Short Orders

[SIDE DISH]

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

When 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 knowhow 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 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

when I can see that they love it.”

Newmark took a moment to share her thoughts on the state of the food and beverage industry, how the pandemic has fundamentally changed her business, and why, when she’s feeling especially stressed, the answer is always ice cream.

What is one thing people don’t know about you that you wish they did?

I am not a great decorator, but it doesn’t matter. Art is a subjective experience. Cake and buttercream always taste good regardless of the presentation.

What daily ritual is non-negotiable for you?

Coffee.

Who is your St. Louis food crush?

Gerard Craft.

Which ingredient is most representative of your personality?

Butter. I get along with anybody.

If you weren’t working in the sweets business, what would you be doing?

Entrepreneurship.

As a hospitality professional, what do people need to know about

[REOPENINGS]

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

Barbecue fans, rejoice! After a dark, brisket-less winter, Bogart’s Smokehouse (1627 South Ninth Street, 314-621-3107) is set to reopen its doors for limited indoor and outdoor dining, as well as carryout. The reopening dovetails with the celebration of the famed smokehouse’s tenth anniversary.

Bogart’s announced last week its plans to reopen its doors late this month, bringing to end a temporary closure that began in early October. According to the restaurant, the decision to shutter the Soulard location (as well as its sister restaurant, Southern) for fall and winter was a financial one: Because of the decline in business due to COVID-19, it was simply not financially sustainable to remain open during what is also the restaurant’s slowest part of the year. A temporary closure, though difficult, was the best way that the Bogart’s team could ensure that it would remain open on the other side of the pandemic.

Though that other side has not yet come, the warming temperatures and hope that better times are near has given Bogart’s the go-ahead to reopen, albeit at reduced capacity and mindful of COVID-19 safety protocols. In addition to in-person dining options, the smokehouse will continue its online ordering and delivery service and will be offering smoked hams and turkeys for those who celebrate the upcoming Easter holiday. As coowner Niki Puto notes, the support of their customers during the shutdown is what got them through.

“The response from our customers has been overwhelming, and we can’t wait to see everyone again when we reopen on the 30th,” says Puto. n

what you are going through? am adapting, finding resilience and creating new opportunities.

What do you miss most about the way you did your job before COVID-19?

I miss the people. Sweetology is about connecting people through the fun of cake decorating. It was such a buzz to be able to see the excitement and happiness when guests were decorating in the stores, and it was such a daily affirmation that had created something really special.

What will you miss least about operating during the pandemic?

Zoom.

What have you been stress-eating/drinking lately?

Ice cream makes everybody feel better.

What do you think the biggest change to the hospitality industry will be once people are allowed to return to normal activity levels?

For me, my business has fundamentally shifted. I’m scaling for a national audience.

What is one thing that gives you hope during this crisis?

It will end. People will be craving connection again and, having weathered the storm, it’s going to feel great. n

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

Like most Americans, Chao Baan’s (4087 Chouteau Avenue #5, 314-925-8250) Shayn Prapaisilp watched in horror the news of tragic events that unfolded last week, when a gunman murdered eight people, seven of whom were Asian American, at three Atlanta-area massage businesses. However, as horrified as he was, Prapaisilp was not surprised.

“We’d been seeing the warning signs since the beginning of the pandemic and with the last administration’s rhetoric,” Prapaisilp says. “It started out as slurs, which escalated to physical attacks, and culminated with the mass shooting. People think that we’ve acted fast, but these things have been happening for a while now. It’s nothing new. People in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community have been othered and seen as perpetual foreigners forever.”

Moved to take concrete action to help the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, Prapaisilp has launched a Dining Out to #StopAAPIHate initiative at Chao Baan. The program will run every Tuesday through April 27, helping raise funds for the Atlanta chapter of Asian Americans Advancing Justice and Stop AAPI Hate by donating 10 percent of the restaurant’s dine-in and carryout sales to the organizations.

A board member of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce, Prapaisilp knew he wanted to do something that would have material impact when he heard about the mass shooting. Though he believes it’s important for people to process their grief in their own way, he wanted to work through his by using his platform as a prominent member of the city’s dining scene. His hope is that the Dining Out to #StopAAPIHate initiative will not only raise money for these vital organizations but will also bring awareness to the fact that the Asian American and Pacific Islander community has been a longtime target of racism and xenophobia.

Prapaisilp’s role in the St. Louis dining scene stretches all the way back before he was born. His mother and father, who are from Thailand, started Jay International Foods on South Grand in the 1970s, followed not long after by the iconic Thai restaurant King & I. Over the years, their culinary footprint has grown to include Global Foods Market, Oishi Sushi, Oishi Steakhouse and United Provisions. In June of 2019, Prapaisilp opened Chao Baan as an homage to his parents’ unique culinary heritage, one that brings together two vastly different regional styles of Thai cooking.

Prapaisilp draws parallels between the awakening of people to Asian American and Pacific Islander xenophobia and violence and the social justice movement that gained momentum in the wake of the killing of George Floyd last May. Though both movements were born from tragedy, they have helped spur a global conversation about the systemic hate faced by people of color. And though his is just one business in a city hundreds of miles away, Prapaisilp hopes the Chao Baan initiative will play some role in helping to bring about much-needed change.

“A lot of times, things happen to people in our community that are not reported as hate crimes,” Prapaisilp says. “Things are muttered under the breath, and there is a lot of soft racism. However, what happened in Atlanta shows what can happen when this is not dealt with. We just want to use this opportunity to educate people that this is a big problem.” n

Written by CHERYL BAEHR

For a decade, Amy Gamlin has been making cake pops as a hobby, sharing her artistry with family and friends for birthdays, special occasions and just because. She never dreamed it would turn into a business, but now, after six months of selling her goodies online, she’s ready to take the next step with a storefront for her brand Amy’s Cake Pop Shop and Boozy Bites (7961 Big Bend Boulevard, Webster Groves).

The shop is slated to open sometime next month and will serve as both a retail space and kitchen for Gamlin’s operation. Though space constraints will limit seating to outdoors only, Gamlin plans to engage her customers through in-person interaction when they are in the shop, as well as online cake-popmaking classes and parties. The shop will also serve as a pick-up point for custom orders.

Gamlin, who co-owns Gamlin Restaurant Group with her husband, Derek, and his brother, Lucas, is excited to take her cake-pop business to the next level — even if she never thought it would happen.

“I’ve always had this artistic side and just turned it into cake pops,” Gamlin says. “At first, I thought nobody was going to pay what I would have to charge for them — I was calculating it back then at $1.50 a piece, which is funny considering how much they cost at Starbucks. However, friends and family always told me I should sell them, so I figured, ‘Why not?’”

As Gamlin explains, the idea to turn her cake-pop talents into a business originally came to her at a business conference and accelerated when her family’s other businesses began to struggle (1764 Public House, Gamlin Whiskey House and Sub Zero Vodka Bar all closed in 2020). Wanting to help her family, she began thinking through her business plan with her husband and a friend who previously owned a bakery. At first, she wasn’t sure that it made sense to have a storefront and the overhead that comes with it, but after seeing how much interest there was just from online orders, she decided to jump in.

In addition to her cake-pop shop, Gamlin plans to use the storefront as a pick-up point for the Missouri Whiskey Society and Women & Whiskey, two (for now, virtual) tasting programs run by Gamlin Restaurant Group.

“We know how supportive people in the Webster Groves community are when it comes to local businesses,” Gamlin says. “We feel like we’re going to be a great fit and are happy to be a part of it.” n