Branson/Tri-Lakes News: Pianist Dino builds on bakery business

With a $250,000 first-year bakery business under their belts, veteran Branson entertainer Dino Kartsonakis and wife Cheryl have added a second Dino's 24 Karrot Cake Co. location.

Last month, the duo opened Dino's 24 Karrot Cake Café in Chappy Mall at 204 N. Commercial St. in downtown Branson.

Working from the original Hollister location, 12 Downing St., the Kartsonakises and master baker Chuck Baum have developed a niche selling fine pastries and cakes to busloads of tourists and local residents.

The side business for the full-time classical pianist was a natural considering Kartsonakis' family background. His father was a chef, and his mother made pastries in New York City.

"Five years ago, I created a recipe for carrot cake," said Dino Kartsonakis, who moved with his wife to the Branson area 19 years ago to open a Christmas show.

Then a few years later, the Kartsonakises teamed up with professional baker Baum, who had opened Chuck's Bake Shoppe at the Hollister location in 2007. Baum's 40 years of baking experience includes creating pastries and cakes for the Clinton family when Bill Clinton was Arkansas governor. The Kartsonakises still tour the country playing shows throughout the year, but the set during Ozark Mountain Christmas has become a favorite tourist draw.

A built-in clientele of Dino Kartsonakis' music fans helped the bakery's first-year sales, and he said popularity has grown for the bakery's cinnamon rolls and $20 loaf cakes, which are smaller than the full cakes that come in six flavors: carrot, Italian creme, chocolate, coconut creme, strawberry and red velvet. But as the name would imply, the carrot cake takes the cake among patrons; it's shipped worldwide, including to Kartsonakis' celebrity pals such as Denzel Washington and Oprah Winfrey.

Fellow Branson entertainer Yakov Smirnoff attended the recent Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting at Kartsonakis' downtown Branson café, where he announced that Kartsonakis will present his Christmas show starting Nov. 2 at the Yakov Smirnoff Theater.

"Isn't it amazing," Smirnoff told the crowd of about 200 people. "When we came here, we had the Baldknobbers. Now we have Greek, Russian, Chinese, Japanese. Branson is international."

The café also offers unique pastries such as German linzer tortes and French petits fours.

Cheryl Kartsonakis specializes in the design of wedding cakes, complete with edible flowers and decorations.

"Customers bring in their colors and ideas for a cake, and we bake them to order," she said. Although she has several classic wedding cake designs, the staff of 13, including specialist Chelsea DeShetler, will make any style of wedding or occasion cake. "Younger brides tend to want more realistic flowers on their cakes," noted Kartsonakis.

Calling the first year "beyond expectations," Dino Kartsonakis said during the height of the holiday season, 1,000 cakes per week on average were made in the bakery's two ovens. "We worked around-the-clock, 24 hours a day," he said.

With recent surges in online orders at www.24karrot.com and a steady supply of cakes to local businesses such as the Titanic museum and the Hilton Hotel in Branson, Dino expects 2009 revenues to double to $500,000.

Also, plans are being made to pitch Dino's cakes to national retail chains such as Neiman Marcus. Dino also would like to expand his storefront locations to cities such as Kansas City and Nashville, Tenn., where "The Dino Show" is taped before airing weekly on Trinity Broadcast Network. "I can see us even located in New York City," he added.

But first, when the theater season opens in March and the buses return to Branson, the café will add sandwiches and salads to its menu, which already offers 24 Karrot coffee and cappuccino.Kathryn Buckstaff contributed to this report.