Sugar Daddy Cupcakes and Catering got its first break last August and business has taken off since then.
The business owned by Nathan and John Serran, won a "Win This Space" competition in downtown North Bay last August which allowed them to have free rent at their location on 163 B Main Street West for a year.
See related: Cupcake company to open downtown
However, with business booming, their tasty desserts are moving to a bigger location in the former Zorba’s location on the corner of Marshall Park and Lakeshore.
“Being downtown we got a lot of exposure on the catering side of the business that a lot of people didn’t know that we had,” said Nathan Serran, noting they anticipate opening officially at the Lakeshore location in June.
“They always thought we were just cupcakes. So we do quite a bit of catering and business has been expanding substantially on that side, so we were looking for a long-term venue.
“Downtown we weren’t able to have seating or bathrooms or anything like that so customers could not sit down and experience us the way we wanted them to. We were kind of limited in what we could do down there.”
Nathan says the new location not only allows them to have a front shop where people can come in and have coffee and a variety of desserts but even potentially food and alcoholic beverages as well.
“We are just trying to bring something new down here that has not been down here for quite some time and I think we could potentially make Lakeshore another hot destination for summer,” he said.
“We are surrounded by beaches and have two patios and there is just a lot of potential here.”
While the downtown is disappointed to see a good business go, Barry Klus, Win This Space co-chair, says he is pleased to see the business growing.
“I hope that the contest and exposure Downtown was an instrumental part of their growth,” said Klus.
“Of course we would have loved to see them expand here but the facility and opportunity they secured was not available in the Downtown area.”
Peter Chirico, North Bay & District Chamber of Commerce President, echoed Klus’ sentiments.
“I think that was the whole idea of the program is you win this space was the assist them with a startup and get them going,” said Chirico.
“They have seen tremendous growth and obviously they have seen a need to move to a larger location because their business is grown that great so I say Kudos to the DIA, Kudos to Sugar Daddies and certainly hope that everything continues to work on the upwards and that is a success story as far as I am concerned.”