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This article was published 25/03/2022 (1461 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Move over, boys — Sugar Mama is coming, and she’s bringing her cookie café to St. Boniface.

Think cookies piled high with chocolate eggs or Cinnamon Toast Crunch, German chocolate and red velvet cakes reformed into cookie style, and edible cookie dough and ice cream sandwiches.

Flavours will be on rotation when the 184 Provencher Blvd. shop opens April 2.

“We want this place to be your one-stop-shop for all things cookies,” said Vicki Melo, founder and owner of Sugar Mama Cookie Co.

There was a bustle in the café Thursday: the espresso machine needed to be brought in; champagne flutes for the soft launch had to be set out. The seating — enough to fit 20 people — is done, but the shelves to hold baking supplies — for public sale — have yet to be erected.

Ladies in the back painted sugar cookies, while more staff upstairs made icing.

“The fact that (this is) happening is awesome,” Melo said.

Her business has been a delivery and catering service until now. She envisions customers in the shop, sitting with cookie in hand and a glass of coffee or flavoured milk (try pistachio, strawberry or chocolate hazelnut) on the table.

Sugar Mama will be open Mondays through Saturdays. Its delivery side will jump from the current Wednesday and Friday scheme to six days a week, Melo said.

She’s not a baker by trade. Instead, she has a degree in international development.

“My original plan, always, was to work for the United Nations, and now I make cookies for a living,” Melo said with a laugh.

She has three daughters. Cookie-making entered her radar when she planned to bake a cake for her middle child’s first birthday and her eldest asked for cookies instead.

“Like any good mom, I (went) on Pinterest to get some ideas, and I saw decorated sugar cookies,” Melo, 37, said.

She was intrigued and got to work, serving her first batch at the birthday party. After, Melo said her friend asked her to make a round for their kid’s big day. Melo gained customers through word of mouth.

“Within six months, it just ballooned,” she said. “It just got to the point where I was turning down orders. I thought to myself, ‘This could be a business,’ and so I kept pursuing it.”

That was about four years ago. YouTube became Melo’s close ally as she watched professionals and expanded her skillset; Instagram morphed into her publicist.

“Doing decorated sugar cookies, it’s like you have this little tiny canvas and the icing is your medium,” Melo said.

Being creative is one of the best parts, she added.

Eventually, the then stay-at-home mom built a business website. Within a couple of years, Sugar Mama was renting commercial kitchen space and hiring staff.

Melo told her husband, an engineer, of her dream to open a storefront. He reminded her of how little money she was making by selling sugar cookies — they take longer to finish than others because of the decorating, meaning there are fewer to market.

“At first, I fought him on it,” Melo said. “I was like, ‘No, it’s all about the artwork!’ But, it was probably the smartest decision I made for my business, was starting to offer other cookies.”

The new baked goods took Sugar Mama to another level, Melo said.

“They’re the delicious comfort food that sustains the business, and then the decorations are our artistic passion,” she said.

Sugar Mama currently has 25 different cookie types, though more than 100 recipes aren’t yet released, Melo said. When the café opens, she plans to make five flavours available weekly, along with gluten-free and vegan options. Sugar cookies will be offered daily.

The St. Boniface outlet has been in the works for two years, Melo said. Rising construction costs, among other issues, almost stopped the eatery from opening.

“We were at a point numerous times where I thought this wasn’t going to happen, but we made it through,” Melo said, adding that the cost of opening tripled her expectations.

“I just keep telling myself, choose courage over comfort,” she said. “Spending all this money, investing into a space and not knowing if it’s going to be a success or not, that’s so uncomfortable. But you do the work… and then you just push forward.”

Melo said her husband is a big reason why the company exists — he’s taken care of the kids often during the pandemic, allowing her to build her business.

She works with an all-female crew at Sugar Mama.

Shannon Pham and Jenna Bergstresser are among the eight Melo hired.

Despite painting intricate details onto cookies often, neither have backgrounds in culinary arts. Pham is a part-time flight attendant, and Bergstresser is a part-time nurse.

“There’s not really a lot of niche bakeries (around here),” Pham said. “When I saw (the job posting on Instagram), I was like, ‘I’m going to take my chance.’”

Bergstresser added she had the same mentality — “why not give it a shot?” — and has learned from Melo.

The team draws nearly anything with their fine tipped icing bags: Disney Encanto characters, cassette tapes, microscopes and amoeba.

“They just have a knack for it, and they didn’t even know,” Melo said, watching as Pham and Bergstresser easily smoothed pink and green icing onto sugar cookies Thursday.

“Vicki’s a very good teacher,” Pham added.

Melo said she’s working with her staff on ways to help others, especially single mothers. Raising money for non-profits through cookie sales is an option, she said.

“This is a platform that we can use to do a lot of good in the world,” she said.

Sugar Mama Cookie Co. also offers catering, cookie boxes to monthly subscribers and cookie decorating classes.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com