Friday morning provided a sweet smell for the City of Elizabethton.
After months of preparation, Sugar Love Bakery opened its doors to the public inside the Bonnie Kate Theater building and was recognized by the Elizabethton-Carter County Chamber of Commerce with a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by different officials from the City of Elizabethton and workers from the facility.
As the treats were being baked by workers, the sight of citizens pouring into the building wrapped up a dream come true for Sugar Love Bakery & Cafe owner Shonna Peters.
“My goodness, today has been an absolute dream,” Peters said. “Today has been wonderful. The second we opened the door, the community poured in and supported us. Today has been amazing and this is definitely a dream come true.”
The opening of the bakery put the first stamp on the revitalization of the Bonnie Kate. With the Elizabethton-Carter County Community Foundation raising the $111,700 to acquire the facility, to the City of Elizabethton placing a five-member board to help manage the progress of the Bonnie Kate, Peters said she is honored to be the first business inside a landmark that means so much to her.
“Sometimes when I come in here, I have to pinch myself,” Peters said. “I still think to myself ‘is this real?’. I was telling some of the people earlier today, I experience my first movie here as a kid, I experienced my first kiss here .. there are so many different special memories. Now, this is where my career is. This is just amazing.”
With the bakery fully operational now on the left side of the Bonnie Kate, the right side, featuring the Sugar Love Cafe, will be opened next Friday, according to Peters.
“Our bakery here is tailored after a more European-style bakery,” Peters said. “We have macaroons, tarts, all kinds of cakes, fresh bread, croissants, coffees … everything will also be seasonal.”
Having a new business within the area only helps the downtown area grow, according to Elizabethton-Carter County Chamber of Commerce Director Tonya Stevens.
“This is such a great location,” Stevens said about the opening of the bakery. “Just with the decor, they’ve done a great job in bringing this facility back to life with what they’re doing here. We welcome them as a new business and so glad they chose this location.
““The future certainly looks bright for downtown,” she continued. “There’s so much progression in our downtown. We are so excited about what we’ve seen already and what the future will bring. The revitalization of the Bonnie Kate is so important. This is such an iconic landmark for our downtown area. Just seeing livelihood downtown, busy streets, people walking down the sidewalks and supporting our business. It is so great.”
Peters went on to add that the Sugar Love Bakery currently has eight employees on staff while the cafe will have seven once it opens. The owner is also hoping to see the bakery expand in the coming years.
“We hope to expand the bakery location even bigger to where we can have a location right down the road, Peters added. “So that we can just pump out more goods and keep them coming. We want to keep things local.”
For the next two weeks, the facility will be going through a soft opening period to “work out the kinks”, Peters said. Once the two weeks are out of the way, the cafe will be open Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and a Saturday brunch from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The five-person board will look at acquiring grant fund in the coming months to address the other renovations projected for the Bonnie Kate.