Hi! I’m Monique Milenkovic, co-owner of Moonee Ponds’ The Cupcake Queens (along with Jac Milenkovic). Remember the most delicious cupcake you’ve ever tasted? If that cupcake came from the Melbourne area, the chances are high it was one of mine!

We’ve been making cupcakes, pastries, and coffee for over a decade now and have loved every second of it. While we’ve opened 10 stores so far, our Moonee Ponds Central store brings us so much joy with its village and community feel. Despite our 10-year birthday coinciding with lockdown, we made it work, and we’re still going strong!

The Cupcake Queens is a family business that we started online. The idea came about in 2005 after looking for a cupcake tower for my wedding and finding no options that both looked and tasted great. ‘No problem,’ I thought, ‘I can fix that!’.

Originally we sold cupcakes online for events such as weddings, milestone birthdays, religious occasions, and classic morning teas until our wonderful customer base started growing, and we found ourselves selling at markets as well. Through this, we gained invaluable face-to-face feedback and were then able to promote our business. Sadly, I suddenly lost my son in 2009, which turned my life on its head. Following this tragedy, I decided to focus on cupcakes full-time and took time out of the corporate world, where I worked as a Human Resources Manager.

Before I knew it, my interest in my cupcakes grew, and I was able to turn my hobby into my full-time business. With my baking skills and my inspirational husband’s retail background, we opened our flagship store in Williamstown in May 2010. In the 10+ years since we’ve become the biggest cupcake distributor in Australia— an incredible accomplishment I couldn’t be prouder of.

We got here through tireless hard work and our simple philosophy that incorporates high-quality products and exceptional customer service. Thanks to my caring and encouraging teams at work and at home, the love and support I’ve received have helped me to become the cupcake queen I always knew I could be. After all, I was given the nickname after baking so many samples for family and friends that after it stuck, I knew I couldn’t name my business anything else!

Thanks to the hard work of my team and my passion for baking and bringing smiles to people’s faces, we’ve become the biggest and best cupcake brand in Melbourne. Our bakers get up well before the sun and still always pour all their love into their work, hand icing each and every cupcake with impeccable dedication. They, and our other back-of-house teams like customer service and marketing, inspire me every day! Meanwhile, our incredible front-of-house retail staff and delivery drivers do the same with their ability to connect with our amazing customers. Our customers mean everything to us, and we’re so fortunate to have them choose us to supply the cupcake goodness for their special events.

As for Moonee Ponds, we’re so grateful to be a part of this thriving community. We can only see the area getting bigger and better from here, and we don’t imagine it will take long! We can’t wait to meet the new residents that are moving into the apartments— while we’ll miss our tradie friends, there’s always more love and cupcakes to go around!

Visit The Cupcake Queens Today!

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