production plant in Livonia. In 2010, Just Baked produced more than 850,000 cupcakes at its Livonia bakery, and the new plant will increase production by 200 percent. The company has about 50 employees and is adding another 20. Before establishing Just Baked, Turkin spent several years in marketing and merchandising, including work with major retailers such as Target and Meijer, to launch licensed brands throughout the country. When she noticed the emerging cupcake trend, Turkin researched cupcake bakeries, tested recipes in her kitchen every weekend for a year and enlisted her kids' friends to taste-test the recipes.
