Westport Mom Has a Full Plate

Does forty people for dinner sound overwhelming? 

Not for Jennifer Balin. 

At Sugar & Olives, her café/cooking school/private dining room, she often does it three times a week.

Balin, a former television producer and divorced mom of four children, ages 5 to 15, moved to Westport 12 years ago and did not aspire to open a restaurant or pursue any professional culinary training.  Balin simply had a love of good food and a desire to keep her kids and their friends entertained.   

"I have four kids, and when they all have friends over, that turns into eight kids.  To keep them busy we started cooking together,"   Balin explains.  

Those playdates turned into cooking lessons with a focus on fresh, healthy and organic foods.  

"My friends started asking me to give their kids cooking lessons and that turned into cooking classes," she said. "Every Monday I was holding cooking classes for kids in my home."

As word spread about her teaching and culinary skills, Balin was presented with the opportunity to create a specialty cake for Near and Far Aide's  "Wine, Women and Shoes," benefit at Mitchells.  She created a cake in the shape of a shoe box, complete with edible "tissue paper," and a Manolo Blahnik shoe constructed out of sugar paste dangling from the side.

"It was fabulous!"  Balin said of her creation.

From there, the offers started rolling in.  She was hired to cater parties, weddings and events for the Town of Westport and the Westport Center for Senior Activities.   

"It was very hard," Balin said. "I barely had any equipment and my house looked like the basement of a restaurant." 

With the encouragement of some friends and the inability to grow her business out of her home without the proper permits, Balin started looking for a space that would accommodate her vision of a commercial kitchen with a lounge area. She wanted to provide an atmosphere that she felt was lacking in Fairfield County - a comfortable place that would feel like you were hanging out in the kitchen of a good friend's house – a place where she could offer cooking classes to adults and children and serve food with a focus on fresh, healthy and local ingredients.

With the help of a real estate broker friend, Balin found an 1,800 square-foot former factory tucked away in an industrial zone on Lois Street in Norwalk.

"It was raw space.  It had a cement floor and was completely dilapidated," Balin said. 

Eight months later, after lots of negotiation, the space was hers.  Once the lease was signed, Balin didn't waste any time – the renovations were completed with an eye toward "green" building (they used green building materials and paints) and Sugar & Olives bright orange door was opened.  

The quirky name, Sugar & Olives, is derived from two things Balin says one must always have in her pantry, "Something sweet and something savory.  The name comes from two things that you wouldn't necessarily put together, but somehow it works."  

The Sugar & Olives name is also a reference to Balin's healthy food philosophy; she does all her baking with olive oil, she uses no butter and no trans-fats. 

Balin's focus on organic and sustainable food carries over into her respect for the environment – she is hyper-conscious of waste in the restaurant business and strives to carry this idea throughout her business.  In her café, Balin uses recycled paper products and easily biodegradable food containers made from sugar cane.   You can also enjoy local Connecticut water, with or without gas – "homemade Pellegrino," with no bottles to recycle.

Balin says she gained a "new respect" for the environment while living in Switzerland several years ago.

"There was very little waste in Zurich, you used what you had and planned ahead so that you had what you needed," Balin said.  "Residents had to pay per bag to have their garbage taken away.  It was quite remarkable."  

Balin's now celebrating her first anniversary on Lois Street.  

"I had no business plan.  I don't advertise; all my business has been through word of mouth," she said. "I do everything - take phone calls, plan menus, teach classes - it's most challenging.  But if I closed tomorrow, I'm so happy I did this.  Time flies. I'm just having so much fun."   

Sugar & Olives is located at 21 ½ Lois Street in Norwalk – there's no sign - look for the orange door.  Sugar & Olives is open Tuesday through Saturday, starting at 8 a.m., for breakfast, lunch, and dinner-to-go.  They typically close around 4 p.m.  On Saturday nights, "Sweet Treats" are offered from 9:30 p.m. to midnight.

Cooking classes are available for both adults and children (see her website, www.sugarandolives.com for the upcoming class schedule).

Private dining and parties are also available by request.  Sugar & Olives will be closed for the month of August when Balin takes time off.