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Category Archives: WPTF News

Walmart’s army of bakery decorators take the cake when it comes to hourly store pay

Walmart’s army of bakery decorators take the cake when it comes to hourly store pay

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Inside a Walmart store in New Jersey, a worker puts the finishing touches on a cake with an edible ink Sponge Bob on top. A colleague creates a buttercream rosette border for a different cake, while another co-worker frosts a tier of what will be a triple-deck dessert.

It’s graduation season, the busiest time of year for the 6,200 employees the nation’s largest retailer trained to hand-decorate cakes per customers’ orders. The cakes themselves come, pre-made, frozen and in a variety of shapes and sizes, from suppliers, not Walmart’s in-store bakeries.

But there’s no sugar-coating the importance the company places on its custom cake business. Its army of icing artisans are the highest paid hourly workers in a typical U.S. Walmart, excluding managers. Cake decorators earn an average of $19.25 per hour, compared with $18.25 for all non-managerial store workers, a company spokesperson said.

Walmart’s cake decorators, the chain’s top non-manager hourly earners, are driving strong business during graduation season with affordable, custom-designed cakes. (AP Video: Ted Shaffrey)

Melissa Fernandez, 36, started working in the electronics area and then the wireless services department of the Walmart in North Bergen, New Jersey, before she transferred to the deli area in search of better pay. But Fernandez had her eye on a cake decorating job and after spending two months getting trained by a store colleague, she picked up a piping bag full-time in 2021.

“I love baking at home. I love painting,” Fernandez said. “I love doing anything artistic, and I just always wanted to be a part of it.” After 11 years with Walmart, she said she now makes about $24.40 an hour.

Despite their elite status within Walmart, the retailer’s cake decorators have attracted detractors on social media.

The company promotes its personalized baked goods on TikTok, and the workers behind such creations do the same with their own profiles. As the content has grown in popularity, critics have accused Walmart decorators of stealing ideas and undercutting the work of professional cake artists with their low-priced products.

After TikTok videos praising Walmart’s $25 heart-shaped cakes with borders that resemble vintage lace cropped up before Valentine’s Day this year, a few bakers produced their own videos explaining why their cakes cost so much more and critiquing Walmart’s.

Debates ensued in the comments sections over whether Walmart represented evils of capitalism or served the needs of the masses.

A customized sheet cake that can be sliced to serve 96 people costs $59 at Walmart, about one-third to half the price that a nationwide sample of independent bakeries list online for similarly sized cakes. For $5.20 more, Walmart customers can add strawberry or “Bavarian creme” fillings, which like the bare cakes, are vendor-supplied.

The slice of the celebratory occasion cake market Walmart holds appears vast based on company-supplied figures. One out of four cakes sold in the U.S. comes from Walmart, and its employees will collectively decorate more than 1 million cakes during May and June, according to a company spokesperson.

The number of cakes decorated each day at the location where Fernandez works nearly doubles to 50-60 when school graduations come around, compared to 30-35 a day during the rest of the year, said Michael DeMarco, the manager of the store’s fresh food department. He credits the decorators’ talent and promotional efforts on TikTok.

“We’re getting a lot of repeat customers. We’re doing a lot more business because of just the viral sensations,” DeMarco said.

A TikTok video that showed Fernandez designing a $24 version of a customized bouquet cake — 12 cupcakes that are individually decorated and arranged to look like a bunch of flowers — received nearly a half-million views. The bouquet design was one of the North Bergen store’s most popular cakes last month, a company spokesperson said.

The dressy heart-shaped cakes, as well as cakes that resemble meals like sushi or a pile of spaghetti and meatballs, are popular too, she said. Fernandez also has created “burn away” cakes: an iced cake topped with an image printed on paper, which is set ablaze to reveal a different image underneath.

“TikTok helps me stay up to date,” she said. “A lot of trends that I see on there, within that week or within that month, customers will come asking about it. And we’re pretty up to date as well.”

Jazzing up a cake by hand requires skill, whether or not someone else did the baking, she said. Funneling buttercream frosting through a bag and various sized piping tips to yield the desired design without misplaced blobs is not the same as drawing or painting, Fernandez explained.

“There’s a lot of pressure points that you have to practice in order to get the borders correct and the right thickness or the right texture,” she said.

Tiffany Witzke, who has been a Walmart cake decorator since July 2016 and works at a store in Springfield, Missouri, has more than 912,000 followers on TikTok. The job attracts people who “can be extremely skilled and talented,” Witzke said, adding that customers want increasingly complicated designs.

“When I first started, it was basically just borders and writing,” she said. “Now, everybody wants more and more and more on their cake.”

Liz Berman, owner of The Sleepy Baker, in Natick, Massachusetts, said she’s not worried about losing customers to Walmart because of her attention to detail and the premium ingredients she uses.

She charges $205 and up for a half-sized sheet cake, the bouquets made up of two dozen miniature cupcakes cost $110. All the cakes are made from scratch, and Berman said she designs everything herself.

“It’s just a totally different business model,” she said. “Everything I do is custom.”

For Walmart, the cake decorating business delivers higher profit margins than some other areas, such as groceries and electronics, according to Marshal Cohen, chief retail advisor at market research firm Circana. But it’s also resonating with shoppers looking for affordable luxuries.

“We’ve gone into a period where the consumer is saying, ‘This is good enough,’” Cohen said.

Customers interviewed at the North Bergen store on a recent weekday seemed to be satisfied. George Arango, 34, picked up two customized cakes, one to celebrate a co-worker’s retirement and the other for a colleague getting another job. After researching prices on various store websites, he decided to give Walmart a try.

“The price is fantastic,” he said. “I’m walking out with two cakes for $40.”

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ ex-girlfriend resumes testimony about his sexual interests

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ ex-girlfriend resumes testimony about his sexual interests

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs’ recent ex-girlfriend is back on the witness stand after testifying about how she endured drug-fueled sex marathons right up until the hip-hop titan’s arrest in September. The woman is using the pseudonym “Jane” at Combs’ sex trafficking trial in New York as she testifies for a second day Friday. Combs has pleaded not guilty to running his business empire as a racketeering enterprise that enabled the abuse of women. Jane testified that Combs had control over her life including paying her rent and pressured her into sexual encounters with other men, despite her telling him she didn’t want to.… Continue Reading

What’s next for influencer Livvy Dunne after college gymnastics career? ‘Everything,’ she says

What’s next for influencer Livvy Dunne after college gymnastics career? ‘Everything,’ she says

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — With her college gymnastics days behind her, influencer and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Livvy Dunne is moving on with life — but that doesn’t mean she’ll be far from the public eye. Dunne has more than 13 million followers on social media, and she created a multimillion-dollar personal brand while competing as a gymnast at LSU. Now she’s trying to help other female athletes do the same, helping to educate them about name, image and likeness deals and personal branding. Asked about her future, Dunne told The Associated Press, “What’s next? Everything.”… Continue Reading

Hiring in the US slows, yet employers added a solid 139,000 jobs in May

Hiring in the US slows, yet employers added a solid 139,000 jobs in May

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers slowed hiring last month, but still added a solid 139,000 jobs amid uncertainty over Trump’s trade wars. The Department of Labor said Friday that hiring fell from a revised 147,000 in April. The unemployment rate stayed at 4.2%. Trump’s aggressive and unpredictable policies – especially his sweeping taxes on imports – have muddied the outlook for the economy and the job market and raised fears that the American economy could be headed toward recession. But so far the damage hasn’t shown up clearly in government economic data.… Continue Reading

NC By Train celebrates major milestones of Piedmont and Carolinian service

NC By Train celebrates major milestones of Piedmont and Carolinian service

RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) — NC By Train is celebrating two major milestones—30 years of Piedmont Service and 35 years of the Carolinian—with a special event at Raleigh Union Station and a 30% discount on tickets. NCDOT Rail Division Director Jason Orthner says both lines have transformed travel across North Carolina, with ridership growing by 55% since 2019. As expansion plans look to connect even more cities like Asheville and Wilmington, officials say the future of rail travel in the state is on the right track. … Continue Reading

North Carolina governor forms council to recommend cannabis regulations

North Carolina governor forms council to recommend cannabis regulations

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein says he wants a council he’s created to recommend cannabis sales regulations to protect young people and provide a structure for an industry where products from otherwise lawful hemp are unregulated. The Democratic governor signed an executive order this week creating the panel. North Carolina is among a small number of states whose laws prohibit marijuana for both medicinal use or adult recreational use. The General Assembly would have to enact any law legalizing marijuana. Preliminary recommendations are due next March. Stein says there’s currently a “Wild West” market in which products being sold contain intoxicating levels of what’s known as THC.… Continue Reading

What to know about the much-anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 on launch day

What to know about the much-anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 on launch day

NEW YORK (AP) — The Nintendo Switch 2 finally hit store shelves on Thursday, eight years after the initial release of Japanese video-game maker Nintendo’s popular video-game console. Even with a hefty $450 price tag, fans around the world, from Japan to the U.S., lined up outside stores to pick-up pre-orders or have a chance to buy the device. The release ends months of anticipation that included pre-order hiccups and fears that tariffs would delay the release of the Switch 2. Nintendo said it expects to sell 15 million Switch 2 consoles for the fiscal year through March 2026.… Continue Reading

Bryson DeChambeau is back to competing, preparing for US Open title defense after ‘fun side quests’

Bryson DeChambeau is back to competing, preparing for US Open title defense after ‘fun side quests’

GAINESVILLE, Va. (AP) — As much as Bryson DeChambeau loves to practice and compete, the U.S. Open champion also appreciates the limited LIV Golf schedule that gives him time to pursue other interests. DeChambeau arrived at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club for LIV Golf Virginia after a busy few days that included a round of golf with President Donald Trump and some short-game practice on the South Lawn of the White House. Now the big-hitting YouTube star turns his attention to the 54-hole LIV event that starts Friday at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. Next week at Oakmont, he will try to win his third U.S. Open.… Continue Reading

Amazon planning $10B investment in North Carolina for data center and AI campus

Amazon planning $10B investment in North Carolina for data center and AI campus

HAMLET, N.C. (AP) — Amazon is expanding its cloud computing infrastructure and artificial intelligence activities into a rural North Carolina county. The company said Wednesday it intends to invest $10 billion toward building a campus in Richmond County. This will bring a shot in the arm to a region where textile and apparel jobs dried up a generation ago. Amazon said its investment should create at least 500 jobs and support thousands more through construction and data center supply chain providers. Gov. Josh Stein says the investment is one of the largest in state history.… Continue Reading

At least 11 people die in a stampede outside a cricket stadium in India after IPL win

At least 11 people die in a stampede outside a cricket stadium in India after IPL win

BENGALURU, India (AP) — At least 11 people are dead and more than 30 injured in a stampede outside a cricket stadium in southern India. The crush on Wednesday happened as tens of thousands of cricket fans gathered outside a stadium in Bengaluru to celebrate the winners of the Indian Premier League. That’s the world’s most popular T20 cricket tournament. Karnataka state’s chief minister says the stampede took place after the crowd tried to break one of the stadium’s gates and enter to take part in celebrations. The cricket team had given away free passes to fans but urged them to follow guidelines set by authorities.… Continue Reading

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