DIXON, CA (MPG) - While most of the impacts of the pandemic shutdown and restrictions have cost small business owners tremendously, there are a few who have worked through it and actually are getting better. Every Baking Moment, the cake-making supply capital of northern California is one of them.

When Janis Luzzo moved her packed little cake supply shop to the expansive space next door on North First Street in the heart of downtown Dixon, she quickly became popular to all cake-decorating wannabes not only in Dixon but within a 60-mile radius.

Her classes were fun and produced a need for customers to purchase more products. More teachers were hired. Ultimately, classes for children were introduced and also became wonderfully popular. The back space of the shop was regularly booked for classes, birthday parties and even boys could have a birthday celebration with superheroes or monsters.

Enter the pandemic.

"We don't do Zoom or adult classes. We quit doing all of that," said Luzzo who added that her business has always been about hands on. From demonstrating a particular technique and then supporting a customer in their creativity, Luzzo saw adult classes decline but the interest in children's classes increased.

"The impact has been fantastic because I can do more than I could do in a classroom," she said. "The volume makes up more with 'Kids-to-Go' than what we've done with adults." There is demand from older children who might have not readily signed up for a class, parents who want to buy for all three of their children instead of just one, and grandparents who want to have something to do with their grandchildren. It also makes sense that there is only so much children can do when it's cold or wet outside or when museums or playhouses are closed.

"It opened up a lot of different ages and groups I wouldn't normally attract," she said. She schedules two projects a month, posts online a finished product such as a ladybug cupcake for Valentine's Day, and prepares the kits that the customer/student will pick up from her shop. The kits have everything the student needs to complete the project including instructions. She says she always prepares a few extras, too.

One has to order in advance and they cost about $12 each.

It takes a lot of math to figure out how much to purchase in bulk. She puts together all the items the person will need that doesn't go bad and refrigerates the rest of the supplies. The kit(s) are brought safely by staff to the customer's car via the store's backdoor.

In December, there were 200-plus kits sold for children decorating a Christmas Tree Cookie.

After the Valentine 'Love Bugs,' there will be 'Aliens Attack,' a funny looking monster with blue pointy hair and silly eyes. The deadline to register is February 23.

Luzzo tells of students who send over pictures of themselves with their creations and it is heartwarming. Another kit was "Santa Got Stuck" and was a pair of Santa's pants and boots sticking out of a chimney and another January one was "Penguin Party" featuring funny-looking penguins atop an igloo shaped with an upside down white-frosted cupcake and a large marshmallow. Someone obviously has a sense of humor when creating the projects and that person is Luzzo.

"I am having fun," she said and admitted she wasn't planning to go back to teaching adults. There are other teachers for that, she explained. "In my case, this is more fun."

For more information, go to EveryBakingMoment.com, see on Facebook, or call Luzzo at (707) 693-0112. The shop is open for retail at 143 North First Street in downtown Dixon.