I started to make my home-made cookies, cakes and other pastries commercially available about a year ago. Before, I just love to bake for my family and my daughters’ friends, but when I realized that more and more people like my creations, the idea of starting a business out of my hobby popped in my mind. My husband was very supportive, and after a couple of months or so of planning, we opened “Sweet Tooth”. We transformed a part of our house into a showroom, and we placed several tables and chairs in our lawn for dine-in customers.

While we were still planning the structure of the showroom and the tables, one problem came out. Since Florida’s sun always shines brightly, we thought that it would be very uncomfortable both for my employees and my customers, since our lawn is very open. If we would build concrete cover-ups all over the place, it would take a lot of money and time. That is why our architect suggested that instead of building, why not install canopies at the front of the showroom, and put blue outdoor umbrellas in every table in the lawn. It will bring both shade and a feeling of coolness for the customers.

They showed me a drawing on how the place will look like with the umbrellas, and I liked it. My place looked cozier, even if the sun is still shining brightly.