SHORT ORDERS [SIDE DISH]
The Sweet Spot Post-COVID, Kara Newmark is expanding Sweetology to a national audience Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
W
hen Kara Newmark thinks back on her decision to go to law school, she understands that she was on autopilot. Her dad was a lawyer; so was her husband, her mother-in-law and her father-inlaw. Naturally, it seemed, she was headed down her intended path — but it didn’t take long for her to realize something was amiss. “I started my life doing very little reflection, ewmark says. “I went to Wash U law school, became a lawyer and hated it. I hated it right away, so I left very early on into my career. I realized that I did not like arguing; I liked building. Everything she’s been up to since law school has involved building — building startups during the first dot-com bubble, building her consulting profile with such clients as Monsanto and Boeing, and now building her DIY sweets brand, Sweetology (multiple locations including 1232 Town and Country Crossing Drive, Town and Country; 636220-3620). Born from a desire to throw herself into work that she truly loved, Newmark founded the company after years of soulsearching for something that spoke to her. “I knew I wanted to start a company, ewmark says. “ didn’t know what it was, but I knew I wanted to love it. I had enough miles on my moccasins to know that, if you are going to be away from your kids in that push-pull of being a professional woman, then you’d better love what you are doing. Otherwise, it’s not worth it. Newmark’s years of helping grow startups gave her the know-
Kara Newmark finds ways to connect with her Sweetology patrons. | COURTESY KARA NEWMARK how she needed to start and run a successful brand, but they didn’t necessarily give her the idea. That would come while chatting with a friend one day, who asked her a simple question: What do you love doing? Newmark realized that she was at her happiest when she was in her kitchen with her kids, baking and just having a low-key good time together. When her friend mentioned she should check out a make-your-own chocolate bar shop in New York, a light bulb went off. “I thought, ‘Oh my god, I want to do something around cookie and
cupcake decorating,’ ewmark says. “I couldn’t get it out of my mind, and I came home and wrote a business plan. ewmark opened her first weetology in Ladue in 2014 — a gorgeous, whimsical space that served as an edible art studio for parties, get-togethers and just-because occasions. he moved the operation to Town and Country three years later, then eventually expanded to a second location with a commercial kitchen in O’Fallon in 2020. Though she admits it wasn’t all easy, she was getting into the
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groove and working to launch weetology nationwide, bustling along until the COVID-19 pandemic turned everything on its head. Newmark shut down her two stores on March 5 last year and scrambled to figure out what to do. When she wrote her original business plan years back, she laid out an e-commerce component to weetology. Drawing upon that, she quickly transitioned her business to an online-only operation with virtual classes and camps and DIY kits she shipped across the country. The response was overwhelming, and before she knew it, she was doing virtual parties for huge companies — and shipping 10,000 kits in a quarter. “It was the perfect storm, because at the heart of weetology is the why — why do we decorate a birthday cake for somebody, and make cupcakes to celebrate graduation, and get together every Christmas to decorate cookies and gingerbread houses ewmark says. “It’s connection. I was providing something during the pandemic that really provided that piece, because people were desperate to connect with each other and they couldn’t do that in person. However, they could get online in a virtual room and be together, giggling over a glass of wine, decorating cupcakes. Newmark isn’t quite sure what the future will look like for weetology. Though she sees the online component as here to stay in some fashion, she knows that, when it is safe to do so, people will want to return to in-person gatherings. he’s approaching the future of weetology that way, not ust because she wants to be prepared from a business perspective, but because it’s what she finds the most fulfilling. “What I always got joy out of prior to the pandemic was anytime I was in the store and people were decorating, ewmark says. “ ids were so excited when Grandma took them there, and people would come into the store and say, ‘God, this place is so happy and pretty.’ I’ve missed that. Because of the virtual world, we haven’t gotten to see that as much — even building this thing together with my team has been very rewarding. I enjoy it, but I do miss seeing people in the store. t feels so affirming
MARCH 24-30, 2021
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