Small Business Spotlight: Pizzelle’s Confections at Lowe Mill

The Small Business Spotlight is a brand new column that focuses on local small businesses in the Huntsville/ Madison County area and their keys to success.

For our first entry in this new series, the Huntsville Business Journal met with Michelle Novosel and Caitlin Lyon, co-owners of Pizzelle’s Confections, located at Lowe Mill.

Pizzelle’s is a spacious, diner-like restaurant, where patrons can find a table and really take the time to savor the delicious chocolate creations on offer. A wide array of pastries and chocolates were on display in large cases, and several pastry chefs bustled about behind the counters, where patrons could watch them work their chocolatier magic.

We pulled up a table with the coowners, who reflected on their long history in Huntsville. Both women are long-time residents of Huntsville, with Novosel having lived here since elementary school, and Lyon since high school. After graduating, they both remained in the area.

“It’s not some place you leave,” joked Lyon - and so opening up a business here was a natural decision for them.

“Huntsville really has changed a lot,” Novosel mused. “You see it on the news, that Huntsville is growing, but we can really see that here.”

“We get much more foot traffic than we used to,” added Lyon. “With transplants coming from bigger cit- ies, who really appreciate places like this, really all of the small businesses are benefiting.”

The pair attributed Lowe Mill with lending inspiration to their confectionary creations.

“We’re surrounded by art all the time, so we get inspiration from the artists, the customers, just all of the people who come through here,” said Novosel. “We’re all artists here, so we can really push the creativity, and there’s still that full-on industrial sort of setting to it. You’ll have the old Flying Monkey floor, and then another floor has a bronze foundry on it. It just lends itself to us being a little quirky.”

That atmosphere of artistic creativity allows Pizzelle’s to experi- ment with unconventional flavors, such as the “I Do De-Claire,” which is made with goat cheese and honey for a more savory flavor, or the “Goodbye Earl,” which is a milk

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chocolate ganache with Earl Grey tea.

The pair stressed that they source local ingredients for their creations whenever possible, which sometimes proves to be a challenge. “Because chocolate is such a science, and pastries are such a science, you have to be careful with variations,” said Novosel. Lyon offered further explanation. “My all-time favorite is ‘El Machete,’ which is made with Cayenne peppers. We use locally-sourced Cayenne, but sometimes one batch will have a slightly different amount of heat, so we have to adjust to get it just right.”

The chocolates and pastries at Pizzelle’s are each hand-crafted by chocolatiers and pastry chefs, enabling the shop to carefullycontrol the taste experiences of each creation.

Lyon and Novosel had some words of advice for other creatives looking to parlay their passion into a business, wisdom earned from ten years of success.

“Be patient,’ said Novosel, “and start small. A lot of people want to have everything right away, but that won’t work. We started really, really small. And don’t be married to a specific product or idea; you need to be flexible, and ready to pivot.”

“We’ve done some specific flavors, some products that we were really proud of, but just didn’t sell well enough,” added Lyon. “It didn’t matter how much we loved them, if they didn’t sell, we couldn’t keep them.”

“Your passion is your passion, but if you want to make it a business, you need to be able to listen to your customers. You can still stay true to you, but you have to listen to what the customers are telling you,” said

Novosel. “If they just don’t like a certain product, it won’t sell, and if they really want something specific, they’ll tell you.”

With its combination of culinary creativity and flexible business savvy, Pizzelle’s Confections has kept the chocolate coming for ten years so far, and hopefully, for many years into the future. w