February Denton Business Chronicle 2020

Page 1

DENTON

February 2020

Business

CHRONICLE

www.dentonbusinesschronicle.com

Baking up creativity Convenience, demand lead to cookie-based businesses in Denton By Ryan Higgs For the Denton Record-Chronicle

Elizabeth Hassett, 27, has always had a fondness for the creative side of cooking and a passion for decorative baking. When she was growing up, Hassett would spend Saturday mornings in front of the TV watching Julia Child’s cooking shows instead of cartoons. In high school, she began working at a mom-and-pop bakery called Creative Memories, where she learned the art of cake decoration. Hassett, who operates her at-home style bakery, Elizabeth Bakes, out of her Bolivar Street kitchen near the Square, takes pride in what she refers to as “edible art” that’s taken off in Denton social media circles. “You know, I really do not like working, but I like doing this,” she said. “There’s not a lot of money involved, but it’s a labor of love. And you get to work with your hands and you get to make something that [people enjoy].” The business is part of a growing cookie market in North Texas, with two successful chain cookie stores and a third cookie storefront, The Cookie Crave, set to open next month near downtown. Hassett grew up on Betty Crocker and Pillsbury rather than her grandmother’s recipes. While she was more than capable of decorating cakes, she wanted to broaden her culinary horizon, she said. About three years ago, she was working at Recycled Books on the Square, where recurring questions came to mind. “How do I make a cookie?” Hassett recalled. “How do I make a cake from scratch? How do I perfect it?” Whenever she wasn’t working at Recycled, she was baking. “It always goes back to baking,” Hassett said. Back then, she said she spent a significant amount of time watching tutorial videos online, which allowed her to perfect her recipes from the cookie to the icing itself. From there, Hassett said she started

handing out cookies and other baked goods to her friends and co-workers at Recycled. Soon after that, word of mouth began to spread about her cookies, she recalled, and next thing she knew she had found a commercial kitchen job and then went to work at a bakery in downtown Dallas. For Hassett, she said that while it had been a goal of hers as a baker to broaden her skill set, there was never an intention of owning her own business. But when she opened her own business last year, thanks to the Texas Cottage Food Law, she said “it just kind of happened” and that the decision chose her. “I quit my job after Christmas last year, and I was just tired of the 9-to-5 and the drive to Dallas,” Hassett said. “I had been doing the exact same thing BAKING | CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

Photos by Ryan Higgs/For the DRC

Denton resident Elizabeth Hassett, owner of Elizabeth Bakes, displays a box of her signature hand-decorated cookies Saturday morning outside Golden Boy Coffee. Hassett said her designs featuring pop culture references — such as Tina Belcher quotes from “Bob’s Burgers” — have been bestsellers.

Denton home prices spike to new highs

D

enton home prices jumped to record highs in January, defying the typical seasonal weakness that would accompany a normal real estate market.

Aaron LAYMAN | By Jenna Duncan | Staff Writer jduncan@dentonrc.com

Denton has a new sandwich shop: Patriot Sandwich Company at 1507 S. Loop 288, Suite 203. The shop is covered in military decor and will host a grand opening ceremony Friday, Feb. 28, at noon. But it’s open now: 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. By next week, we’ll also have a

new bar: Herf ’s Denton County Taphouse. The new spot is waiting to get a certificate of occupancy, and is in one of the new retail spots adjoined to WinCo Foods, 2655 W. University Drive. Once open, there will be an extensive beer and wine menu, and it’ll be the first bar concept at either side of Rayzor Ranch. DUNCAN | CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

COMMENTARY

Today’s real estate markets are anything but normal, but we’ll get to that in a moment. January home sales in Denton rose almost 20% while pending sales were 25% higher than this time last year. The median price of a Denton LAYMAN | CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

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