Sugar Shots Bakery launches in Ozark

Last edited 2:02 p.m., July 31, 2023 [Editor's note: The owner's age has been corrected.]

A longtime employee in the health care industry has pivoted to become a first-time business owner with this month’s opening of a bakery in Ozark.

Trixie Batts launched a brick-and-mortar store on July 16 for The Sugar Shots Bakery LLC at 612 N. 25th St. Batts, who said she opened the shop on her 41st birthday, had worked in health care since getting her certified nurse assistant license at 16 years old. She has spent the last year baking cakes and cookies by order after forming her LLC.

“I worked by order only, building clientele for the last year,” Batts said, adding she fulfilled orders from a ghost kitchen. “Then, I kind of outgrew my space and decided to open a storefront.

“It’s something to do with a midlife crisis,” she added with a laugh.

Noting she opened the shop debt-free, Batts said startup costs were $15,000. She signed a five-year lease for an undisclosed rate with B&B Theatres. The 1,900-square-foot bakery sits in between the 12-screen movie theater and a Big Whiskey’s restaurant. She said the space was vacant for several years after a location of frozen yogurt chain Yogurtini closed.

With the closure of Stacey’s Sweets LLC earlier this year, Sugar Shots is the lone bakery in Ozark, Batts said. Stacey’s Sweets announced its closure in February, according to its website.

Sugar Shots Bakery’s products include cakes, cookies, pies, cupcakes and cheesecakes. Cookies start at $1.50, $2.50 for cupcakes and cake sizes as small as four inches begin at $15. Sugar-free, gluten-free and keto options also are available, Batts said.

“We don’t use any water or oil in any of our products. It’s all milk and butter – all of the good stuff and none of the filler,” she said, noting she currently is the bakery’s lone employee.

Batts said she got into baking a couple years ago and even took online courses for about six months with the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, which has campuses in Boulder, Colorado, and Austin, Texas.

Her full-time professional focus is now at the bakery, after recently exiting her job at assisted living and residential care facility The Essex of Ozark. Batts said her husband, Justin, who also works at Essex of Ozark, plans to join her at the bakery by Oct. 1.