July 2023 Business of the Month: Sweetie Pie's Cafe & Bakeshop

Congratulations Sweetie Pie's Baked Goods & Coffee Shop LLC for being selected West Liberty Business Association July 2023 Business of the Month.

Sweetie Pie’s is a coffee shop, café and bakeshop serving breakfast, lunch, specialty drinks, coffee, and tasty treats.

Sweetie Pie’s is owned by sisters, Ashley and Becca Hager. Besides both working full time at Sweetie Pie’s, Ashley and Becca also find time side hustles. Becca is a DJ and Ashley does freelance graphic design and gardening.

Sweetie Pie’s was opened on July 13, 2016. They currently employ anywhere from 6-9 people. In 2007, Ashley and Becca’s parents, Rodney and Margaret Hager, bought the building that houses Sweetie Pie’s and opened up West Liberty’s first coffee shop/tea room, The Cream & Sugar Cafe. Ashley and Becca worked at their parents’ business during high school and then visited the other coffee shops in the same location during their college years. Both sisters had fallen in love with different aspects of the coffee shop business so when the location came open at the same time they both hit turning points in their careers, Sweetie Pie’s was born. The name Sweetie Pie’s came from Ashley and Becca’s mom calling them her “sweetie pies”. Over the years, Sweetie Pie’s has grown with menu and staff additions, but they have stuck with their original formula: a variety of homemade baked goods, grab-n-go service, and delicious direct trade coffee.

Sweetie Pie’s offers light breakfast options, sandwiches, salads, soup in the fall and winter, and a variety of baked goods. They make everything in house as well as delicious coffee, espresso, tea, and non-coffee drinks. They also take special orders for cupcakes, pies, and our regular menu items for events or holidays, but ask for 48 hours advance notice for those orders.

A more detailed menu description: Two paninis served on homemade white bread: Ultimate Grilled Cheese or their featured panini that changes out weekly, fresh sandwiches, wraps and salads made daily, scones, muffins, cookies or brownies, and their renowned homemade bagels. For the gluten-sensitive folks their famous flourless monster cookies, baked oatmeal, and crustless quiche. In the summers they have a revered pasta salad and in the colder months they serve delicious soups. Occasionally, they also have cinnamon rolls and coffee cakes.

Something unique about this business is that they started this business when they were very young (Ashley was 24 and Becca was 22), which is pretty unique around this area. Ashley and Becca are sisters that get along really well and often times Becca will serenade you or someone else while you are visiting their shop. They do not offer any classes or specials at this time. Their limited space, especially in their kitchen, makes this not possible. A lot of people don’t know that they do take special orders with 48 hours notice. They can make you any of their regular items, cupcakes or pies. Also while they do not serve or have pies regularly, their name is a nod to their mom calling them her “sweetie pies”.

Sweetie Pie’s is part of the West Liberty Business Association and the Logan County Chamber of Commerce. They host first Thursdays coffee meetups every three months, which is where business owners in the Chamber come get coffee before monthly networking meeting. They often coordinate with the WLBA to stay open for special events. Ashley and Becca are both in charge of the Spooktacular committee, if you didn’t make it out last year this year is going to be even better!

In addition, Sweetie Pie’s is always here to host meetings for different events, support or partner with other businesses locally and open during community events.

When asked what their customers love most about their business, they polled several of their customers to get the answers straight from the source. Their answers included: the staff, the ambiance and laid-back atmosphere, that everyone is welcome, the food is homemade and delicious, the coffee is super tasty, the variety of food and the surprise of what is on the menu each week, and finally the owners.

In the summer, both Ashley and Becca love gardening and being outside. In the colder months, Ashley enjoys knitting and crafting and Becca enjoys putting together jigsaw puzzles and playing computer games. They both are passionate about reading and hanging out with their pets, Ashley has a cat (Marceline) and Becca has a dog (Mayzie).

Ashley and Becca say their favorite thing about owning a business in West Liberty is their customers and the community! They say that everyone is so kind, loyal, and supportive! Their favorite thing about West Liberty is the sense of community and how the people and other businesses support each other. Since both of them grew up in this town, they enjoy being back and seeing how things are changing as well as making their own footprints in the town as adults.

Something you might not know is that they love collaborating with other area businesses. They make the Salted Caramel Brownies, Cheesecakes and Tiramisu for Café Paradiso in Urbana and the Rosemary Bread that The Depot in Urbana, uses for
some of their paninis. Supporting their businesses also supports Sweetie Pie’s!

Sweetie Pie’s is located at 129 North Detroit Street in downtown West Liberty. Their hours are Monday-Friday 6:30am-2pm and Saturday 8am-2pm.

Written and submitted by: Brenda Snyder, WLBA Secretary