Bovaconti expands to Carmel
After nearly six years of winning hearts in Fountain Square, Bovaconti is now spreading the love in Hamilton County.
Zoom in: The Bovaconti owners opened the Carmel location this Valentine's Day as a " love letter to Carmel."
The building it's in has been home to a jewelry store, banks, law offices, a drug store, an insurance company and more over the years.
The bones of the jewelry store were repurposed for Bovaconti's debut. For example, the old jewelry case is now surrounded with stools to create bar-like seating in the middle of the cafe.
The old bank vault has also been given a new beginning, being transformed into a cozy back room to work or relax in with some additional privacy.
Brew of the week: The Golden Latte
Cost: $5 for a short. $6 for a tall.
💭 My thought bubble: With the sun beaming through the front windows, starting my day with this golden cup of sunshine felt like the right move.
I'm also happy to report that HamCo's Golden Latte is just as delicious as what you'd find at the OG location.
The combination of turmeric, ginger, black pepper, cinnamon and vanilla is complex, comforting and surprisingly filling.
It's like drinking a ginger cinnamon scone. Which is way tastier than it sounds.
Yes, but: Despite latte being in the name, this drink contains no espresso.
If you go: 14160 Mundy Dr., Suite 100, Carmel.
Open 7am-7pm every day.
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Tom's Guide
4 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
I'm a certified coffee snob, but the new Ninja Luxe Café Pro has won me over — here's why
The Ninja Luxe Café Premier rocked the coffee game when it dropped last year, but amid its myriad smart touches, there was one feature that I thought it lacked — a tamping arm. Enter: the Ninja Luxe Café Pro. Tamping arms are a huge mess-saver for modern espresso machines. You can find them in the likes of Breville and De'Longhi flagship models, and Ninja has caught on fast. Not only do they prevent messy countertops, but tamping arms also have the added benefit of measuring the height of your puck to check for grind volumes, and evenly tamping to prevent channeling. What else is new in this upgraded model? Well, there's a hot water dispenser, something that was sorely lacking in the OG for Americano-lovers such as myself. And its milk steaming jug is significantly larger, allowing you to brew for two. I've spent a week with Ninja's latest flagship coffee maker, and here's why the Ninja Luxe Café Pro has won me over. Price $749 / £699 Size 13.39 in L x 12.48 in W x 14.84 in H Colors Stainless steel + black Power 1650 watts Weight 27.07 lbs The Ninja Luxe Café Pro retails for $749 / £699, heralding Ninja's arrival in the luxury coffee machine market. For context, that's $150 / £150 more than the original Ninja Luxe Café Pro, and comparable to the likes of De'Longhi's excellent new La Specialista Touch or Breville's Barista Express Impress. Visually, the Ninja Luxe Café Pro isn't my favorite. And I'm not ashamed to say that looks matter to me in a coffee maker - if you're asking me to display something on my kitchen counters, I'd like to enjoy looking at it. In a word, I find it a little boxy. But it's in keeping with Ninja's branding: all singing, all dancing, but utilitarian. Not an inch of stainless steel is wasted, with a comprehensive drink menu and informative display panel. There's also a container on the side of your machine for the filters you're not using, which is a nice touch. Not an inch of stainless steel is wasted If I'm being picky, which I think is warranted for $749, I wish the water tank and waste water container were larger. I found myself refilling a lot more than I would with my usual Breville Barista Touch Impress, and I also had to empty the drip tray at least once a day. This might be because Ninja has added a separate, removable drip tray to sit underneath the group head, which loses about a third of the capacity I get in the Breville. This is a nice idea, because it allows you to put travel coffee cups (or the world's tallest mug) directly underneath your group head, which is something I usually can't do when I take my own coffee into the office. Like I said, I'm a coffee snob, and the machines in the office don't always cut it. But if I could trade, I'd probably take the extra waste water space over the removable group head drip tray for the convenience of fewer trips to the sink. The key to a good coffee is a good grinder, but good grinders can be seriously expensive, so if I were placing bets, this is where I'd have expected the Ninja Luxe Café Pro to let me down. But actually, the grinder is pretty clever. The grinder has 25 settings, which is about on par with the range you'lll find in similarly-priced machines from Breville and De'Longhi. This machine uses a somewhat unique weight-based grinding system, meaning your machine never under- or over-grinds, and your puck will always be perfectly level. And I found this weight-based system to be shockingly accurate. Another cool feature that I've never seen before is the fact that the machine automatically detects when you change filter baskets. I'm not even sure how it does that, but it never failed in the pretty frequent switches I was making between the luxe basket and the double filter. A final feature that caught my attention is that the machine automatically purges a little coffee when you change your grind size. That's pretty smart, because there's usually some retention in domestic bean-to-cup machines, meaning when you change grind size, you'll end up with a little of the leftover grounds from the original size, topped up with your new setting. That can make it tricky to find the perfect grind size when you're dialling in. Then, there's the tamping arm. In the Breville Impress range, this arm will indicate if you've ground too much (or too little) coffee and suggest either trimming the top of your puck, or grinding a little extra to hit the perfect level. Ninja adds a token green light to let you know the machine is happy with the volume of grounds in your puck, but because it works on a weight-based system, it should in theory be perfect every time. The machine will suggest changing your grind size depending on the extraction time of your coffee. Too long, and your grounds may be too fine, therefore not allowing enough water through and resulting in a bitter brew. Too short, and the grounds are too large, not creating enough pressure and therefore leading to a weak and under-extracted espresso. The Ninja Luxe Café Pro suggested I start at grind size 18, and it was happy with the first espresso I brewed. I do wish the machine had a timer (my Breville does) to show how long the extraction takes, but regardless of whether Ninja was happy, I wasn't. I found the flavor to be a little lacking, and my shot was a little too speedy as it gushed into my espresso cup. After testing countless coffee makers, I know when a shot isn't pulling quite right. So I overrode the machine and changed the grind size to 15, which resulted in a very tasty shot. I was using Lost Sheep's Brazil roast, and the Ninja Luxe Café Pro brought out the deep fruity notes very well. My perfected shot flowed in creamy ropes, and took around 33 seconds. The machine suggested we meet in the middle at 16, which I (again) ignored. So is its grind suggestion perfect? No, but you can just ignore it, and it's also led me astray in my much more premium Breville Barista Touch Impress. And for more entry-level users, it's better to have some guidance than be left to figure out this complicated espresso business solo. My university nightclub used to sell 'Quaddies': 4 shots in one glass for a cost-effective and efficient way of getting the party going. Well, for obvious reasons, the university banned those, and I thought my quaddie days were behind me. Thanks to Ninja, I can now enjoy a different type of quad-shot in the form of its Luxe basket. I approached the Luxe basket with extreme scepticism. The Luxe basket is the reason the Ninja's portafilter looks a bit ridiculous: it needs to fit single and double baskets, but also a giant, deep filter that would easily double my daily coffee bean consumption. In this economy? But before I come down too hard on this unorthodox addition, I should admit that I've increasingly been turning to it for my morning coffee. I love an Americano, and combined with the new hot water dispenser, the Americano you can make with this XL basket tastes like straight-up, delicious jet fuel. It's really good stuff, giving me a strong but tasty buzz and topping off my mug with an attractive, thin layer of crema. I won't give up my drip coffee quite yet, but if you're looking for a machine that can brew longer coffee as well as short shots of espresso, the Ninja could be tempting. Like its Luxe basket, the milk jug Ninja developed for the Ninja Luxe Café Pro is also comically large. It comes with a whisk at the bottom, which can texturize hot and cold milk, and the option of four different froth levels if you choose to steam automatically. You still can steam manually, but I would suggest buying your own, smaller jug to do this. I struggled to steam by hand in the giant milk jug. I have no notes for the automatic milk steaming. The jug even comes with markings for different volumes to allow you to follow the coffee recipes printed on the side of the machine. I first made a cappuccino following these recipes, and my mountains of steamed milk came out glossy and dry, as you'd aim for when hand-steaming. Next, the latte. I was surprised and a bit wowed by how evenly this milk was textured, with a soft and shiny microfoam that was definitely latte art-worthy. To be mega picky, I'd have had to decant the jug into a more suitable vessel to then pour something impressive, but that's something they teach you at barista school, so seasoned home baristas shouldn't mind too much. As soon as the weather picks up, I switch out my coffee cups for iced latte tumblers. But I've never tried a machine that can make cold foam before, and it was love at first brew. First, I brewed a double shot of 'cold brew' which, like every cold brew setting I've tried from similarly-priced machines, doesn't quite rival the real 24-hour-steeped stuff but is a pretty good imitation. Extraction took about 3 minutes, and the machine pulsed water to pre-infuse and slowly pull a room-temperature shot. The flavor was mellow and fruity, and it definitely hit the spot on a hot day. I then toppped with some milk I steamed using the cold foam setting, and it instantly elevated my summer staple. The thick layer of foam slowly melted into the cold brew, and while it faded relatively first (which is to be expected of any milk that's whisked instead of steamed) it looked lovely and tasted great. The most obvious machine to compare the Ninja Luxe Café Pro to is its predecessor, the Ninja Luxe Café Premier. And while it offers a few things the original doesn't, I do wonder if this is worth $150 more to every customer. Not because this machine isn't worth $750 machine, but because its initial offering was outstanding value. The price immediately lifts the Pro out of the realm of entry-level bean-to-cup machines like the Breville Barista Express, where it's playing in a league of its own. At $749, we're vying with the big boys. If, like me, you're not charmed by the aesthetics, the De'Longhi La Specialista Touch is a very worthy alternative to the Ninja Luxe Café Pro. It's compact, packed with smart features, and offers a much more interactive experience than the Ninja. In the UK (where I'm based) it's a tantalizing $699, but it's $300 more than the Ninja Luxe Café Pro in the U.S., where it retails for $999. There are people who won't enjoy this machine, but they're in a niche minority. It lacks the finessed finish of more established coffee brands, and breaks with some well-established conventions in favor of accessibility. For one, the whisk at the bottom of the milk jug, while great for making cold foam, probably won't impress coffee enthusiasts who appreciate the art of hand-steaming. And while the luxe basket turned out to be a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, some will question whether you can get a good espresso out of a quad basket, and resent the unusually large portafilter that comes with it. As for me? As a seasoned espresso snob, I didn't expect to enjoy this machine as much as I did. Ninja has put a lot of thought into every element of this machine, from the automatic purging when you change grind size to the storage space for your spare baskets. And the inclusion of a tamping arm is a smart one, allowing you to still feel like you've crafted your coffee, but with less mess and more precision. The Ninja Luxe Café Pro offers the perfect balance between ease of use and manual features to create a uniquely accessible machine that almost everyone will love.
Boston Globe
21 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Trump administration races to fix a big mistake: DOGE fired too many people
Across the government, the Trump administration is scrambling to rehire many federal employees dismissed under DOGE's staff-slashing initiatives after wiping out entire offices, in some cases imperiling key services such as weather forecasting and the drug approval process. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Since Musk left the White House last week, he and Trump have fallen out bitterly, sniping at each other in public over the cost of Trump's sweeping tax legislation and government subsidies for Musk's businesses. But even before that, the administration was working to undo some of DOGE's highest-profile actions. Advertisement Trump officials are trying to recover not only people who were fired, but also thousands of experienced senior staffers who are opting for a voluntary exit as the administration rolls out a second resignation offer. Thousands more staff are returning in fits and starts as a conflicting patchwork of court decisions overturn some of Trump's large-scale firings, especially his Valentine's Day dismissal of all probationary workers, those with one or two years of government service and fewer job protections. A federal judge in April ordered the president to reinstate probationary workers dismissed from 20 federal agencies, although a few days later the Supreme Court - in a different case - halted another judge's order to reinstate a smaller group. Advertisement Some fired federal employees, especially those at retirement age or who have since secured jobs in the private sector, are proving reluctant to return. So the administration is seeking work-arounds and stopgaps, including asking remaining staff to serve in new roles, work overtime or volunteer to fill vacancies, according to interviews with 18 federal workers across eight agencies and messages obtained by The Washington Post. A Post review found recent messy re-hirings at agencies including the Food and Drug Administration, the IRS, the State Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The ever-shifting personnel changes are yet another strain on a workforce already weary of Trump-induced uncertainty, said current and former employees, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. 'They wanted to show they were gutting the government, but there was no thought about what parts might be worth keeping,' said one FDA staffer who was fired and rehired. 'Now it feels like it was all just a game to them.' A White House official said in an interview that it is no secret Trump arrived in Washington determined to streamline the government. During that downsizing, the official acknowledged, some people were fired who shouldn't have been. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss a complex issue that spans many federal agencies. Advertisement 'Each agency has made an appropriate determination as to who should be on the payroll in the respective agency,' the official said. 'If by chance mistakes were made and critical employees were dismissed, each individual agency is working diligently to bring these people back to work to continue the adequate functions of the federal government.' In statements, some agencies also admitted to errors, while promising the government is working to fix them. 'During this process,' said an Agriculture Department spokesperson, 'USDA has been transparent about any mistakes that were made.' 'They need some of the expertise' Lynn McKerral holds a sign in support of Social Security Administration workers in front of the agency's headquarters in Woodlawn, Maryland, on May 20, 2025. Wesley Lapointe/For The Washington Post The administration has already had to race to undo its own cuts. In February, the Agriculture Department launched a campaign to rehire bird flu response workers after avian influenza sent egg prices soaring. That same month, the Trump administration fired nearly 17 percent of the National Nuclear Security Administration's workforce, temporarily imperiling the safety and security of America's 5,000 nuclear warheads - before hiring them back after an outcry. In recent weeks, other agencies have seen similar patterns. At the start of April, the FDA let go of thousands, including laboratory staff, librarians and those who helped manage the budget. The dismissals hit particularly hard at the Office of Drug Policy, the Office of Regulatory Policy and teams that worked on Freedom of Information Act requests and patent extensions, according to interviews with eight current and former FDA employees. But three weeks later, fired workers began getting calls on their personal cellphones - and soon, a message to their personal emails: They were all due back. The 'Notice of Reduction in Force (RIF) issued to you … is officially RESCINDED [and] you will not be separated from employment,' read an email sent to terminated staff in May and obtained by The Post. 'You are expected to return to duty the next business day following your receipt of this notice.' Advertisement One FDA worker said she complied only because she hadn't found other employment yet. 'Being back feels like a funeral,' she said. 'Morale is terrible. Everyone is stressed and feels the absence of our colleagues. … I'm looking for another job.' At the IRS, managers received a notice on May 19, a Monday, that all probationary workers would be coming back to the office on Friday, according to a copy obtained by The Post. The turnaround was so swift that some probationary staff probably wouldn't have a desk or a laptop initially, the announcement acknowledged: 'If a seat assignment is not available … your employees should begin teleworking until local management secures a seat assignment for them.' Asked about the FDA's back-and-forth, a Health and Human Services spokesperson wrote in a statement that 'any reassignment or restructuring is being done to strengthen outcomes. Our restructuring is delivering leaner and better government services to the American people.' The IRS did not respond to requests for comment. At USAID, thousands have been out of work since early this year, when their agency became ground zero for Trump and Musk's overhaul of government. But at the start of this month, some ex-USAID officials began hearing from former colleagues about potential new jobs at the State Department, which has assumed responsibility for distributing foreign aid, once USAID's task. The outreach soon morphed into formal offers, with an application deadline of May 19. One former senior USAID official said she decided to go for it. Advertisement 'I was like, well, I definitely don't want to work for this administration, but, yes, I need a job, so put my name down,' she said. 'Why not? I have nothing to lose.' Overall, few USAID workers are expected to return. According to documents shared with The Post, less than 200 total positions were advertised, a tiny fraction of the roughly 10,000 people employed by USAID before it was torn apart. Though the Trump administration has cut more than 80 percent of USAID programs, the State Department has taken over the remainder, controlling billions in foreign assistance. A State Department spokesperson, who declined to be named, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio 'approved the hiring of a small number of positions … in connection with the Department assuming responsibility for limited former USAID programming. 'I'm not risking it again' Meteorologist Joe DeLizio prepares to release a weather balloon for the National Weather Service in Gaylord, Michigan, on April 28, 2025. Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post As other agencies grapple with fallout from dismissals and departures, managers are leaning on remaining employees to fill the gaps - and in some cases, hiring new workers to replace those who have left. At the National Weather Service, waves of DOGE-led early retirements and probationary firings left some local forecasting offices without enough staff to maintain 24/7 operations, while others lost the ability to launch as many weather balloons, a key forecasting tool. In one Kentucky office, the agency had to stagger shifts ahead of a tornado outbreak to ensure enough meteorologists were working to cover the overnight threat. Last month, as meteorologists and Democrats in Congress warned that staffing cuts could leave the Weather Service unable to fulfill its mission of saving lives and protecting property from extreme weather, the agency sought to make up for the cuts by reassigning staff from across the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Weather Service director Ken Graham, meanwhile, assured employees throughout the spring that the agency was close to securing a public safety exemption to the government-wide hiring freeze. Advertisement It finally arrived Monday, Graham told Weather Service staff in an email, obtained by The Post, that began: 'Big news! Fantastic news!' The agency will soon post job listings for 126 meteorologist, hydrologist, physical scientist and electronics technician roles, which Graham described as 'a targeted number of critical positions' that would 'further stabilize front line operations.' 'Together, these hiring authorities and staffing flexibilities will allow us to continue meeting our foundational mission, including issuing timely and accurate forecasts and warnings,' he added. The agency confirmed the hiring in a statement and said it was part of a series of steps to address staff losses. At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, some offices saw so many people take Trump's early resignation offer that officials are now seeking to redeploy staff to cover the absences. Community Planning and Development, a HUD department that responds to wildfires and hurricanes and administers billions of dollars in grants, is especially strained. That department's Office of Field Operations has 13 field offices with two or fewer employees left, according to an internal presentation from May 27 obtained by The Post. More than 30 field offices have broader staffing concerns, the presentation showed. Department staff sent a 'voluntary reassignment' offer to employees within Community Planning and Development, where about 40 percent of employees had already resigned. Headcount dropped from 936 employees at the start of Trump's term to 560 by May, according to a staffer who attended the presentation. Officials 'learned that certain Regions and Field Offices have lost serious staffing capabilities,' according to a May 23 message to staff obtained by The Post, which noted the reassignment offers are meant to 'immediately cover skill gaps and critical functions.' Staffers would be required to work in person but will not have moving costs covered, according to the employee. 'In some cases, supervisors are left with no staff, or staff are left with no supervisors, or offices are left with nobody to keep programs delivered,' the email to staff read. A HUD spokesperson wrote in a statement that, given roughly 2,300 employees are 'taking the opportunity to find a new path, it only makes sense that the department would have a plan in place to ensure that mission critical functions and the highest quality service to rural, tribal and urban communities remain uninterrupted.' Within the FDA, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research is struggling to recover from the loss of too many 'timekeepers,' personnel who handle pay, leave and travel logistics, emails show. A plaintive message sent to the center's staff in early May noted the department 'is still working on a long-term solution for our timekeeping needs.' It asked for volunteers. 'If folks are willing to be trained as a timekeeper or have prior timekeeping experience (does not need to be recent),' the missive said, 'please respond back to this email to let us know if you are interested.' In other agencies, managers are having to fix problems from Trump- or DOGE-driven restructurings. At the Social Security Administration's call center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, IT workers were told by managers in mid-April that they needed to request a transfer or face possible firing, said Barri Sue Bryant, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2809. Nearly all of the 40-plus workers in that office did so, sending their laptops and spare equipment to the agency's Baltimore headquarters and awaiting a new assignment while the union attempted to explain to leadership how essential these employees were, Bryant said. 'We are critically understaffed in all of our departments,' Bryant wrote in an email to leadership. 'Having systems and employees down is not contributing to the goals of this agency.' But management would soon find out on their own. A specialized scanner that can quickly input forms and scan barcodes broke down and was unusable for a day. A customer service representative who was supposed to answer the 800 number couldn't take calls for three days while her computer was in disrepair. 'It really sent everyone for a loop,' Bryant said. After three days, the agency told the union the decision had been reversed. The employees got back their equipment and resumed their normal jobs in Wilkes-Barre. Asked about the IT workers, Social Security provided an emailed statement from an unnamed official, whom it declined to identify. The statement did not address the reassignments but criticized 'the fake news media, specifically the Washington Post' for 'pushing a false narrative about Social Security. The truth is that President Trump is protecting and strengthening Social Security just like he promised.' Federal workers caught in similar situations described being on an unsettling roller coaster. One USDA safety inspector remembered answering a call from their manager one weekend to learn they were fired for 'performance,' even though they had received positive reviews, according to personnel documents reviewed by The Post. But by Monday - the day before the employee was supposed to turn in their badge - the manager called back to say the termination was rescinded. In April, when the Trump administration offered early retirement, the employee leaped at it and was soon placed on administrative leave. A few days later, former colleagues reached out: The government was now looking to fill the person's job again. Did they want back in? 'I was like, yep, nope, I'm not risking it again,' the employee said. 'I'm gonna try to take the money and try to find something else.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Walmart's army of bakery decorators take the cake when it comes to hourly store pay
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. 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 encourages the workers behind such creations to do the same. 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.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
