Bakery finds sweet spot

Clay Cerna started with cinnamon rolls.

Six months later, his repertoire includes muffins, bagels, sugar cookies and brownies. He makes mini cinnamon rolls and brownie bites, too. Prices range from $1 to $2.50 each.

But perhaps the best part of the new business is Cerna delivers.

“Food tastes better when it’s brought to your door,” he said. “If you don’t have to make the food, it tastes better. And, you don’t have to clean up any dishes.”

Sweet Box Delivery bakes and brings the goods. Started at the end of November, the service specializes in delivering sweet treats to customers’ doors in the greater Spokane area.

Delivery is free on orders of $25 or more. Otherwise, it costs $5.

“The perfect cookie is a cheap cookie,” Cerna said. “The perfect bagel is an imperfect bagel.”

Baked goods are all made by him. If a bagel’s a little lopsided or the frosting on a sugar cookie isn’t level, it’s a sign the item wasn’t mass-produced by machines. Cerna, 29, fashions each baked good by hand in the basement commercial kitchen space he rents beneath Nectar Tasting Room in downtown Spokane.

He’s the owner and general manager of Sweet Box Delivery. So far, it’s a one-man show.

“My experience comes from doughnuts and my Mexican grandmother,” Cerna said.

He started the company after previously serving as manager at Dawn of the Donut, Spokane’s short-lived zombie-themed doughnut shop. There, Cerna said, “I had been pushing for delivery for a long time. I saw a need for it.”

He worked at the doughnut shop after moving to Spokane at the end of 2013. Last September, the business was sold, remodeled and renamed Casual Friday Donuts. Within two months, Cerna had opened Sweet Box.

In this region, “I don’t believe there is a delivery-based bakery besides me,” he said.

Sweet Box delivers from Cheney to Coeur d’Alene and the back side of Spokane’s South Hill to the Wandermere neighborhood in the north. But, Cerna said, he might make exceptions for large orders.

Raspberry-cream-cheese-stuffed bagels – inspired by jelly-filled doughnuts – are a top-seller. So are the cinnamon rolls.

Business has been growing through referrals and word of mouth. Cerna has nine wholesale accounts and hopes to soon expand enough to be able to hire some employees.

Meanwhile, he’s working on developing new products.

“Eighty percent of the menu is customer-driven,” he said. “What I want to specialize in is fresh product.”

Originally from Connell, Washington, Cerna ran a pedicab service in Chicago and Seattle before moving to Spokane to be closer to family.

“The thing I learned from my grandmother was do it right. Take your time,” Cerna said. “Sometimes, we’d be starving and she’d say, ‘It’s not ready yet. Ten more minutes.’ I heard that a lot growing up. Funny thing is now I catch myself saying it.”