Almost Heaven Desserts is excited to expand and open their second retail location in Cheat Lake, West Virginia, towards the end of 2020.
Almost Heaven Desserts (AHD) is a successful, family-owned bakery and coffee shop located in Bridgeport, West Virginia. Patti and Jim Simon own the business alongside their daughter Victoria. Victoria was a recent guest on the Positively West Virginia podcast. She spoke about their new location, the classic pastries that her mom makes, how social media has impacted their business, and much more.
“I have been waiting so long to open a new location, and I have asked my dad for a long time about it,” stated Victoria. Victoria went on to say that every month, she would come to her dad with a new place that they could purchase to open a second store-front. Her father, Jim, would always say, “No, that is not it.”
“Last year, when I went to my dad with this location in Morgantown, he agreed. He has always said there has to be a drive-thru option for him to agree,” stated Victoria.
The new location will be located in front of Chestnut Ridge Church, a drive-thru included. The building is not quite finished due to a slow down with COVID-19.
The ever-growing business is famous for delicious desserts and coffee, but they are now offering sandwiches and salads, which are starting to become popular items as well.
“My mom has always loved to make pies, cakes, cheesecakes, turnovers, and all of those types of desserts. She graduated from The Culinary Institute of America, and ever since then, she continues to make the things that have been there since day one like chocolate chip cookies and cannolis,” said Victoria.
Almost Heaven Desserts continues to grow its business with the help of social media. With over 10,000 followers on Instagram, Victoria has learned how to leverage social media to their advantage.
“For a long time, I have been interested in photography and taking pictures of my friends holding AHD’s products. I try to make the pictures look like holding a coffee cup would give people the same joy as holding a designer handbag.”
When asked about how customers react to their social media posts, Victoria said, “I think people enjoy the content that I have created because it is a little different. After all, normally, you do not see people posting with their coffees in many different locations. I like to go to a lot of different locations where the background is beautiful, and I dress to portray a look that will intrigue people to come to buy the product.”
Victoria was a recent guest on the Positively West Virginia Podcast. Listen to the full podcast here.
PWV QUICK BITS | VICTORIA SIMON
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- PIECE OF ADVICE: “Live your dreams. If you want to do something, you have to find a way to go do it,” advised Victoria.