MARYELLEN DERR
Bringing Delectable Sweetness to life
Time and time again, we have all heard the story about the inventor who hit it big after working out of their garage for years, dedicated to their passion or craft. Often these stories are perceived to be an overnight success, when we all know it took years for them to get there. Think about Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos. Both started working out of their garages and created two of the largest tech and consumer packaged goods companies in history. The same, and much more, can honestly be said about Maryellen Derr, the woman behind Maryellen’s cakepops on QVC.
They say out of adversity can come opportunity. For Maryellen, truer words were never spoken outside of Philadelphia in Delaware County. It all started when Maryellen was a little girl helping her Nanny in the kitchen. At the age of seven her parents divorced, and at age ten her father was killed in an accident. That same year, her mother got re-married to a gentleman that Maryellen refers to as Popason. According to Maryellen, he was the best thing to enter into their lives. For her mother, in raising her and her brother, he was the Rock of Gibraltar for their family. They rarely ate out and virtually every meal was homemade; creating lasting, fun memories around the kitchen table. While helping her Nanny, the future baker would be covered in flour and sugar much of her childhood as making desserts was a favorite for the future entrepreneur. Fast forward to when she graduated from high school, entering college to study occupational therapy. She was asked by a family friend to make a Winnie The Pooh cake from scratch. She hasn’t looked back since. “When I made that first cake, I was like, this is fun! I am artistic and have an eye for making fun, delicious things,” remembered Maryellen.
A few years after she started College, her stepfather had fallen ill. Without question, Maryellen left to return home to help support her family. She never returned. Instead, Maryellen setup shop in her kitchen, cranking out cakes and orders for weddings, country clubs and local businesses. A few years later, her stepfather passed away.
At the age of 33, Maryellen sought a brick-and-mortar location for her business. And on her birthday in 2011, she signed the lease for her first storefront. Even local sports teams like the Phillies, Flyers and Baltimore Orioles were hiring Maryellen for her custom cakes and cake pops.
Maryellen’s was on a significant growth trajectory. Her shop was playing host to everything from Santa Claus appearances at Christmas time to the Easter Bunny at Easter to a constant flow of brides walking in her doors to order her delicious cakes. It had seemed that Maryellen’s life had finally taken the turn she so desperately wanted.
In 2007, her mother was diagnosed, at the age of 55, with early onset dementia. Realizing the depths of what dementia means in terms of treatment and time, Maryellen held her head up high and soldiered on to continue helping support her family. She also became a huge supporter of the Alzheimer’s Foundation.
Maryellen focused on her business when she wasn’t caring for her mother. So much so that she was already outgrowing her production facility. Her sales were literally selling through her inventory every week.
This led Maryellen to begin expanding her production line so that she could accommodate larger orders and could produce more of her top-selling product, cake pops. As a matter of fact, her cake pops were selling at such high levels, her long-term plan was to convert her entire business to cake pops, forsaking custom cakes and cookies. But faced with how many regular customers she was servicing with her award-winning custom cakes; it just didn’t make sense at the time. So rather than simply relying on individual product sales and custom orders to grow her business, Maryellen focused on securing wholesale accounts with country clubs and restaurants in her trading area.
Then, once again, nine years ago, tragedy struck. Her mother had fallen, breaking her ankle and foot. The resulting surgery sped up the progression of her disease, shortly after passing with her children by her side. That is when fate truly knocked on her door.
QVC had reached out about her popular cake pops. However, between running her business and caring for her mother, Maryellen knew there was no way she was going to be able to fulfill the orders associated with a QVC program. As difficult as that was for her at the time, she made the right decision for her business and her family. So, Maryellen declined the opportunity, chalking it up to one of those life lessons where family comes first.
And family is where Maryellen has always drawn strength and inspiration. With her mother having passed away, all Maryellen had left for family was her brother, Bill, whom she has always been close to, and Bill’s wife, Kim. They have been an enormous part of her life, always providing unconditional love. And what they had endured as a family only made that bond stronger.
In 2015, Maryellen learned, as she says, “I enjoy cooking just as much as baking.” She was challenged by some of her culinary counterparts in the community to participate in a chili cookoff. The culinary maverick decided she wanted to put her own spicy spin on her recipe. Knowing that she needed to come up with a name for herself as a competitor, she created Evil Sweetness as her moniker. Calling on both of her talents, Maryellen combined sweet and savory into her entry, a candied jalapeno cheddar bacon cupcake over chili. The secret ingredient? Fresh ghost pepper raw honey. And she won first place!
With everything that had happened in the last six months, Maryellen decided to take some time to focus on restoring balance to her personal and professional lives. Time off allowed her the space to return to her more creative instincts - drawing, writing, and entering local competitions. The Pennsylvania native even went all the way to an audition for The Food Network’s Halloween Wars.
Her heart has always been in supporting others in need. This is true especially when it comes to creating more awareness for local and national charities and foundations through her sweet desserts. And Maryellen has earned many awards and accolades for her support of, and commitment to, the community.
When COVID-19 pandemic closed businesses, she feared her dreams were really dashed. Unable to secure a hasty PPO loan or any kind of government funding to stay afloat, Maryellen lost all of her staff. That meant the shop owner needed to be on her feet all day, every day, staying creative in order to keep her doors open. Thankfully, Maryellen’s had secured enough wholesale customers by this time to pay her bills, saving her business from closure.
Once COVID came to an end, Maryellen found herself in an odd position. Not only was finding talent to work in her shop difficult, she was faced with something she never thought would be a problem. As Maryellen put it, “With every Tom, Dick and Harry thinking they are Betty Crocker because they watched YouTube to make bread, cakes and cupcakes, all of a sudden the world re-opened and I was faced with a lot of local competition.” Thankfully that problem resolved itself in short order as most of those would-be bakers eventually returned to their real jobs when they weren’t able to make a living out of their own make-shift home bakeries. Needless to say, Maryellen’s has not had a day where they had inventory left over since.
Then, in December of 2022, fate granted Maryellen another bite at the apple. In a rare instance, QVC reapproached her about featuring her cake pops on their network. Rebranded as simply “Maryellen’s Cakepops,” this Jane of All Trades made her first appearance on QVC during their Christmas in July program. She sold through her entire inventory in eight minutes.
One would think that tragedy and business problems were in Maryellen’s rearview mirror. Since then, Maryellen has become a sought-after regular on the network, selling through for Christmas 2023, Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day 2024 and Easter of this year.
This headstrong and determined entrepreneur isn’t even close to slowing down. Maryellen is launching a new clothing line soon called Evil Sweetness and is launching Aunt Mares Cookies which will incorporate a sandwich cookie inside a variety of flavored cookies. She has been working on her memoir, hoping to inspire others through adversity, as well as a cookbook.
Despite all odds, Maryellen has persevered at every aspect of her life when darkness befell her family or her business. In the truest sense of the word, Maryellen Derr is tenacious. Just wait until you see what she does next. To learn more about Maryellen and her business,
visit www.maryellenscakepops.com
