Waipukurau cake shop Rubylicious to close as owner puts family first

Waipukurau cake business owner Ruby Fogarty pictured with a cake she made.

For Waipukurau shop owner Ruby Fogarty, opening her cake store was a dream she was determined to achieve.

However, almost a year later, she has decided to shut shop.

Fogarty opened Rubylicious on Ruataniwha St in February 2025, selling cakes, cupcakes and real fruit ice cream and smoothies.

She won the 2025 Youth Friendly Employer of the Year Award jointly presented by the Waipukurau Rotary Club and Jobs in Central Hawke’s Bay.

At the time, Mayor Will Foley described Fogarty’s story as inspiring.

“Waipukurau‘s main street is mostly independent, family-run stores. It’s about real people with big hearts, taking risks and becoming part of the fabric of our community,” Foley said.

After a gardening shoulder injury and a desire to spend more time with her children aged 4, 7 and 11, Fogarty said she took a step back and realised it was time to do things differently.

Rubylicious staff, from left: Acacia, Sheridan, Ruby Fogarty, Ruby H, Hannah and Kassi.

“It (the shoulder) was getting a bit better, but it has just popped and it’s bad again.

“I worked my a** off last year, and I just came to realise the time with my kids, they are still little, one of my best friends is fighting terminal cancer, and she has got kids the same age, and I just realised that life’s too short.”

Fogarty said her final day of trading is Valentine’s Day, February 14, which times in with her student staff leaving and her kitchen registration expiry.

“I still love cakes, and my passion will still arise, and I have got wedding cakes booked until March next year, so I’m committed to finish all those.

“The demand is massive and working how I did last year with the demand, I just had to step back and realise my kids are missing out, and I am missing out on a lot of my kids’ events.”

Fogarty felt positive about her decision.

“It will really help me take a break to step back and look back at what was an amazing business and realise if I do want to go back into it, it’s still there.”

Fogarty said if she returned, she would run a simplified version of the business model she currently has.

“I want to be the present mum like I was when I was doing the cakes from the home studio.”

Fogarty said the community had supported her, and for that, she was thankful.

“People are very sad, and they are shocked, because it’s come so fast, but I just have to do what is best for me and right now it’s my health and my family.”

She did not plan to take on any orders from home.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.