Sugarfoot's Bakery and Cafe opens in Grantham
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on August 14, 2016 10:34 AM
Keisha Sander's dream has always been to own her own bakery, but she thought that wouldn't happen for 15 or 20 years down the road.
That dream came true a lot earlier as the 34-year-old just opened Sugarfoot's Bakery and Cafe in Grantham.
It started out as just a bakery, but customers began asking Ms. Sanders to do other foods in addition to her sweet treats.
For breakfast, she serves country-style foods, such as a variety of sausages, bacon, grits and eggs. She also has sausage-gravy biscuits and bacon, egg and cheese burritos. She also has breakfast desserts, like apple fritters and cinnamon rolls.
"You can get a breakfast plate -- two servings of meat, grits, eggs and a biscuit or toast -- for $6.50. Or you can get items separately.
For lunch, Ms. Sanders has daily specials, which change, but she usually does pasta on Saturday.
"I also have a variety of deli sandwiches," she said. "I have club sandwiches, hamburgers, hot dogs, steak and cheese sandwiches and chicken salad, which is my number one seller. I make it fresh every day. It's my grandmother's old-fashioned recipe. I also have homemade pimento cheese sandwiches and grilled chicken sandwiches, the basic American sandwiches."
You can top off your lunch with a dessert, which change from day to day. It could be red velvet cupcakes, a honeybun cake, yellow cake with chocolate icing or a carrot cake.
Mrs. Sanders also has a list of desserts that customers can special order, like cupcakes, whoopie pies, decorated birthday cakes, wedding cakes and chocolate-covered strawberries.
Ms. Sanders does some catering, too.
"I do a lot of dessert bars," she said.
Ms. Sanders acquired her love of baking as a girl, under the guidance of her grandmother.
"My grandmother is the one who inspired me to cook," she said. "She always kept me in the kitchen. It grew on me. Every job I had I always was a chef or a cook. At home, I would always be cooking and baking. I love to experiment and make things for people to try. I was always that type growing up."
She even went to culinary school at Lenoir Community College.
One day, Ms. Sanders was delivering a cake in Grantham and noticed an empty store for rent. She couldn't afford to rent it, but took photos anyway and posted them on Facebook with a note that this was her dream.
"My catering clientele saw the post and raised over $1,000 in just two days through a GoFundMe page so I could put a deposit down on the building," she said.
The name of her business is a nickname her grandmother and grandfather had for her as a child.
Ms. Sanders' children help her at the bakery and cafe. Ashalee Thornton, 16, runs the register. Erykah Sanders, 14, helps with just about everything. Jordan "JoJo" Sanders, 11, sweeps the floors, cleans the tables, refills drinks and takes out the trash. Steven Sanders, 6, who is there occasionally, does everything his big brother does.
"I'm a single parent, and the kids and I are running this business alone," she said. "I didn't think it was going to be this busy. Sometimes all the chairs will be full and the line will be out the door."
Sugarfoot's Bakery and Cafe is located at 3524 U.S. 13 South and is open Monday through Friday from 6 to 10:30 a.m. for breakfast and 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The phone number is 919-289-6021.