Standing just outside the door of Taa Daa The Bakery here in Blackstone, Virginia, the smell of coffee and baked goods lured me in. I was immediately transported back in time. The Mid-Century décor and a warm greeting made me feel right at home. The blueberry coffee brewed daily is a delicious, unique offering. The variety of treats behind the counter makes it difficult to choose just one item. I enjoyed my opportunity to ask the owner, Jan Daniel, about her magnificent bakery.
“DT: “So tell me about what you do here.”
Jan Daniel: “In a nutshell, everything! Baker, designer, dishwasher, floor cleaner take-out-the-trash-er…”
DT: “So this is a labor of love for you?”
Jan: “Absolutely!”
DT: “How did you end up here? How did you end up in this place in time?”
JD: “Funny story. I owned Taa Daa The Cakery in North Chesterfield. I did upscale cake design for the Richmond region, including Fredericksburg, and Charlottesville. I traveled a lot with my stuff.”
“For almost two years, Susan Fuller from The Black Pig [an antiques store located next door] kept saying, ‘You need to bring Taa Daa to Blackstone.’ I kept saying no.”
“Then on an August afternoon in 2019, my husband and I were visiting Susan at The Black Pig. We walked two doors up to a vacant 306 S Main Street. Looking in the window my husband saw the yellow walls and a faux floor, which was the interior then. What I saw was this finished bakery. It was like, Ding! Ding! Ding! I can open a bakery here, offering baked goods and specialty cakes. It just all kind of collided in like two seconds in my head after I looked at the space.”
“I invested in this bakery because I believe in myself, I believe in this town a hundred percent.”
DT: “What makes Taa Daa stand out? What makes this place different from, let’s say, going and getting something at Publix?”
JD: “My branding. Everything in here I baked fresh daily. Anything left at the end of the day is donated to H.E.L.P. the food bank. I’m a drop-off point for non-perishable food for them, as well. I’ve got customers on a regular basis that will come by just to do a food drop.”
“There are times where I bake for the food bank because I’ve sold out during the week, and I can’t not keep my word and not have something for the food bank just because I had a great week.”
DT: “You’re literally feeding into your community. I love that! What is your favorite part of what you do?”
JD: “There are so many facets to it. I love design, but I think it’s this community – it’s being able to have a relationship with all these people in this town. Everybody is different, yet everybody is the same with their generosity and coming in and spending a few minutes just to see how you’re doing. It’s the whole human thing.”
“But beyond that, my favorite thing is design. For me it’s the best part of design when somebody picks a cake up and its spot on as to what they wanted. My other favorite thing in the world is when people let me do my design thing without limits. I research just about every cake I do. All I need is to ask a couple of questions and then let me rip, and I got ya.”
DT: “Are you happy you’re here?”
JD: “Oh yes! I can’t imagine being anywhere else. It’s the best little town in the world to be in. When we go out, I run into customers all the time now; they’ll sometimes ask if I remember them from a cake I had made for them, or just to say hi and then we’ll chat like old friends.” DT: “I think that you just summed it up. It’s just the best little town to be in.”
Jan: “I have lived in large towns. I have lived in smaller towns – by far, this is the best of all the towns.”
I’m just one of many people who are grateful Jan and Taa Daa The Bakery are here in Blackstone. Quality and friendliness abound here. I hope you’ll come and experience Taa Daa the Bakery. And don’t forget to ask about the signed photo of Dean Martin on the wall. As Jan says, “Funny story!”
