Whale of a WHOOPIE!

As you know I'm a graphic designer who mainly designs custom invitations....but I also own a restaurant in Wakefield with my husband Peter called ZALEKS named after our boys Zac and Alec. We've been open now for 5 years and over the last couple of weeks we have been working on a mini makeover. I just finished redesigning all of our menu boards and soon will be re-painting the interior too! Peter gets a lot of requests from our customers wanting something sweet.....so he asked me if I could make some WHOOPIE PIES to test out. My first thought was NO.......I have way to much on my plate but then my second thought was OK, BUT only if you come up with a cool name that way I can design a logo, signage, and packaging.

After throwing around a lot of different names he called me one afternoon and said what about "Whale of a WHOOPIE" I thought it was perfect because whoopie pies are a very New England item and so is the whale......an extra bonus for me was I already had a whale created. Zaleks has a huge menu of everything but our niche is seafood so I felt the logo and color scheme really worked well with the overall feel of the restaurant.

I made my first batch of 14 chocolate whoopie pies and brought them in on a Monday at 4pm. They were displayed on the counter with an adorable sign and each of the whoopie pies were packaged with a round glittered logo. By 9pm Peter called to tell me that we had already sold 10 and that everyone not only liked the whoopie pies but LOVED the packaging...YEAH! As long as they continue to sell I plan on adding pumpkin whoopie pies with cream cheese frosting and red velvet too.

I have to say I wasn't nervous about packaging the product....for me being creative is my comfort zone but when it comes to cooking.......let's just say if you happened to be at my Bridal Shower then you know there wasn't a shortage of jokes every time I opened a kitchen product. I CAN cook and bake but I am know where near as talented as my husband who is an amazing, self taught cook. For 16 years I have watch him cook for family, friends and customers never once looking at a recipe. I have seen his creative ability to come up with countless unique dishes for Zaleks daily specials each one out doing the next.

So if you happen to be in Wakefield stop by for lunch or dinner, bring your friends, a few bottles of wine (yes we are BYOB) sit inside or out and please don't leave without a Whale of a WHOOPIE PIE!!!!!!!!