It started with a carrot cake.
A homemade birthday carrot cake for Kristyna Voris’s mom is what kicked off her venture into the baking business and soon led her to open a full-fledged pastry and coffee bar — Butter Sugar Four in Trafalgar.
Voris started Butter Sugar Flour in her home in February 2021, following the success of her mom’s birthday cake. More people asked her if she could make them custom cakes, cupcakes or other baked goods, like macarons.
Word of mouth spread about her cakes, and business grew. By the end of the year last year, she started working to open a brick-and-mortar bake shop.
“It just kind of snowballed. It’s been a crazy ride. It’s kept me insanely busy,” Voris said.
The decision to go for opening a full bake shop started on whim. The entire process to open took over a year, from finding a space to getting everything needed to open.
Butter Sugar Flour opened its doors on Dec. 10 at 105 N. State Road 135, Trafalgar. The shop offers a variety of fresh made baked goods including croissants, breads, scones, brownies, danishes and huge cinnamon rolls. The cinnamon rolls have been the biggest hit so far, Voris said. The bakery sold 412 in its first week.
“One person said that they make Cinnabon seem store-bought,” Voris said. “I mean, I don’t mean to brag. But that was our first Google review, so shout out to Perry for that.”
What’s in the case each day will change too — apart from some basics like cinnamon rolls, scones and croissants — and Voris plans to keep trying new recipes. The common goal is to always provide good-quality products, she said.
“We’ll have extra things that are just like oh, hey, this sounds fun to make today, so we’ll make some of that and put it in the case,” Voris said.
Coffee is also served at the shop, along with the pastries. Lattes, mochas, cappuccinos, iced coffees and more are available to be made with a variety of flavors to choose from. The coffee is sourced from a small roaster too — Kentucky-based Mylke. Voris said she tried the roast from Mylke and knew that is what she wanted to serve in the shop, plus she likes supporting a small business.
“We have some of the best coffee. Everything that we do, we try to support small businesses,” Voris said. “The owner, he has the coffee game figured out. Like the roast that he has on the bean is amazing.”
Products displayed for retail sale in the shop are also from local women-owned businesses, and the mugs they use are from The Nook Gallery in Trafalgar.
Voris currently does a lot of the baking herself, along with her mom and another staff member, and she has some help from friends here and there. She does this while also juggling her full-time corporate job, which she said she hopes to leave eventually to run Butter Sugar Flour full-time.
“Coming from Corporate America, leaving that safety net is terrifying, for lack of a better term,” Voris said. “But I think, I have good feelings. I think it’s going to happen.”
She has 13 people working full-time and will look to hire more once they get settled a little more. Even with the busy first week, they all have fun in the shop.
“They’re all amazing. We always, like our Facebook page, kind of has a little bit of a sarcastic undertone to it. That’s my personality, but our whole team does too,” Voris said. “So we’re back there and we’re having fun. And you know, we like to tell customers that the entertainment is free.”
Voris is also amazed by the customers’ support of the staff so far, she said. They made nearly $1,000 in tips during opening week.
“That’s what I want to see. I want to support our staff,” Voris said. “And the community has just come in and accepted us and it’s just been amazing.”
Opening week was busy, and a bit crazy, Voris said. She stayed at the shop most nights until midnight. But she is grateful and humbled by the community support.
“People have cars, they’ll go wherever they want to get the things that they want,” Voris said. “So the fact that they come here and they choose us is just an awesome deal. It’s a really great sense of accomplishment.”
