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A little butter and a lot of passion: Black Box Bakery perfects the recipe for a successful small business

Denver7 | Your Voice: Denver7's Mike Castellucci spent the morning learning what makes Black Box Bakery in Edgewater so special
A little butter and a lot of passion at Black Box bakery
A Black Box Bakery pastry
Arielle Israel of Black Box Bakery
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EDGEWATER, CO — Ube cruffins. Strawberry milk croissants. Miso caramel banana tarte tatin.

Those are just a few offerings on Black Box's current menu that have hungry customers clamoring for an "out of this world" taste.

It’s like finding a needle in a haystack.

"It’s a huge compliment seeing people line up in the morning," Arielle Israel, the bakery's founder and owner, says.

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When Denver7 | Your Voice visited Edgewater recently, community members told us one thing over and over: they love Black Box.

What makes the bakery a destination? It starts with a main ingredient called community.

Arielle found it here at Edgewater Public Market, the bakery's first retail location.

Arielle Israel of Black Box Bakery

Spend a morning with the group of artists behind the mouthwatering creations and you'll begin to see what work is like when it doesn’t feel like work.

Marcio Paulucci has been with the bakery since it first opened here.

"This is not a job," he says. "This is a place I come to hang out with my friends… I used to be a banker. I used to work for hedge funds… that was a job."

Arielle has made sure their storefront is different. Their kitchen is wide open. Customers can see the whole process. Her pastries look like sculptures, and when you have customers open their box like a presentation, you know it's working.

A Black Box Bakery pastry

One regular, Meg, picked up three boxes of cookies and cinnamon rolls.

"I pretty much clean them out every morning," she says.

And they have a one of a kind vending machine, selling their "spaced out" sweets.

"We’re starting a line of chocolates as well under the Black Box umbrella," Marcio said.

Black Box could be a blue print for a small business. And they’ve perfected the recipe: a little butter, and a lot of passion.

Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Mike Castellucci
Denver7’s Mike Castellucci covers stories that have an impact in all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in reporting on community connections. If you’d like to get in touch with Mike, fill out the form below to send him an email.