San Mateo's Sibby’s turns 20

“My mom is an amazing baker, and we used to bake a lot when I was a kid,” Thomsen said. “I couldn’t get a job working at a bakery because I didn’t have any experience, so I just started baking and working on recipes.”

The job rejections certainly came with a silver lining. After a friend, unbeknownst to Sibby, signed her up for a local artisan fair, she quickly created a logo and business name and Sibby’s Cupcakery was born. Monday, Feb. 5, marks the store’s 20-year anniversary, which began in her Palo Alto home in 2004 and is now situated near downtown San Mateo employing about 30 staff and serving cupcakes ranging in flavors from carrot cinnamon to chocolate coconut cream.

Despite her advertising background, the store grew substantially with few, if any, paid ads. The store’s notoriety quickly spread via word of mouth. Unlike other bakeries, particularly at the time, Thomsen focused solely on cupcakes and also delivered them door to door from San Francisco to Sunnyvale and even the East Bay.

“At that time, you really could only get pizza and flowers delivered, so I really wanted to have a cupcake business where you could deliver cupcakes for someone’s birthday. Now it just sounds so funny because you can get anything delivered ... but back then you couldn’t,” she said.

But like many small and independent businesses, Sibby’s was dealt a blow during the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides the halt on lucrative events such as weddings, as well as heightened safety precautions, Thomsen faced the additional hurdle of ensuring the baking process wasn’t negatively affected with the new regulations.

“Doing the whole thing with open windows really affected some of our cupcake baking because, if you think about it, in the winter months, cupcakes coming out of a hot oven and then going instantly into a space that might be 40 degrees is not good for cakes and cupcakes,” she said.

And while COVID-induced safety regulations are no longer so stringent, unpredictable return-to-office policies have seemed to permanently alter the fluctuation of sales volumes. After building up about two decades worth of seasonal trends and projection data, Thomsen said the information now feels less relevant, as hybrid work provides less predictable weekday patterns.

But customers continue lining up for the highly sought-after cupcakes, which include long-standing staples such as butter cup and chocolate tea cake, as well as customized celebratory treats, including San Francisco 49ers-adorned cupcakes. This Saturday, Feb. 3, the store is also honoring its 20-year journey with raffle giveaways and free mini-cupcakes to in-person customers.

“We all feel just a huge amount of gratitude for our customers who’ve been so supportive for the last 20 years, and I also have so much gratitude for my staff who helped make this vision a reality and kept going with so much love and passion for 20 years too,” Thomsen said.