Colorful cupcakes, decadent cookies and luscious strawberry-topped cheesecakes line the display cases at Dessert First, a bakery that opened recently in a sleepy strip mall at 5243 N. Harlem Ave., Chicago.
While Dessert First has sugary goodies to satisfy any sweet tooth, the sweetest part of this new business may be owner Vicki Birnbaum, who hands out free cupcakes every weekend and said she opened the bakery to have a place for her five kids to hang out after school.
At 3 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon, Birnbaum’s oldest daughter, 13-year-old Shelby, came bounding in through the front door with her book bag and a friend in tow.
Birnbaum, who worked as a part-time cake decorator behind the bakery counter at a local Jewel grocery store for the past year and a half while she saved money to open her bakery, said her desire to bake for a living started with her Polish grandmother, who showed her how to bake her first cake.
Despite her Polish roots, Birnbaum is firm about one thing — she doesn’t want to be identified as yet another European bakery, which she says are commonplace on the northwest side of Chicago.
“I’m Polish, but this is fully an American bakery,” she said. “I fill the cases with chocolate chip cookies, banana bread and muffins — all American treats.”
Cakes are another one of her specialties, and Birnbaum said she’s trying to expand her catering clientele. She just signed a deal with kids’ amusement center Go Bananas to make 30 cakes per week for birthday parties.
“I love the rewarding feeling of baking something that looks pretty,” Birnbaum said as she opened the bakery case and lifted up a chocolate-frosted single-layer cake adorned with frosted red roses. “But this place is more than that. I wanted (a career) for myself — to be my own boss and to have a place where my kids can feel like it’s home.”
The Edison Park resident admits that making her version of the American dream as a small business owner come to fruition wasn’t an easy road, and she said it took many sacrifices to finally it happen. She started paying rent on the storefront a year before finally opening for business on April 1 and saved money from her part-time job to pay for renovations, bakery cases, paint, furniture, and finally a plastic temporary sign that she affixed to the front of the store.
“The sign cost $45, but it was all I could afford. Opening a business is actually very expensive,” Birnbaum said. “I look back, and I don’t know how I did it. I think my family has always been my motivation.”
Between Birnbaum’s endlessly jovial demeanor and the cheerful vibe emulated by the pink walls, Desserts First appears to be a happy place, which Birnbaum said was her goal all along. The prices are also rather sweet, with single-serve desserts priced under $5.
“My doughnuts are half the price as what you’ll pay at Dunkin’ Donuts,” Birnbaum said. “Some of my customers say I should raise my prices, but I’d feel bad. I want moms on a budget like me to be able to come in here and spend quality time with their kid and not have to spend more than a dollar.”
Budget constraints that come with being a new business owner mean Birnbaum doesn’t have the extra revenue to pay for advertising yet, so she relies on word of mouth from a growing base of regular customers, including Liza Aly, who works for a communications company next door.
Aly, who stopped by on a recent afternoon in search of the perfect cupcake to satisfy her after-work need for a sugar fix, said her boss orders cakes for office birthdays from Birnbaum.
“I really love the frosting on the cupcakes, and the cake isn’t overly sweet,” Aly said.
Dessert First is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends. For information, call 847-909-1812.
Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
