cinnamon rolls and other sweet treats.
That's right, Maddie Nieswinger
followed in her father's footsteps
to become an entrepreneur and business owner.
Now she is living her dream and sharing
some delicious goodness with the community.
Take a look.
I love finding delicious food.
Food so delicious that it lingers in your brain
for days and days.
And let's not forget,
dessert is food, too.
And here's a place that I can't get out of my mind
and you need to know about.
Let's go inside.
Well, I am here in Paris, Illinois,
at a local bakery frosted by Maddie.
And I'm with the owner of the business.
Maddie Nieswinger. Maddie, thanks so much for having me.
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for coming.
Well, tell us about your business.
Yeah.
So I opened in May of 2023 after running a home
operation cottage Food Bakery for three years.
And so we've been open almost a year,
and it's been going really well.
Well, congratulations on getting the brick and mortar here.
We got several recommendations to come check you out.
Tell us about what people love, about what you do.
You know, I think that people really love
just having a variety of options and being able to come in
and say, ooh,
I'm craving a sweet treat
and having like a display with multiple things to get.
So cookies are a big top seller for us.
Everyone loves them.
And so that's kind of why we've taken the business
on the road and had the cookie truck
and it's really been great.
What kind of cookies do you specialize in?
Everyone loves a chocolate chip in the butter cream.
Sugar and those our top sellers.
Pretty yummy.
Fantastic.
Now, I know you guys have some menu changes coming up.
You guys are expanding your offerings.
Yeah.
We're going to be changing our business hours
and start serving breakfast here. At the bakery.
Okay.
Now, is that going to include, like, some home baked, like,
pastries and different things like that?
yeah.
So we're going to have pastries
bagels, varieties of cream cheese.
Our cinnamon rolls are amazing and we have a lot of love
and support for those.
So we're going to offer different flavors
and really just kind of see
where it takes us and where it goes.
I love it.
You're actually a true Parisian bakery here in Paris, Illinois.
I love it.
That's super fun.
Now, tell me a little bit about being a woman
owned business and what that means to you.
Honestly, I couldn't ask for a better career
journey for myself.
I feel like as a woman, it's important
that we break barriers and
do things that people tell us we can't.
And I was raised by a man who owned a business for 27 years,
and he told me that I could do anything
I wanted to do and here I am doing it. And so.
That's awesome.
You had a corporate background,
so you did the 9 to 5 for a lot of years. Yes.
What is so different about owning your own business?
No sleep. No sleep.
Mostly
it's a lot.
I work 60 to 70 hours a week, but I wouldn't
trade it for the world.
That's awesome and must offer
you just a lot of satisfaction to control your universe.
Yeah, for sure.
And do the same thing that my dad for me paved the way.
I get to do the same thing for my son.
Show him an example.
Yeah, that's awesome. Leading by example.
Running your own business, Maddie.
Frosted by Maddie, again.
We're here in Paris, Illinois.
If you live here, if you're coming through.
If you're looking for a day trip,
this is definitely a place to come.
Check out the pastries.
Get some breakfast and come meet Maddie and her team.
What?
We touched on it quickly, but the cookie truck that you saw
there, Steve's cookie box, is named after Maddie's father,
who is her hero and inspiration for everything she does.
Sadly, Steve Johnson passed away suddenly in July of 2023,
and the truck is a tribute to his memory, life and example.
I love that.
To find more information on Frosted by Maddie and Steve's
Cookie box, we will connect you on our web
site ciLiving dot TV after today's show.