Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicki Cooley.
Nicki, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started Sweets on a Stick in February of 2012 in my home kitchen. I had played around with a few different sweets and decided instead of eating them myself, I’d start selling them. After a few years of lots of custom cookie and cake pop orders, I started eyeing what would become known as The Rail District, with dreams of moving into a cute space and teaching classes. In October of 2017, I did just that, moving out of the world of cottage bakeries and into the commercial location we’re in today. After a while, I started a plan to open a ‘Sweets Counter’ with items for sale on a weekly basis in addition to the custom orders and classes. Covid ended up speeding that plan along after months of being unable to do classes and a lack of custom party orders. The Sweets Counter has been open since November and has been popular – we could hardly bake cookies fast enough to keep the shelves stocked at Christmas!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There have definitely been challenges – we completely renovated the house we’re in to function as a commercial kitchen, we tore out most of the inside and rebuilt, brought it up to code. As with so many construction projects, we ended up over budget and spending more time on the renovations than originally planned. The house is over 50 years old and on a pier and beam foundation, which comes with its own ongoing sets of struggles as well. But I love the charm of it, so I think it was all worth it to see my vision come to fruition in the end!
Covid, of course, also has been very challenging. No gatherings, no parties meant no one was ordering sweets for those events. And our usual line up of cookie and cake pop classes and ever-popular kids classes all had to be canceled. It’s been a rough time, and we’re still struggling to keep up financially with the losses from 2020. We did start doing our take-home cookie kits during quarantine, though, and they remained popular all year and continue to be. We were happy to have something good come out of that time! We’ve also opened the Sweets Counter on the weekends in an attempt to fill the need of people wanting last-minute sweets in an unpredictable world!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We are most known for our decorated cookies and cake pops, but we do many other treats as well, like caramel wrapped pretzels, dipped rice Krispy treats, and most recently, hot cocoa bombs! We specialize in coordinating all these sweets together to create a gorgeous dessert spread. Many of our loyal customers love getting many different items to create a gorgeous dessert table for their parties. We prioritize attention to detail and creating desserts that are classic, clean, and beautiful!
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We work with many different party planners, corporate offices, schools, etc. We love collaborating with and supporting other small businesses!
Contact Info:
- Email: orders@sweetsonastickfrisco.com
- Website: sweetsonastickfrisco.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/sweetsonastickfrisco/
- Facebook: facebook.com/Sweetsonastickfrisco
