Plenty of sweet treats at Double D’s

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This article was published 31/03/2021 (796 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Even in a pandemic, many people crave a sweet dessert. This yearning has helped to keep a family-owned St. Vital business open despite very challenging business conditions.

Angela Song, who co-owns Double D’s Cheesecake & Coffee House at 18-200 Meadowood Dr., with her father, Larry Song, said their decision to sign on with Skip the Dishes and Door Dash a few months prior to the pandemic’s start early last year was a wise one. Coupled with effective social media campaigns, deliveries have saved the business after they had to close their doors to walk-in customers to follow provincial orders.

“We went from 15 to 20 walk-in customers a day to zero,” she said. “Our Skip orders tripled or quadrupled.”

She also credited their decision last summer to work with a marketing company to improve their social media presence with helping them stay in touch with loyal customers and attract new ones.

Song, who oversees marketing and communications for Double D’s, is pleased with the company’s increased profile on Facebook and Instagram. She looks forward to launching an updated and redesigned website later this spring along with a new logo she helped create.

The new website will give customers the ability to order and pay online.

In the meantime, Song is happy to welcome walk-in customers for take-out or eat-in orders while meeting government guidelines.

“We’re happy to see our customers again.”

Song said one thing that definitely won’t be changing will the business name. Double D’s Cheesecake & Coffee House was opened in its current location by sisters Darlene Landino and Dale Chenier in 2006, who had started the business over five years earlier. Song credits them with establishing Double D’s reputation and customer base that included many local restaurants and golf and country clubs.

“We started to think of changing the name, but it’s an established business,” she said, adding that its good reputation is an asset.

Song, a St. Vital resident, said she fell in love with Double D’s creamy, no-bake cheesecake after discovering the bakery and coffee shop years ago. A family friend owned the business for two years, and during that time, hired Song’s brother Michael to work part-time. When she and her father were looking for a business opportunity, it happened that Double D’s came on the market.

“We had zero knowledge of running a bakery,” Song admitted. In fact, she has a psychology degree from the University of Manitoba and Larry was employed in international relations for a multi-national company that moved the Song family from their original home in South Korea, to Romania, Russia and Vietnam. Song was the first to move to Canada to attend an English-language boarding school in Quebec, while her parents and siblings moved to Winnipeg about seven years ago.

The saving grace for the Songs, after they acquired the business, was the files filled with Darlene and Dale’s original recipes. They still follow them to maintain consistent quality for their baked goods.

“We’ve kept the same menu,” Song said. It features 35 flavours of cheesecake, with Oreo, pistachio, Skor, chocolate supreme, white chocolate strawberry and key lime being top sellers. Individual three-inch cheesecakes and nine-inch variety packs or single flavour cakes are cut into 14 pieces.

What makes Double D’s cheesecake appealing to chefs and restaurant owners, Song said, is its light texture, ability to be stored in a freezer but quickly thawed, and the way the ir plain cheesecake can be customized with fruit and other toppings.

She promises to introduce a new flavour within the next month, and a second by the summer.

Walk-in customers can also buy a cup of freshly brewed coffee made with DeLuca’s roasted beans. Song said they try to use as many locally-produced ingredients as possible.

Double D’s is open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Andrea Geary is a community correspondent for St. Vital. Email her at ageary@mymts.net

Andrea Geary
St. Vital community correspondent

Andrea Geary is a community correspondent for St. Vital and was once the community journalist for The Headliner.

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