Entrepreneurship Stories: Black Business Month Series – Talia Mrozinski of Sweety’s Café and Ice Cream Bar
Entrepreneurship Stories: Black Business Month Series
Q&A Featuring Talia Mrozinski of Sweety’s Café and Ice Cream Bar
August is Black Business Month in the U.S., and to celebrate, COED will be featuring black-owned businesses of Cherokee County all month long.
This week we’ll hear from Talia Mrozinski of Sweety’s Café and Ice Cream Bar – a café located at The Shoppes at The Mill on Etowah in the heart of Downtown Canton where they serve up fresh scoop salads, sandwiches, ice cream, and more. We are so excited to celebrate these businesses this month!
Tell us what inspired you to start your business?
Talia: A love for sweets, and a love for ice cream. I know most people want to hear that there was something more to it. I love good quality ice cream. Most people don’t know, but many places that serve you their sweet treats, they legally cannot call it ice cream because it doesn’t have enough milk fat to classify as ice cream. I don’t like that. I care about what I put into my body, and I’m very particular about how I make everything in my shop and what I put into the bodies of individuals who are supporting me. I wanted quality stuff for myself as well as share it with others.
How has being in Cherokee County helped grow your business?
Talia: The biggest thing that I love about Cherokee is community. Coming from another area where I had a small business, I can say that Cherokee is a small town, but that small town community has surpassed the support that I received from the larger town that I was in.
It is obvious that many people in the community want small businesses to survive and are intentional about spending their money with a small business. That means so much to a small business owner because we spend all of our money to start these things up. When you have a community that’s passionate about supporting their small business owners, that’s the biggest support. The energy that it gives aids business owners to keep thriving, it’s unbelievable.
What advice would you give to other small businesses who are wanting to grow/scale their business?
Talia: Get involved. Join your local Chamber and network. Learn about and love your community as much as you would want them to support you. That’s the biggest thing. If you work hard and others see you working hard, I think it ends up paying off in the long run. Once you make a plan, it is important to stay on track, stay focused, and execute the plan. If you stick to the plan, nine times out of ten, it’s going to work out for you.
Try not to do it all on your own. It’s hard, starting out and being a one man show, but don’t be afraid to reach out for assistance. Pay for some services. We get so caught up with not wanting to spend any more money, but it’s so worth it.
How can we as a community best support you now and in the future?
Talia: Just keep coming. Spread the word. Tell your friends. Tell your neighbors, tell your family. Keep coming in and bring in two to three more with you.
That’s what we need. Spread the love and spread the wealth.
How did Sweety’s Café get its name?
Talia: It all goes back to our original name, Sweet Joy. My mom’s name was Joyce, and we called her Joy. My grandmother and my mom were the ones that I spent my time with in the kitchen. They both passed kind of back-to-back – it was about a year’s time frame. That’s when I really felt pushed to transition from the corporate world to being an entrepreneur. I had always had a plan, but I didn’t have the drive until after that happened. It made me realize that life was too short to keep putting it off and waiting. I decided to start working on my business plan and I decided to do that in honor of them.
When I was growing up, she was always very kind and sweet. I can remember when I was a little girl, we used to make toiletry bags for the homeless. She always stopped in a store and picked up something just to give them.
Now we’re named Sweety’s Cafe. That comes from my co-owner, Cheryl, and her mom. Her mom’s name is Wanda, but she’s always the sweetest thing to everyone that she knows. Because of that, her nickname is Sweety.
Ultimately, our name comes from love and family.
What is your favorite item offered on your menu?
Talia: I will go back to the basics, my vanilla and my strawberry ice cream. I love my basic ice cream; you can tell that it is homemade.
I also love our grilled cheese sandwiches. We have a Not-Your-Mama’s grilled cheese. Most people don’t know this, but our cheese is freshly shredded, so we get lots of different seasonings within the cheese.