Sweet venture a fit for Tisdale

Andrea Lutz and Danny Hrebeniuk, owners of "Sweet Cup"

It was her penchant for baking cakes that led Andrea Lutz to where she is today:  behind the scenes at Sweet Cup, Tisdale's new coffee shop and eatery on Main Street.

However, she is not going it alone. Lutz, originally from Mistatim, and her partner Danny Hrebeniuk, originally from Hudson Bay, embarked on the adventure of a new business together. They have been living in Tisdale for about three years.

"I've been making cakes for about six years, and I really wanted to have a storefront," Lutz said. "So we got to thinking about what would make it financially feasible. And we realized that there's no specialty coffee in town, or even anywhere close." 

So they took a gamble, adding a lunch menu to the plan and investing in a full espresso bar.

"Everybody seems to be really excited about it," said Lutz.

"We are overwhelmed with the support and feedback of the people in town," added Danny, who used to work in carpentry. These days, Danny is more into constructing sandwiches and running the espresso machine.

"I was a carpenter before, and now I'm a barista," he said with a laugh.

But they both seem to be enjoying their new-found success, even if the road to getting the business ready to open was full of challenges.

"It's been a lot of hard work - leading up to it, doing the business plan and getting everything ready was a lot of hard work,” Lutz said. “But since we opened, that's when the real work starts. You want to be here 24/7 - nobody cares as much as you do (when you're running your own business). And we have three little kids at home, so it's been a struggle finding a balance."

Sweet Cup offers specialty coffees, specialty cakes and cupcakes and a lunch menu.