With one the baker and the other the designer, pair works well together
By Sarah Schuch
MLive.com
GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — One sister loves to bake, while the other loves to decorate their creations — the perfect combination for any bakery.
Michelle Holland, 41, of Flint Township and Shawn Ochs, 43, of Linden will soon see their dream of opening their own bakery come true.
They’ve been baking as a family for as long as they can remember.
Holland started a business out of her home a couple of years ago, but opening up their first storefront, Sugar Dreams Cupcakery, is something they said still doesn’t seem real.
Holland and Ochs hope to have the bakery open within the next week in Grand Blanc Township in the plaza next to Glenn’s Tile and Carpet.
“Being able to bake every day, being more creative (is what I’m looking forward to). Right now we are locked into what people order. Now we can experiment and say, ‘Let’s try this for tomorrow’ and see how it goes,” Ochs said.
Their goodies won’t stop at just cupcakes. The sisters will also make cookies, brownies, bread, pies, cakes for special occasions, seasonal treats and special orders.
Something unique they offer at Sugar Dreams Cupcakery is push up cakes. Push up cakes are layers of cake and frosting put into push up containers.
“We saw a picture online and I was like, ‘woo hoo that looks cool!’ Every time we take them somewhere we get orders for them,” Ochs said. “They’re really fun and they’re different.”
The bakery itself has a colorful feel to it with green, orange and pink décor. They will have one refrigerated case and one non-refrigerated case to hold a variety of sugary options.
To start off, the bakery will offer mainly just coffee as a beverage option hoping to expand once they know what customers will be interested in.
Ochs said although she’s always had the fantasy of opening up her own bakery, she would have never had the courage to do it if it wasn’t for Holland’s ambition.
And they work well together, which is a plus, she said.
“I want them to taste fabulous. Michelle is the artist, she is the decorator. I don’t have the patience or talent for that,” Ochs said. “We found our balance.”
The grand plan of having their own business started a couple of years ago when Holland decided to take a decorating class at Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts and loved it, she said.
She was already baking and making things for other people, but after taking the class a business started to evolve. After seeing things that Holland could make, friends and co-workers began asking her for orders.
The bakery will add a sense of fun into their daily lives, the sisters said. Holland currently is a phlebotomist, drawing patients’ blood, and Ochs works for a title company closing settlements.
“This is going to be like vacation. This is the sugar dream,” Holland said with a laugh.
Something they are both proud of is that everything they make is homemade and made fresh daily.
The bakery will be open seven days a week. Monday through Friday it will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. so customers can get something on their way into work or pick up some treats on their way home. The hours are not set yet for the weekends, but they will be shorter.
Ochs and Holland will hire one more employee with baking knowledge to help out.
Holland said she is most excited about them being able to do what they love and making people happy.
“There’s nothing better than a good dessert,” Ochs said. “We just want everyone to say, ‘Yum’ when they bite into something.”
To contact the bakery call 810-768-3054. For more information and examples of what they have done so far visit Sugar Dreams Cupcakery’s website, www.sugardreamscupcakery.com, or their Facebook page.
