![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/processed-A5B0BD36-76F8-4FC3-AB80-FDACA8B7A7EA-906x1024.jpeg\")
Inside The Cake Shop Bakery in Tallahassee, Florida. (Jasmine Jefferson\/FAMUAN)<\/p>\nInside The Cake Shop Bakery in Tallahassee, Florida. (Jasmine Jefferson\/FAMUAN)<\/p>\n
Thirty minutes before opening, Rebecca Kaufman arrived at The Cake Shop Bakery, waiting in anticipation as the line began to grow,\u00a0all there for one thing: pop tarts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI got in line first\u2026and the line just kept growing and growing,\u201d said Rebecca Kaufman, a local mom who documented her visit on TikTok. \u201cEveryone in line was talking about the pop tarts, it was cute\u2026 we\u2019re all these people just bonding together over pop tarts.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The buzz follows a viral moment when actor Ryan Gosling praised the bakery\u2019s homemade pop tarts on \u201cThe Late Show with Seth Meyers\u201d launching the Tallahassee bakery into national conversation. The moment also led the owner, Linda Richards, to make an appearance on the \u201cToday\u201d\u00a0show aside\u00a0her sister Donna Richards, the wardrobe supervisor for\u00a0\u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d\u00a0as well as the late show.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
For\u00a0Linda Richards, the sudden spotlight\u00a0may be\u00a0new,\u00a0but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0rooted in years of quiet consistency.\u00a0Now,\u00a0as new customers\u00a0line up at her\u00a0doors,\u00a0she says\u00a0it is\u00a0the\u00a0support from her\u00a0local community that is the most rewarding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe outpouring of love from customers saying, we\u2019re so happy for you, we\u2019re proud of you\u2026we appreciate you, and we\u2019re happy you got this recognition for greatness.\u201d\u00a0Richards said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The now famous pop tarts started as gifts for celebrity guests and crew on \u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d Richards said the idea first came after a request tied to comedian Pete Davidson.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPete Davidson asked her\u00a0(Donna) if I could make him peanut butter and\u00a0jelly\u00a0pop tarts, and I said \u2018Sure\u2019,\u201d\u00a0she\u00a0said. \u201cAnd then Pete and Ryan\u00a0talked,\u00a0and Ryan said\u00a0Well\u00a0my favorite\u00a0is strawberry.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI send them desserts for the cast and crew when they\u2019re filming\u2026And so I will get a list from Donna of who wants what, and then I ship it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
While celebrity attention sparked interest, social media is what sent it into overdrive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Daniella Koval, a Tallahassee influencer who collaborated with the bakery to create content before it went viral, said platforms like TikTok are changing how people discover local spots.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like content creation is growing\u2026my way of doing that is really looking through the small businesses and kind of really showcasing their story and what they have to offer,\u201d\u00a0she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThese small businesses have been here for years,\u201d Koval said. \u201cSo many businesses become even more successful when they have social media platforms due to it reaching to large\u00a0audiences.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Koval said her earlier videos of the bakery gained traction on their own, but resurfaced after Gosling\u2019s mention, bringing even more attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That online momentum has translated into something more tangible, a shared experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like I\u00a0want\u00a0to be a part of this,\u201d Kaufman said. \u201cIt\u2019s local \u2026 you don\u2019t want to miss out.\u201d \u201cThis is right in my backyard, so I can go try these things that Ryan Gosling said were the best things ever\u2026It\u2019s so\u00a0exciting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For many, the appeal goes beyond celebrity co-signs. Richards believes\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0something more familiar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0why\u00a0it\u2019s resonating\u00a0with everybody.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a childhood memory. We all remember having it as a child,\u201d\u00a0said Richards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even as demand grows, Richards said one thing\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0change.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be able to speed up production but not change the quality of anything.\u00a0Yeah.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0willing to do\u00a0it.\u2029I\u2019m\u00a0not willing to change the quality or the\u00a0ingredients,\u201d\u00a0she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And in a moment driven by algorithms and attention, she says the response has been something simpler.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe\u00a0story is joy\u2026 it makes people happy. Richards said. \u201cAnd people need to be happy right\u00a0now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inside The Cake Shop Bakery in Tallahassee, Florida. (Jasmine Jefferson\/FAMUAN) Thirty minutes before opening, Rebecca Kaufman arrived at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-253068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}