Business & Tech
Palm Harbor a Stop for Bakery on Wheels
Sweet Ida Mae's Bakery recently closed its storefront in favor of a mobile operation. The owners often bring their baked goods food truck to Palm Harbor's Crossroads Market on Sundays.
Kathy Gonja and Mary Oney-Hatt are smart; the siblings are capitalizing on two current crazes: baked good and food trucks.
The Safety Harbor sisters and owners of Sweet Ida Mae’s Bakery had a brick and mortar business up until a few months ago, but they soon realized they sold more cookies, cupcakes and breads at area markets than from their storefront.
So they did what any resourceful entrepreneurs would do – they took the old bomb squad truck they bought in Cleveland and turned it into their primary place of business.
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“Everyone thought we were crazy when we brought the truck back,” Kathy, who came from Ohio to partner with her sister four years ago, said.
“It took us a year to get up and running, but after we did a food truck rally in Tarpon Springs in 2010, that opened the door for us.”
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“We had a storefront, but it didn’t do as well as the markets and rallies,” Hatt added. “So we closed it and took to the road.”
Gonja, who has been baking for 35 years, left Ohio to join her sister, who had decided to go to pastry school to make a career out of her passion.
The sisters now travel to area fresh markets and food truck rallies selling their “old fashioned” baked goods, many of which were culled from the recipes of their beloved great-grandmother, Ida Mae.
“We make cookies, cupcakes, cannolis, brownies and breads,” Hatt said. “Pretty much everything except cakes.”
They have a regular route for their business: the Safety Harbor Farmers' Market on Thursday; the Dunedin Green Market on Friday and Saturday; and the Cross Roads Farmers' Market in Palm Harbor on Sunday.
Although the storefront offered them some stability and a home base to bake from, the siblings don’t regret making their business a mobile one.
In fact their motto is 'takin' sweets to the streets'.
“I was a positive result of the food truck rallies,”Gonja said. “You can’t beat the exposure.”
For more information on Sweet Ida Mae's Bakery, visit their Facebook page.
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