A little cake with your coffee

For both Batter and Dough and Sanity Coffee House, two new female-led businesses that have recently opened in Mt. Pleasant, being involved with the community as business owners is the best part of the experience.

Sisters Sarah and Mary Garmoe's bakery, Batter and Dough, was a dream 17 years in the making. The Garmoe's were able to open their first store on Feb. 28 of this year across from the town's movie theater. Their bakery has quickly become a beloved hang-out spot for locals who often will sit in the shop for several hours at a time. The bakery has a variety of offerings including many different types of cookies and brownies. The shop also makes and decorates personalized cakes.

The business grew out of Mary's cake making, which she started from home seven years prior. When it seemed her baking had enough support, the family decided to venture out and open a store. Both Mary and Sarah's passion for cooking and food comes from their mother, Julie, who also helps out at the store each day.

'Most of our recipes are family recipes we learned from our mother,” Mary said. The sisters grew up helping decorate cookies and bake sweets. Every family event for the Garmoes centers around food, which is part of the reason why the sisters were so excited to be able to make baked goods for the community.

The entire shop has been a family-fueled effort. From opening to closing, baking and cleaning, everything is handled by a Garmoe. Mary's eldest daughter, Amber, also helps out at the shop when possible. When the sisters first began renting the space for the bakery, they needed to build a kitchen area, which a great-uncle and cousin pitched in to help make happen.

'It's great working together because we know each other so well … we know we can rely on each other,” Sarah said.

In addition to making one of their dreams a reality, the shop has helped the Garmoes' make a plethora of new relationships and get to know the community even better. Mary explained that during one of their busiest days during Old Threshers, a family began helping the bakery clear tables for other customers.

'People have been so helpful … it's just wonderful. They're always asking us if we need help with anything and we're blown away,” Mary said.

Having grown up in Mt. Pleasant, seeing this new side of the community was not necessarily a new revelation but was encouraging and heartwarming for the sisters nonetheless.

For Sarah and Mary, giving away their uneaten items to law enforcement offices as well as other local businesses is their way of giving back.

'Sometimes when we walk in, we'll hear, ‘Oh, it's Batter and Dough' and people are excited to see us. It's a great feeling,” Mary said.

Having a physical store has opened up opportunities for the Garmoes to expand and collaborate with other businesses like Sanity Coffee House, who buys its baked goods from the bakery.

Chivonne Anderson, who opened up the coffee house a year and a half ago, has always been passionate about coffee. Anderson's goal was to provide the trendy offerings of a Starbucks to the community at a lower price.

'I love the taste and all that you can do with coffee … you can kind of make it your own and of course, the caffeine kick is nice,” Anderson said about why she was inspired to start her own coffee shop. Sanity, conveniently located near several manufacturing facilities in town, often sees regular customers coming in at 5 a.m. in the morning for a cup of joe. Anderson hopes to eventually be able to franchise her business and expand to more locations.

Sanity Coffee's collaboration with Batter and Dough started when the bakery held its grand opening.

'I went to Batter and Dough's opening event and tried some of their stuff and was really impressed,” Anderson said. That first tasting kick-started a relationship between the two businesses. Now, Anderson buys most of her food items from the bakery and is especially happy with the bakery's ability to make kolaches, a baked good remnicient of a breakfast burrito.

For Anderson, being able to work with other women has been the shining star of her experience so far.

'The best part has been meeting and getting to know other women business leaders. I could see Batter and Dough as competition but rather than competing, why not collaborate?”