Business & Tech

There's a Sugar Buzz in Occoquan

Local wedding cake maker Debbie Delardi was convinced by her diva friends to give retail baking a try.

Debbie Delardi already has a wedding cake business and she's a full-time financial planner in Occoquan. The last thing she needed was to take on another job.

But when affordable space opened at 403 Mill St. in downtown Occoquan, Delardi's friends in the store across the street at Polka Dot Divas urged her to open a retail bakery.

"I've been wanting to do this since high school," Delardi said on Monday outside what will soon be her retail bakery Sugar Buzz.

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"It's a little nerve wracking, so it took a little convincing. But it was a no brainer with the low rent, and I have a lot of people to help me."

Decked out in sweatpants and a sweatshirt with paint spots all over, Delardi said she and her friends have been working since the beginning of March on getting the store ready for an official April 1 grand opening.

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"The counter guy is supposed to be here tomorrow," she said, while taking a pause from painting the interior of the store a sun-bright yellow.

Sugar Buzz will sell Delardi's cookies, cakes, cupcakes and Italian pastries, such as the cannoli. But she said she'll also have fresh coffee beans from a local source, espresso, cappuccinos, free wi-fi and some specialty sweets.

"I am going to come up with some neat recipes and a few specialties," she said.

Delardi isn't shooting in the dark that her business plan gels with people's desire for sweets. Local residents may have already tasted her wedding cakes through her successful business Cakes by Design. Or maybe people remember her cupcakes in the pink boxes at the Occoquan Crafts show in September?

"We had a test with cupcakes and it was a huge success," Delardi said.

She said she wants Sugar Buzz to be a hang out for families, where parents come to drink coffee while the kids snack on delicious sweets. Jewell Rankin, Delardi's sister in law, said they may play off of the store's name and create cartoon-ish characters for story-time events.

The Lyric Theatre, which was the town's first movie house, used to occupy part of the space where Sugar Buzz is located. Delardi said if business goes well, she would like to quit her day job and bake for a living. She has nearly 15 years of experience in baking, cake decorating and pastry design.

Sugar Buzz might have a soft opening in the third week of March, so get your sweet tooth ready and be on the look out for foot traffic at 403 Mill St.

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