Business & Tech

Mahwah Family Opens New 'Cups or Cakes' Bakery

The new shop on Macarthur Boulevard hopes to become a hang out for locals and a destination for visitors, owners say. Cups or Cakes is hosting a Grand Opening event this weekend.

An entrepreneurial Mahwah family says it feels township residents deserve a choice when looking for dessert, and a community-based spot to spend time with friends or family members throughout the day. Cups or Cakes, a new bakery that opened at the corner of Macarthur Boulevard and Ridge Road last Friday, hopes to provide residents with just that.

According to owner Steven Chernick, Cups or Cakes aims to offer a variety of dessert options. The new shop is a cross between a self-serve frozen yogurt and sorbet bar, a full-service bakery, and a coffee shop and café. 

Inside the new eatery, residents will find everything from breakfast options, like donuts, cronuts, muffins, pastries, and Greek yogurt with self-serve toppings, to traditional desserts, like pie-by-the-slice, cookies, cakes, gourmet cupcakes, mini bunt cakes, multi-flavored gourmet macaroons, and even blue-and-white Thunderbird cookies.

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Cups or Cakes also has a Java Bar with 120 coffee offerings, and a smoothie station.

“This is a family operation,” Chernick, a 20-year Mahwah resident who runs the business with his brother, wife, and kids, said.

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“We really wanted this to be a place where people could come hang out with friends, and have some really cool dessert options to choose from.”

The new, trendy shop is designed for lingering – it’s got lots of seating, flat-screen TVs, and free WiFi. Owners said they hope to attract all different types of customers, everyone from high school friends getting some homework done after school, to families looking for a place to go after dinner.

Since opening on Friday, “we’ve been busy,” Chernick said. “I think people were wanting something like this to open. It’s got a cool atmosphere, we’ve got a lot of healthy options, and we are open to everybody all day long.”

Cups or Cakes says its hours – 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the week and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends – reflect its desire to be a community gathering place all day long, from breakfast to after-dinner.

Though Cups or Cakes is the Chernick’s first bakery, the family is no stranger to small business ownership. It has owned and operated the Decorators' Fabric Outlet on Route 17 in Upper Saddle River for 60 years. Owners say they hope Cups or Cakes will catch on, and even hope to open more locations and start franchising in the future.

For now, the family is focused on its hometown location, and is hosting a Grand Opening celebration this weekend as a way to introduce itself to Mahwah.

The Grand Opening is this Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. It is set to include free yogurt samples for the first hour on each day, and Cups or Cakes will donate 20% of the proceeds from the sale of its select Thunderbird-themed desserts to the Mahwah Schools Foundation.


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