Hazel Park, Madison Heights

Checking in with the bakeries

By Andy Kozlowski
C & G Staff Writer

» Click on image to view full size « Photos by Edward Osinski TOP: Rose Elaine Clay shares one of the home-baked, hand-decorated sugar cookies she sells at LaLa Cookies & Cakes in Hazel Park. The cupcakes at LaLa Cookies & Cakes are especially popular, such as the cherry chocolate coconut cupcakes and confetti punch cupcakes seen here. BOTTOM: Sokol Karocca, owner of Natalie’s Bakery in Madison Heights, shows off a selection of all-natural, freshly baked breads in the back of his shop. Some chocolate croissants wait in the display case at Natalie’s Bakery. Photos by Edward Osinski TOP: Rose Elaine Clay shares one of the home-baked, hand-decorated sugar cookies she sells at LaLa Cookies & Cakes in Hazel Park. The cupcakes at LaLa Cookies & Cakes are especially popular, such as the cherry chocolate coconut cupcakes and confetti punch cupcakes seen here. BOTTOM: Sokol Karocca, owner of Natalie’s Bakery in Madison Heights, shows off a selection of all-natural, freshly baked breads in the back of his shop. Some chocolate croissants wait in the display case at Natalie’s Bakery.

MADISON HEIGHTS / HAZEL PARK — Last March, LaLa Cookies & Cakes opened for business in Hazel Park, while in April, Natalie’s Bakery appeared in Madison Heights, becoming the city’s first European-style bakery.

Theirs is a tale of two bakeries, two sets of hopes and dreams with unknown endings, but continuing now into 2012. Here’s an update on how they’re doing:

LaLa Cookies & Cakes
“It’s not too bad,” said Rose Elaine Clay, owner of LaLa Cookies & Cakes, who goes by her childhood nickname “LaLa.”

“There are slow days and good days — hopefully, more good days than slow days. There are still a lot of people out there who are walking in the door and going, ‘I just heard about you,’ or ‘I just saw your sign — how long have you been in business?’”

That being said, she’s not scared anymore.

“Even though I’m not making money yet, I’m making enough to cover the ingredients and the bills we have to pay,” LaLa said. “So we’re doing OK. Someday we may get a paycheck, but later.”

Her shop sells all-natural, freshly baked, homemade, pre-made and custom-order cookies, cupcakes, cheesecakes, brownies, lemon tarts, chocolate éclairs and more.

They’re also art, made of soft, flavorful dough intricately painted with dyes that don’t taste bitter. In some cases they’re arranged in “bouquets,” such as a box of roses, in which the flower- and heart-shaped cookies are affixed to sucker-stick stems, bound to be popular around Valentine’s Day.

LaLa’s entrepreneurial journey began with her niece’s baby shower in 2006, when she prepared cookie bouquet boxes for each table. It was a hit, and at her friends’ urging, she started selling them on eBay. But marketing cookies people couldn’t taste or smell beforehand proved challenging, as did the risk of them breaking in transit.

So she hit up craft shows instead, and word of mouth spread. A pharmacist at Marinco’s Pharmacy, who happens to live on LaLa’s street in Hazel Park, was so impressed she shared some with her boss, and he in turn offered to rent space to LaLa so she could start her dream business.

Her husband started fixing up the place, a former beauty salon, while LaLa got approval from the city and learned what would be required to run a bakery. At first, she was dismayed to find out she didn’t have room for the five types of sinks required by state law. But then she learned about former Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s Cottage Food Law, passed in 2010, which allows a person to make goods at home, but sell them out of a store. Problem solved.

Her stepmother-in-law insisted on helping with some of the finances, and from there, it took off. Now LaLa is baking around the clock. At first, she was targeted for her decorated cookies as party favors. Now she knows her walk-in traffic needs three flavors of mini-cupcakes, available fresh at 35 cents apiece or three per $1. Other hot sellers are the quadruple chocolate brownie and the chocolate chip cookie with walnuts.

Over the summer, the juice popsicles her dad would make were a hit with local kids, while the peaches-and-crème cupcake, made with fresh peaches, is popular when the fruit is in season.

One thing LaLa has learned as a small-business owner is personal time is a rarity.

“Everything’s about the shop,” she laughed. “You have to really have a passion for what you’re doing and not expect to get paid for it, because it takes a long time to make money.”

She likes to help her fellow businesses out, though.

“My customers that come in looking for bread, I send them over to Natalie’s Bakery,” LaLa said. “I say, ‘No, I don’t do that, but there’s a new business in Madison Heights called Natalie’s Bakery, and I hear it’s wonderful.’”

Natalie’s Bakery
“I’m tired, I’m exhausted — but I’m happy,” said Sokol Karocca, owner of Natalie’s Bakery. “Every day brings something different, and I keep coming up with new ideas to push me forward, and the hope is always there.”

Business has been slow since Christmas, he said.

“Everything is new to me,” he said. “I didn’t expect it was going to be so hard. I didn’t expect to work for free for so long. Right now I’m making no money.”

Even so, Karocca expects revenue to rise by 20 percent this year. He has hired a fifth employee and is training all five to handle baking duties.

Born in Shkodër, a historic town in northern Albania, Karroca left for Italy at age 15 to go to school, but the costs of books and tuition meant he had to take up two jobs instead, one at a plant assembling Styrofoam packaging for home appliances, the other at a bakery. It was there that he discovered his passion for baking.

During his seven or eight years there, he learned and refined his technique: how to mix the grain, work the dough, cool it, and so on, perfecting the bread’s feel and flavor.

For 10 years following his time in Italy, Karroca, now in his mid-30s, dreamed of opening his own bakery. When he tore a ligament in his leg, he lost his job and had time to ponder pursuing his dream. Now Natalie’s Bakery is a reality, named for his 2-year-old daughter. She loves the cupcakes, he said, while his 5-year-old son loves the cookies.

His shop offers up a wide variety of goods, baked fresh onsite daily, with locally sourced ingredients and an emphasis on being healthy and all-natural. Some of his most popular items are the olive oil Italian, the pepperoni bread and the ham bread.

A hot new item is the low-carb bread with flaxseed, oats and wheat, just 65 calories per slice. It was made after hours of experimenting with a certified dietician.

“It’s the old kind of bread your grandma used to make,” Karocca said. “Since I’ve had my kids, I’ve tried to shop smarter, for things with the right ingredients in them. I don’t care so much about myself, but I want my kids to eat right.”

He’s also made a point to give back to the community, donating more than 670 loaves of bread and more than 1,260 dinner rolls to Landmark Community Church’s food pantry.

Now he just wants to get to a point where the business is strong enough that he can spend some more time with his family, going to church with them on Sunday. He’s passionate about serving people, though, and his hope is the bakery will be around when daughter Natalie is old enough to appreciate what he created out of love for her.

“It’s for my kids,” he said.

Free samples are available at both bakeries.

LaLa Cookies & Cakes, 21930 Vassar, Suite B, off the northbound Interstate 75 service drive between Eight Mile and Nine Mile, is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, with special order pickups Sunday and Monday. Call (248) 941-3561.

Natalie’s Bakery, 31023 John R, next to Biggby Coffee at West 13 Mile, can be reached at (248) 246-7200 or by emailing Natalie@nataliesbakery.net.
 

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Andy Kozlowski at akozlowski@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1104.