La Rose Marie Bakery opens in downtown Sully

SULLY — Jasper County residents are only a short drive away from a new bakery in downtown Sully. La Rose Marie Bakery, located on Fourth Street, offers a vibrant and welcoming space for sweet and coffee lovers alike.

Kellogg native and bakery owner Karli Roozeboom opened the bakery in August to continue building her clientele with baking and decorating wedding cakes. She said the bakery has now turned into much more.

“When I started, it was just going to be wedding cakes strictly and then all of these things were going to be extra, but now this is a huge thing in Sully,” Roozeboom said. “Now these baked items have become a huge part of my business.”

The 2014 Lynnville-Sully High School graduate originally studied fashion design at the University of Northern Iowa. After her first semester, she decided to change her major to culinary arts and baking.

“I transferred to DMACC in Ankeny and graduated in the summer of 2016,” Roozeboom said. “I worked at Caché Bake Shoppe for about a year in Des Moines before they permanently closed.”

Roozeboom was self-employed and specialized in cakes for birthday parties, weddings and other occasions. She said when the building came available on Sully’s square she couldn’t pass it up.

Formerly a hardware store, the building offers generous space with several tables, a sitting area, a check-out counter and kitchen. The building also has several antique items on display from the former hardware store.

“I came to look at it in February of this year, and I thought about it for a while and finally decided on it,” Roozeboom said. “The building wasn’t finished so the ceiling has been repainted but it’s the original design.”

Other updates included laying down new hardwood flooring in part of the building and moving in kitchen equipment. Roozeboom said the space will be expanding once the storefront is remodeled.

“The front will be done by next summer,” Roozeboom said. “I plan to have more seating up front and eventually a couch and a TV for more of a coffee shop vibe and for watching games when they’re on.”

Roozeboom said establishing the name of her business was a decision that took about three months. She came up with the name from combining her last name and her middle name.

“Rose came from the first part of last name and Marie is my middle name,” Roozeboom said. “And the ‘La’ just fit.”

As the bakery and coffee shop business have taken off, Roozeboom continues to stay busy with wedding cakes. She said she’s booked with wedding cakes until next year in December.

Roozeboom said the feedback from locals and customers has been great and positive. Not only does she have local customers, but she also receives customers who stop in from surrounding areas.

“Most of the town people know who I am since I went to school here and go to church here,” Roozeboom said. “Most people have gotten custom orders from me before I owned a business.”

The bakery offers a variety of goodies that are baked daily such as cupcakes, cake pops, cookies, scotcharoos, cinnamon rolls and pecan rolls.

“One of my goals is 100 percent customer satisfaction,” Roozeboom said. “I enjoy seeing how the food and the bakery makes people happy, same with a bride on their wedding day — it makes their day whole.”

Contact Kayla Singletary at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or ksingletary@newtondailynews.com