Spotlight | Grace Kelli Cupcakes

Welcome to Broadway Stages’ Spotlight, where we feature local shops, restaurants, organizations, individuals, and venues. We encourage our readers to join us in supporting these establishments and advancing local economic growth. In celebration of Black History Month, we are shining the spotlight on a few of the Black-owned businesses in the neighborhoods where we work. This week, we take a trip to East Harlem to visit the mother-daughter business Grace Kelli Cupcakes! 

The name is Grace Kelli Cupcakes, but this business is that and more! Co-owner Sandra Mathis, who has been cooking since she was seven, brings five generations of Southern soul food recipes to the desserts and catering company. 

Grace Kelli Cupcakes is a mother-daughter company in East Harlem, a few blocks from Central Park. But at its start in 2017, they worked out of a shared kitchen in Harlem at Hot Bread Kitchen. This nonprofit creates economic opportunity through careers in food.

Sandra has always loved to bake. Growing up in Waycross, North Carolina, she shadowed her grandmother in the kitchen and learned how to put a Southern spin on various recipes. Years later, after becoming a mother, she moved to Staten Island with a dream of turning her passion for baking into her very own family business. 

Before starting her catering and dessert business, Sandra worked as a dental assistant and volunteered at her daughter’s school. It was volunteering that inspired her to go into business. She was selling her daughter’s favorite treats at a school fundraiser and received rave reviews. She named it after her daughter (and co-owner), her biggest inspiration and motivation. 

Sandra said, “It makes my daughter proud knowing she has a business that her mom started for her. She tells all her friends about her business...As a mom, it makes me proud to have a business and have it named after my child, just to have something that she can be proud of as well.”

You can come by the shop Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and choose from a variety of Sweet Treats made daily. They also offer catering with traditional North Carolina foods like collard greens, black-eyed peas, and her grandmother’s baked banana pudding on the menu. 

Moreover, the shop offers vegan soul food platters featuring dishes such as Vegan Macaroni and Cheese Empanadas and Vegan Spicy Chicken and Waffles. The vegan fare is so well-liked, Sandra also runs Black Eyed Peas and Collard Greens, a vegan soul food pop-up. Customers of the pop-up rave about the moxtail (vegan ox tail) and the vegan fried chicken. Since it is a pop-up, you should keep an eye on their Facebook page for locations and more details. In fact, it would be a good idea to add the Grace Kelli Facebook and Instagram pages to your favorites, too!

But we cannot forget the cupcakes. One Bronx customer raved, “You got to try them! You can taste the love she puts in her cupcakes!” And a customer from Edison, New Jersey, said, “Oh my goodness - the team cannot stop talking about these cupcakes!! They were so beautiful and delicious!” 

Broadway Stages loves cupcakes! But more than that, we love an inspired small businessperson. The cupcakes just make it better. We encourage you to support Sandra and Grace. And when you do, be sure to tell them that Broadway Stages sent you!