Written by Christine Fennelly
First off, full disclosure: I am not a fan of reality shows. I had to watch “Temptation Island” for a pop culture class I took for my master’s degree and God knows I’ll never get those 12 hours back. And let’s not even go there about “Southie Rules….”
However, I do love a good hometown success story.
South Boston’s Sweet Tooth Bakery owner Glen Quirion along with business partner and co-owner David Venter opened their bakery in 2006, supported by Mayor Menino’s Main Streets initiative. “At that time, 12 other bakeries opened across the city, and now only 2 remain. The recession hit right after we opened,” explained David.
Fast forward nine years and the baker (Glen) and his trusted assistant Lauren were solicited to be contestants on the Food Network’s “Cake Wars” airing tonight at 8:30 pm.
“We’ve been invited to participate in shows on the Food Network before but that requires a week or more of filming and you simply cannot leave a small business for a week if you want to come back to a business,” explained David. “I think the producers got the not-so-subtle hint, and agreed to just a 3-day shoot. At the time, this was March, Glen’s brother was working here with us. He said, quite profoundly, ‘there’s never going to be the right time or enough time to do it’ and that stuck with Glen. It was what he needed to hear,” he added.
“I’m under strict legal guidelines and cannot reveal anything about the shoot, but let’s just say that ‘reality TV’ is anything but,” said Glen. (Who-da thunkit??)
Glen and Lauren were pitted against three other teams, all from the west coast. Their challenge involved fixing a cake that was brutally “messed up,” but that’s all he’ll reveal.
Glen and David are big supporters of local charities here in South Boston. Glen makes the monthly birthday cake for the Women’s Lunch Place, a shelter for poor and homeless women. Glen is the baker extraordinaire and David is the business brains, having grown up in a family that owned advertising agencies.
“Glen and I met when we were both down on our luck, hating our jobs, with no real focus or ambition,” said David. “We know how that feels and how hard that is to overcome, so charitable giving is extremely important to us. We’ve worked hard, certainly had our bumps in the road, but we couldn’t be happier than to have found success and a welcoming home in South Boston,” he said.
Glen and his assistant Lauren have already been invited back for Season 2. (I’m not sure if that is foreshadowing, but what the heck.)
Watch “Cake Wars” tonight on the Food Network, or better yet walk on down to 371 West Broadway and sample the goods for yourself. No two cakes or desserts are alike!
Mention that you read about Sweet Tooth Bakery on Caught in Southie and receive 10% off your order till the end of July!
