Cakeable Offers a Vocational Recipe in Charlotte – Charlotte Magazine

Filling a gap for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities

Hillary holds many titles at Cakeable, like baking program graduate and program ambassador. But the one that makes a smile stretch across her face? Scone Master. 

Cakeable is a nonprofit workforce development program for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs), mainly Down syndrome and autism. Student-employees typically complete a 16-week curriculum, with additional training for future baristas. They learn to bake, and they gain soft skills like customer service and teamwork. But Hillary says that Cakeable gives her even more.

“I get a sense of belonging,” Hillary tells me as she collects the flour and cheddar for her next batch of cheese scones. Then she sets the ingredients down, spreads her arms wide, and says, “I get fun! Laughter! I’m around all these awesome people!”

This program addresses a great need. North Carolina ranks 42nd in the country for employment of adults with disabilities. Only 35% of working-age adults with disabilities are employed—less than half the rate of people without disabilities.

“When (people with IDDs) graduate from the school system, so many of their supports just go away,” says Renee Ratcliffe, who founded Cakeable with her husband, John. “Some of them will stay home. Some will get involved in social or recreational programs, which is great. … But we weren’t aware if there were any vocational training programs.”

Renee, who has a bachelor’s degree in special education and a master’s in counseling, wanted to create that missing vocational program. Baking seemed like an effective tool to teach employable skills. After Cakeable opened in 2019, word spread quickly within the disability community. Since then, its ever-growing wait list has attested to the size of the need and the enthusiasm for this concept.

Students aren’t the only ones who get a Cakeable education. People who don’t know someone who has an IDD can easily fall into stereotypes about these disabilities. “They have the same complexity, emotions, dreams, and desires that we all do,” Renee says. She enjoys watching customers interact with Cakeable’s students and graduates at shops or farmers markets: “They see their abilities first.”

After graduation, some students continue to work in the Cakeable kitchen, which operates out of Sweet Spot Kitchen on Monroe Road. There, they bake for retail outlets and fulfill special orders. Other graduates work at companies that include Harris Teeter, Poppyseed Bagels, ZABS Thrift Store, and Atrium Health. Soon, they’ll have another employment option: Cakeable Café. As of this writing, Renee and John are days from opening an uptown café where graduates can gain retail bakery experience.

At Cakeable, graduates who work in the bakery and student-employees all earn a fair wage. This is a bigger deal than it may seem: It is legal in North Carolina for people with disabilities to earn below minimum wage. Until 2026, “sheltered workshops” can employ workers with disabilities apart from workers without disabilities, some of whom earn less than $100 per month, even when they work five days a week. 

“It is so important for us to pay everyone a wage with dignity and to give them opportunities to be out in the community,” Renee says. “If you want to honor the spirit of inclusive employment, then it has to be reflected in someone’s pay.”

Renee teaches that baking is a team sport with plenty of important positions. As Hillary begins mixing scones, Gina—another Cakeable graduate—offers to give me the tour of her office. I follow her until she stops at a stainless steel, three-bowl industrial sink. “My office,” she says, smiling. She shows me her setup: drying racks, dish towels, scrubbers. The racks are meticulously organized; the sink glistens. Gina takes great pride in keeping things clean and running smoothly.

We return to the kitchen, where Gina flips through a binder to show Cakeable’s range of recipes: cookies, cupcakes, blondies, brownies. What comes out of this kitchen will be sold at Julia’s Café, CPCC, and, soon, Cakeable Café. But Renee’s focus remains on who comes out of this kitchen. She wants graduates to find their special roles, whether it’s making scones, cleaning at a giant sink, or working for another organization that values what they offer.

“When I see my student-employees stepping into a place of belonging, there’s nothing better than that,” Renee says. “I think that’s where I found my purpose: to create a space where everyone can say, ‘I have something to contribute here.’”