Thriving Sweet C's Bakery in downtown Palatine seeks expansion
Celia Kallenborn hopes to double her bakery's commitment to downtown Palatine.
Kallenborn said her Sweet C's Bakery at 10 N. Bothwell St. is thriving, so she wants to expand into neighboring space previously occupied by LPL Financial. The Palatine village council is to consider Sweet C's request for a special-use permit so the work can begin.
Sweet C's is known for cakes, cookies and cupcakes. The nearly 4-year-old bakery has a rotating selection of cookies, including oatmeal-cherry and peanut-butter kisses, with cupcake offerings on a given day such as lime margarita, cinnamon swirl and German chocolate.
Under the proposal headed to the village council Monday night, a wall would be removed for the roughly 850-square-foot Sweet C's to spread into the 900 square feet vacated by LPL Financial. Sweet C's would upgrade the exterior with a new awning as part of the project.
"I constantly have customers wanting to come in and have a cupcake, a cup of coffee, and the space we have now just doesn't allow us to have seating," Kallenborn said.
If Sweet C's becomes slightly more than double its current size, it plans to have seating for eight customers and occasionally host private events, Kallenborn said. Sweet C's also would gain more work space, allowing it to offer a greater pastry selection, coffee, tea and a chimney cake known as kurtos, which is dough rolled onto a cylinder, baked and finished with a choice of toppings.
Kallenborn long has been part of Palatine's food scene. Her family's Mexico Uno opened in 1989 on North Brockway Street, around the corner from her bakery.
"Palatine has been very good to my family," she said. "I have customers that have known me since I was 12. That's what made me come here. Palatine is a very nice downtown area. There's a lot more business coming in. We want to see more business coming here and see all these storefronts fill up."
Palatine's advisory zoning board of appeals last week recommended approval of Sweet C's special-use permit request to the village council, which gets the final say.
"I'm very familiar with the bakery and I assume most people are," said zoning board of appeals member Kevin Cavanaugh, who was part of an 8-0 vote. "And I think the expansion of it is a good sign and I support it."