Giving to the community through tasty treats. by Hubie Cram
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here is no simple explanation for the rising success of Sweet City Desserts (SCD), a new and instantly popular bakery in Vienna featuring cakes, cupcakes, and more. “It’s craziness,” says Manny Tagle, co-creator of the bakery. “I have no background in restaurants or bakeries.” His experience is in real estate. Nor does his business partner come from the industry; Wilma Galang is an accountant. “We wanted to create something where we could give back to the community, something that was unique to the area,” Tagle continues. “There wasn’t a lot of planning. I’ve dreamed of starting my own business in Vienna for a long time. One day I was just driving along and saw a ‘For Lease’ sign. We called the Realtor and got the property.” The bakery opened in November of 2011. Manny is pleased with the progress to date. “So far, so good,” he remarks. During the past seven months, they have developed lots of repeat guests, a devoted local clientele. “We are seeing lots of customized cake orders and they are coming back because of the quality,” he exclaims. “We are fortunate to have some great young pastry chefs. They are so creative.” Offerings with a Filipino Flair
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The overall goal is to offer contemporary pastries, but they also wanted to introduce a Filipino influence. So in addition to traditional cupcake flavors, you can find the popular purple yam cupcakes, or try Kalamansi, which tastes very much like Key lime, but is a citrus fruit from the Philippines and, according to Manny, “much better.” Or maybe you’ll like Sans Rival, a buttercream meringue with cashews. If customers have dietary restrictions, custom orders are easily accommodated, such as glutenfree or sugar-free products. Sweet City Desserts offers catering for office and home parties. And they maintain a steady business of large orders, such as wedding cakes, birthday cakes, or cakes for any occasion like graduation, holidays, and other special events. In the near future, the shop will be adding healthy and savory sandwiches to the menu. They are part of the plan to keep the offerings fresh so that guests will always discover exciting new items to enjoy. The Staff - Secret to Success #1
The shop offers cupcakes, cakes, and other pastries, plus gelato, fresh fruit, iced drinks, coffees, and smoothies.
Head Chef Adam Neill finds the work fascinating and challenging. “We like to create pastries that our guests have not necessarily eaten before, something different in flavor or texture but delicious.”
Both Tagle and Galang are from the Philippines and that helps drive their desire to promote something different.
Is it difficult to create “Filipino” flavors? “Well, we don’t know what they should taste like, but we make sure that
VivaTysons | JULY-AUGUST 2012 vivatysons.com