February 24, 2008 23LSunday Gazette-Mail
CYANMAGENTAYELLOWBLACK
CYANMAGENTAYELLOWBLACK
By Kelly [email protected]
Cary Charbonniez alwaysknew that if she opened herown restaurant, she wanted it tobe a fun place.
Her wishes came true in De-cember 2005 when she openedLola’s.
She had graduated from NewEngland Culinary Institute inVermont.
When she saw that the littleplace in South Hills was for sale,she jumped at the chance to buyit.
Cary, 34, had grown up inCharleston and her thenboyfriend/now husband, Pierre,33, still lived in the city, so it wasan easy decision to make.
She opened the restaurantand named it Lola’s after hergreat-grandmother.
“She was a very strongwoman and a very goodwoman,” she said.
She hoped the same would betrue of her restaurant.
So far, things have gone well.There are about 10 employees
at the restaurant, including threecooks and a dishwasher.
They make all the dough andsauce for the pizzas. Theycaramelize their onions.
Even the recipes are Cary’sown.
There is more to running abusiness than just making food,though, as Cary quickly foundout.
“I’m more involved in differ-ent aspects of the business thanI thought I would be,” she said.“There is lots of paperwork in-volved. It’s gone a lot smootherthan I expected. I think that it’sbeen pleasantly surprising.”
Anyone can tell just by walk-ing into the establishment thatit’s not your run-of-the-mill piz-za joint.
Colorful paintings decoratebrightly colored walls. Bencheswith pillows line walls on oneside of the building. A small barsits to the right of the entrance.
Maybe that’s the secret to thesuccess of the business, Carysaid.
“I think that we are very fam-ily- and friend-oriented,” shesaid. “I think it’s a good neigh-borhood establishment.”
She likes owning a small busi-ness and would like to keep itthat way.
Her only future plans are toadd a deck to the business inthe spring or the summer, shesaid.
She credits the communityfor her success, and is gratefulfor their encouragement.
“Thank you to all the peoplethat support us,” she said.
Her home life has been evolv-ing at the same pace as herrestaurant.
In January of 2007, Cary andPierre got married.
At the same time, Pierre start-ed his own business, Charbon-niez Designs.
He creates concrete counter-tops for everything fromkitchens to bathrooms to re-ception desks.
One of his pieces — a bench— is on display at Taylor Books.
He also built the new bar inCary’s restaurant.
His first piece was the bar inthe Vandalia Lounge, where heformerly worked with his broth-
er-in-law, Virgil Sadorra.That experience inspired him
to try make a go of it on hisown.
He worked in constructionout West for a number of yearsand had noticed the trend.
Concrete counters are finallybecoming popular in the area,and Pierre hopes to see hisbusiness grow.
He has done a number of
pieces in the area, including areception desk at Ashland Oil.He is working on a piece forStonewall Resort.
Recently Cary and Pierre havebeen busy not only working, butalso taking care of their 8-month-old twins, Iris and Zoe.
Cary still works a few days aweek. She has an office at herhouse where she also spendssome time working. But it’s not
nearly the amount of time sheis used to putting in.
“Up until the time the girlswere born, I was up here everynight,” she said.
She plans to work full-timeagain beginning in June.
For now, her staff is giving hera lot of help. Ryan Webster, anemployee, takes care of thingswhen Cary is not there.
“I’ve been so fortunate to have
a great staff,” she said.Pierre and Cary work oppo-
site hours, so that has beenhelpful, too.
He usually gets home about 6p.m. and she goes to work about4 p.m. The couple hires awoman to help take care oftheir daughters three days aweek during the two-hour pock-et.
In the end, all the work is
worth it, Pierre and Cary said.“It’s really cool because no
matter what happens with yourday, when you see your littlegirls smile at you, it’s all good,”he said.
Cary couldn’t agree more.“Having a family is so won-
derful,” she said. “At the end of the day, what-
ever sacrifices you have tomake, it’s all worth it.”
Owner likes pizza place’s intimacy, familial air
CRAIG CUNNINGHAM/Sunday Gazette-Mail
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By Charlotte Ferrell [email protected]
The sweet aroma of freshbaked goods wafts from the Pur-ple Turtle at nearly any hour.
Items are baked fresh on a dai-ly, and nightly, basis to meet de-mand.
The little Sissonville bakerysells an abundance of goodiesfrom cakes, pies, cookies andpastries to pepperoni rolls, spe-cialty breads and assorted sugar-free items.
The Purple Turtle celebrates asuccessful one-year anniversaryon Feb. 24. While many newfood-based businesses fold afteronly a year, the Purple Turtle isthriving.
There are faithful customersin the community as well asothers who drive from Hunt-ington, Beckley and Clarksburg.Even out-of-state folks make apoint to stop when they are ontheir way through the area be-cause friends have raved aboutthe place.
“We do a really good busi-ness,” said owner Donna Davis.“I would really love to thank ourcustomers. Some come everyday for coffee and breakfast.Our local customers are fantas-tic.”
Davis loves her dream job ofmaking icing, cakes, pastries anddough from original secretrecipes. She also loves seeing sat-isfied customers and being partof special occasions when shemakes wedding cakes.
She took a leap of faith toopen her bakery and is thankfulto all who give her business aboost. Even though her businessis small, she gives back to the
community when she can by do-nating goods for area schools ororganizations to re-sell atfundraisers. She has also takenitems to homeless shelters and anearby funeral home when thereare visitations.
She left a good job with ben-
efits 12 years ago to open thebakery. She said she was work-ing with wonderful people atNGK Spark Plugs in Sissonvillewhere she was warehouse man-ager. Her colleagues were sohappy for her that they helpedher get going by doing every-
thing from serving as tasters topicking up equipment out ofstate that she bought on eBay.
She also has a dedicated crewof employees and relatives tokeep things running smoothly.
Her husband, Kenny Davis, aCarbide retiree, helps out on
weekends. Her mother, BodieHaynes, helps as needed. NieceKippi Harmon helped a steadystream of customers at the count-er on a recent morning. Dough-nut makers are cousins LeeLeach and Tonja Jordan. Theonly worker who is not relatedis Debbie Thompson, who worksthe counter and does assortedother chores.
“We all do a little of every-thing,” Davis said.
Among the best sellers arehot dogs, doughnuts filled withbuttercream icing, and pepperonirolls created from dough madefrom scratch and generouslystuffed with pepperoni andcheese.
All recipes are secrets thattook months and sometimesyears to perfect. Davis was veryyoung when she learned to bakealongside her mother. As a youngmother herself, she took a cakedecorating class at SissonvilleHigh School. She later landed ajob as a decorator at Spring HillPastry Shop. She worked there
for eight years before leaving forNGK.
She is now working long, hardhours but finds her dream jobvery rewarding.
Glass cases are filled with vir-tual works of art that beg to betouched and tasted. It’s a pa-rade of doughnuts, hot dogs,nutty devils, regular and per-sonal-sized pies, gigantic peanutbutter cookies, cinnamon andpecan rolls, turnovers, éclairsand napoleons.
While Davis dotes on all hercustomers, she loves the gleam-ing eyes of little ones with theirfaces pressed against the glass asthey choose a special cupcake orcookie. Seeing their excitementmakes it worth wiping off the fin-gerprints, she said.
Purple Turtle Pastry Shop,6842 Sissonville Road, is open6:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdaythrough Friday. The shop isclosed Sunday and Monday. Formore information check out theWeb site www.purpleturtlepas-try.com or call 984-3600.
Sweet dreams coming true for baked goods proprietor
TOM HINDMAN/Sunday Gazette-Mail
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