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Childhood hobby leads to a business opportunity
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: March 22, 2018
As a child growing up in West Akron, Mary Hospodarsky baked cookies with her younger sister.
“My mom taught us how to bake and it was a fun hobby,” said Hospodarsky.
She said back then she never imagined that one day she would use those skills to open a business, but that’s exactly what she did, starting Sweet Mary’s Bakery in 2006.
But her journey to becoming a business owner was a long one.
In fact, she initially set out to join the U.S. Air Force, but after breaking her collarbone she decided to study science at Miami University. However, she said it became apparent that she needed more time to figure out her career path, so she returned to Akron, taking a variety of jobs before landing at Sterling Jewelers.
It was while working in the collections department at Sterling Jewelers that she started down the road to becoming a business owner. One year during the holiday the season, she and a co-worker decided to bake and sell Christmas cookies in the office.
“The cookies were so popular that we ended up baking for three days straight just to fill the orders,” she said.
She later changed jobs, but continued baking for family and friends, and eventually married Justin, who she met while working at Sterling Jewelers.
“My husband was a major force behind my decision to open Sweet Mary’s Bakery,” she said. “He challenged me to start my own business and he knew I would not be able to resist.”
When she first began the business in October 2006, she was working full time in the accounts receivable department at MobilityWorks, which sells new and used wheelchair accessible vans.
Since she was working all day, she did the baking at night and on weekends, using the kitchen at the Church of Our Saviour to create signature birthday and wedding cakes.
“Most of my orders were for friends and then I slowly started doing more business online,” said Hospodarsky. “In 2012 I started doing the baking at Edgar’s Restaurant.”
The following year, she quit MobilityWorks and began focusing full time on the business, building a following on social media and searching for a brick-and-mortar location.
After several tries she found what she said is the perfect spot at 76 E. Mill St., across from the John S. Knight Center.
She opened in December 2015, splitting the baking with her mother and handling the day-to-day operations.
“I was very excited,” said her mother Patricia Fann. “I always wanted to have a bakery, but I was never able to start one.
“We make everything from scratch and Mary encourages me to come up with my own creations,” said Fann. “I really enjoy experimenting with recipes and inventing tasty baked items.
“I have come up with some vegan and gluten-free items,” Fann said. “I created a grapefruit chia muffin that was both vegan and gluten free and very good,” she said. “This month we have a cranberry orange muffin that is also vegan and gluten free.
“We also have a gluten free coffee and hazelnut scone.”
Over the years, the menu and hours of operation have changed.
Today there are five employees in addition to Fann and Hospodarsky and the business is now open Tuesday through Saturday.
“When we started we were open six days a week and I did not have any time to sleep,” said Hospodarsky. “We keep close track of our data and we realized that Mondays were not very busy so we adjusted our days.”
Sweet Mary’s Bakery also supplies the desserts at Ken Stewart’s Grille and Ken Stewart’s Lodge.
In 2017, Hospodarsky said she made some major changes to the menu, scaling back the extensive breakfast and lunch menus that she featured when she first opened.
“We do not have enough walk-in traffic to warrant a large variety of breakfast and lunch items, so now we focus on what we do best—homemade baked goods and specialty cakes and pies.
“We like taking classics like carrot cake and chocolate cream pie and improving on them by making them with fresh ingredients.”
Patrons who stop by for breakfast can choose from muffins, scones, cinnamon rolls and quiche, along with fresh coffee. Hospodarsky purchases the beans from Bent Tree Coffee Roasters in Kent.
Lunch items range from fresh soup and quiche to cheddar bacon biscuits, along with cookies, including a wide variety of macaroons, pie and other desserts.
“We call ourselves a micro bakery because we make small batches and we don’t freeze anything,” said Hospodarsky. “Everything here is very fresh.”
On Saturdays the store features sausage gravy and biscuits, which manager Heather Brown said brings in a large number of customers.
“We have regulars who come in just for the biscuits,” said Brown. “Other big sellers are our quiche, cinnamon rolls, apple, cherry and blackberry custard pie, which we have when blackberries are in season.
“We keep our ears open to see what customers like and we try and make sure we have those things,” said Brown.
The one item that consistently draws crowds is the bakery’s version of Paczki.
“Paczki are Polish donuts and they are very popular for Mardi Gras,” said Hospodarsky. “We bake them instead of frying them and roll them in melted butter and granulated sugar.
“We fill them with homemade custard fillings like vanilla, chocolate, lemon, raspberry and apricot jam.”
She said on Mardi Gras Sweet Mary’s sold 800 Paczki.
“It’s the only day of the year we have a line.”
Hospodarsky said she is looking into opening on Sundays as well as introducing a few new items on the menu, such as bagels.
“We do try and offer some items that are not that common,” she said. “For example, we had Borscht, which a lot of people were surprised about.”
The bulk of her business continues to be generated via social media and word of mouth.
“Instagram is very effective,” she said. “If I post a menu item, we usually get people coming in within 10 minutes.
“I try to let Heather know in advance what I am going to post so she can be prepared.”
Hospodarsky said she would also like to expand her current kitchen space.
“If I can’t do it in my current location I might open a second kitchen somewhere else, but I would not move the business,” she said. “It’s a great location and there’s nothing else like us around.”