Friendship, food and freedom are the best things about working at Ali Cakes, according to the bakery’s employees.

“I get to work with my best friends every day,” said owner Alison Kanealy of her two full time employees Tia Rodemeyer and Ann Goemaat. “We were friends before here, we were friends when we worked together and we’re even closer friends now.”

Kanealy, Rodemeyer and Goemaat worked together previously at a different bakery before leaving to start Ali Cakes. The bakery also employees two part-time staff members, one of which is Maggie Patterson.

Patterson, a women and gender studies major, said that she was drawn to work at Ali Cakes because of the female management and has found friends in all of the employees as well.

“I feel like it’s pretty obvious that everyone would say the food,” said Patterson, when asked what her favorite part of the job is. “But honestly, the friendships I’ve been able to make here have been really important as well.”

Besides the close relationships in the bakery, the “artistic freedom” that the employees are given while decorating cakes is another plus, according to Rodemeyer.

Although some customers come in with specific designs in mind, some will simply allow the decorators to create something based off of a theme.

But owning a small business isn’t just hanging out with your best friends, eating baked goods and getting creative; it’s hard work.

“I did not think it was humanly possible to work as hard as I do now,” said Kanealy “Even when I leave here, I’m never really done.”

Kanealy has been dreaming of owning her own bakery since she was six years old and has been working towards that dream ever since. However, of the three full time employees, she is the only one who dreamed this would be her career. Rodemeyer is an artist while Goemaat was pursuing a job as a veterinarian.

“It was all coincidental that we all came together and that this is now our collective goal,” said Kanealy. “It sounds cliché, but it’s a beautiful thing that it worked out this way.”

The appeal of a college campus town, the art scene of Ames and the lack of competition in the area is what drove Kanealy to decide on Ames. It worked out that while she was looking for a home for Ali Cakes, the current location of 300 Main St. became available.

The customers that Ames has given the bakery is also a perk for Kanealy.

“We have a lot of regulars that come in every week or bring their kids in after school every Thursday,” said Kanealy. “It’s cultivated a community type feeling in that we know so many people because of the bakery.”

Although the location is only about 10 minutes from Iowa State’s campus, Kanealy said that the main audience for their cakes are moms getting cakes for their children’s birthdays and brides. 

Due to a bad experience with her own wedding, Kanealy is determined to make every bride’s wedding a perfect day in any way that she can. Whether this be by making them their dream cake, helping set up at the venue or just emotionally supporting them.

“I want every bride,” she said when asked about what her future goals were for Ali Cakes. “I want all of the other bakeries in town to stay open and be successful but I want all the brides.”

To learn more about Ali Cakes or to order, visit their website, alicakesames.com.