TORRINGTON – When you enter Sweet Lou’s on West 20th Avenue, it feels like you’ve stepped back in time. the mixture of scents of breakfast cooking and baked goods fresh from the oven wafting through the air is a sign you have entered a special place.

What seems to be a place of cookies, cinnamon rolls and treats is more. Serving breakfast and lunch, the treats will always be there. 

“The bakery is a bonus,” said Tauna Shahan, owner of Sweet Lou’s Bakery and Café. “We also serve wonderful food for breakfast and lunch.”

Shahan moved to Torrington in 2010 from Mountain View in the southwest corner of Wyoming. She was born in Idaho, but adopted Wyoming as her home state after traveling with her father, who worked in construction. Traveling from job to job when in the eighth grade they settled in Mountain View.

She started Sweet Lou’s Sept. 27, 2012.

“I did not buy the building, but I built it from ground up,” Shahan said. “It used to be a video store and I tore everything out and established Sweet Lou’s from nothing. I just lease the building, but everything else in the cafe and Bakery was done from scratch.”

Larry Eaton’s family has owned the property housing Sweet Lou’s for generations. The store was originally built on the corner of 20th Avenue and Main Street when the bank wanted to build on the land. In the early 1900’s they jacked up the building and moved it to the current location with a team of horses.

Shahan opened Sweet Lou’s because she wanted something to do and she couldn’t find any options for work. She opened in Torrington because she believed the community needed a happy place to eat.

“It is a delightful place,” she said. “I like to serve people.”

Cinnamon rolls are Sweet Lou’s biggest seller, but people might have the misconception it is just a bakery.

“We have a full breakfast and lunch menu, opening from 6: a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday,” Shahan said. “I am here at 5 a.m. and the coffee guys come in and drink coffee while I start my baking. If I’m here, then we’re working.”

Everything Shahan makes is what she feeds her children and family. It is made from scratch, fresh daily, she does not use anything that is pre-made. She buys at the local grocery store and everything is made as she would at home. 

Sweet Lou’s got a matching grant from the Goshen County Economic Development Corporation’s Progress Program when she first opened. The $5,000 matching funds were used to buy her sign and some equipment in the kitchen. The GCEDC have helped when equipment has broken and had to be replaced.

“The Cafe and Bakery is fun and delightful, with good food, good conversation and is like home,” Shahan said. “We love every little customer that comes in and we love the support that we have and would like to see more of the community come in.”