“I will say, I probably did more of the baking and she did more of the eating,” laughed Miranda Gilbert, talking about her sister and best friend, Erika Gilbert. “That girl loved to eat but we always had so much fun it was usually like late nights making cupcakes or cookies.”
Erika had down syndrome, baking with her sister was one of her favorite pastimes.
“After she passed away, I just knew that I wanted to start Sissy’s Sweets,” said Gilbert, the owner of the desert shop.
Turning her two-year side hustle into a brick-and-mortar business took a year of work. And day one had already been rewarding. They sold out before noon.
“We open at 8:00 but there were already people lined up about 7:45 ready to come in,” said Gilbert.
The shop honors her sister in many ways, from her favorite color on the wall, to the staff behind the counter.
“We have about 10 employees right now that have different disabilities and different special needs. So giving them a place to work and feel safe and you know feel like they’re just being their best self, I love that. That’s one of my main goals with this whole idea,” said Gilbert.
Turning a dream into a reality, her best friend would be proud of.
“I could just imagine her sitting in that seat just eating the cupcakes and eating the ice cream and she wouldn’t be working she’d be eating I already know, and just talking to people and talking to the cute boys that’s what she’d be doing. But I know she’s watching and she’s excited,” she said.
Gilbert and her crew make cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, cookies, muffins, the already popular apple cider caramel donuts and so much more. You can swing by anytime between 8:00 am and 5:00pm at 2520 Boiling Springs Road.
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