Rue grew up Venezuela and she went to business school there. After meeting her husband, Kyle, they returned to hos hometown of West Chester.
Before opening the storefront at 7745 Cox Lane, Ruwe, a mother of two girls, Lucia, (Lulu), 9 and Giovanna, 12, operated Lulu’s Sweet Bites out of her home kitchen, specializing in cupcakes, cakes, cookies and French macarons.
Lucia is the business namesake with Lulu being short for Lucia. Lulu is also the biggest sweet tooth in the family.
“When we started the business, we called it Lulu’s Sweet Bites, because my idea was providing smaller bites, or smaller treats. I love sweets, but I eat them in moderation, and I thought the name reflected that,” said Ruwe. “It was cupcakes, macarons and little cookies, and then, it just evolved into what it is today.”
With the storefront, it’s more of a boutique of sweets, so the name Lulu’s Sweets Boutique, worked, she said.
“We just changed the last word, so it’s not such a drastic change for people who have followed me,” Ruwe said.
Initially, Ruwe started baking out of her home in March of 2017. Since it’s inception, she has grown her client base and the variety of product offerings. Lulu’s Sweets Boutique opened on Nov. 18, 2022.
“I was baking as a hobby, for fun. I was staying home with my two girls, who were 3 and 6 at the time. I was j making their cakes, cakes for birthdays, and for friends. My good friend had a birthday in February, and I made cupcakes for her. They were the famous carrot cupcakes, and she loved them. She said, ‘You need to start selling this stuff, it’s so good. I will place the first order.’ So, she encouraged me to get started,” Ruwe said.
From there, Ruwe came up with the name, Lulu’s Sweet Bites, created a Facebook page, and printed some marketing materials, bought boxes, and started making the Carrot Cake, because, she said that’s all she knew how to make from scratch.
“I thought that was important, because I didn’t want to open a business and bake things from a box. So, that’s how we got started,” Ruwe said.
Voting on the name as a family, she said the Lulu’s name has caught on. Her husband first started making Carrot Cake from an old recipe book, and Rosanna turned the recipe into cupcakes. With trial and error, she said, the business has continued to grow.
“Since I started baking, I turned it into a little business. It was very small, my kids were still young, and we were testing recipes, but I always had the vision that I was going to turn this into something else. And I wasn’t quite sure at the time if it was going to be a catering business, or a storefront, but I knew it was going to be something bigger. My dad is an entrepreneur, so I grew up watching him, open his businesses, and grow his businesses,” Ruwe said.
She said, “It was a natural path for me. I believe I have some of that entrepreneurial spirit in me. I always knew it was going to turn into something else, I just needed a little time for my girls to grow up and to figure out the business.”
From smaller bites, she started making cakes and she started to run out of space in her house. Ruwe knew she had to move it out, but she wanted to find a location that was central to all of her customers. She has customers in West Chester, Liberty Twp., Mason, but she also has customers from Lebanon, Wilmington, Hyde Park and Oakley, and even Northern Kentucky, so she felt she wanted to find a location that was easily accessible, and she started looking along Interstate 75, in West Chester.
We want to offer product that is aesthetically pleasing, but also that it tastes really good. People can come in and shop, and the items are packaged nice, she said.
Lulu’s Sweets Boutique is 12,000-sq. ft. shop with a large, commercial kitchen space. The shop does a lot of custom orders, but there is also product available in a display case for walk-in customers to take home.
“We want to offer desserts that bring the nostalgia of the homemade treat, because we make everything from scratch, as if mom would have made it from the house. So, we want to bring the nostalgia, but we want it to look really nice.” Ruwe said.
Other favorites include edible cookie dough, (and an edible cookie dough filled cupcake,) customized French macarons and iced buttercream cookies.
HOW TO GO
What: Lulu’s Sweets Boutique
Where: 7745 Cox Lane, West Chester Twp.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday
More: (513) 759-5858, email hello@lulusb.com, or visit lulussweetbites.com
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