In 2022, my husband and I decided to take a leap of faith and take my cottage kitchen of 2 years to the next level and were given the opportunity to lease a property in our own neighborhood. It was a good location, standard lease agreement. It took 8 months for the city to finally approve my plans to build a kitchen, and another 4 months to do the actual build-out that cost about $35,000, plus buying all the equipment costing close to $60,000. All while paying for the first year’s lease. So in total, we were already out over $135,000 before we even opened. All of this had to be funded personally, because there were no grants, or loans available for a new start-up. We cashed out my husband's retirement and took a loan out on our house to pay for everything. One year after signing my original lease, I was finally able to open. It felt like a dream. On April 10, 2023, Tasty Treats Café & Bakery was open for business. The first year and a half went as expected. We were a brand new business trying to be found. But we noticed that all the businesses that were moving into our complex were all by appointment only, so we were getting no foot traffic, all while our rent goes up each year. And the city was refusing to let us put out any kind of signage due to codes and permitting restrictions. Then came 2 back-to-back hurricanes in October 2024 that began a rapid downward spiral in our work and home life. Our home had significant damage from the 2 storms, but luckily none to our Café. We saw that our community was in need, as nearly everyone was out of power and pretty much every chain was closed. We dove into work changing our hours to be open 14 hour days, and offered air conditioning, a place to recharge electronics, ice, a hot meal…whatever was needed we helped in every way we could. We created a service called “Laundry for Lineman” after discovering that out-of-state lineman were having to use their money on their own time to do their own laundry after already working 14-16 hour days. We had a system where they would leave their labeled laundry bags at our Café and we would make sure they had their complimentary coffee and breakfast before heading out to repair our city. We would post how many we had available for pick-up, and our community (those with power) would wash, dry, and return them to us. The lineman would return on their way back to their camp to retrieve their clean laundry. The following year and a half was absolute agony. We watched over a dozen small businesses in our area close one after another, constantly fearing that we would be next. Business continued to slow down as the snowbirds and tourists stopped traveling, the locals were still struggling, some lost their homes, their jobs, some still trying to navigate through the expense from all the damage. We faced 2 close calls with eviction, but we had faith and kept pushing, we had no other options. We have officially been notified that our lease will not be renewed. Our house is headed towards foreclosure. Our car will most definitely be repossessed, and we’re terrified!
All we wanted was to provide a loving space in a chaotic world. Our hearts have always had the best intentions for our community. My husband and I both grew up here. This community is our home, where we’re raising our kids.
We have worked with several non-profits for various outreach projects like free cakes for foster kids, food drives for local food banks, donated gift baskets for fundraisers and raffles for a multitude of local businesses and charities. Every Christmas Day we hand deliver over 30 protein-packed gift baskets to all the “local” fire stations. We host “Coffee with a Cop” every year. Easter Egg Hunts, Breakfast with Santa… the list goes on. We have always been dedicated to giving back to our community. That's why we opened.
See pictures and more details on our Facebook Page… facebook.com/TastyTreatsCafeLLC
We just need to catch a break so we can breathe again!
Our plans to move our Café to a local church has fallen through, and unfortunately, we’ve run out of time and money. We need to get caught up and moved out. We desperately need help getting to the next step without literally losing everything!
This is a huge cry for help for myself and my family!
The Lieber Family
