For a lot of small artisanal producers, success can present a quandary: How big is too big? Popular custom cake and pastry purveyor Natasha’s Mulberry & Mott faced that dilemma when it outgrew its previous location in Leawood.

Mother and daughter owners Vicki and Natasha Goellner were determined to protect the artisanal nature of their business when they decided to split the production and retail parts of their business, leasing a storefront on the Country Club Plaza and production space in Waldo.

“My husband talked about getting special equipment so we can make thousands of things, but we don’t want to be a factory. We want to be a boutique business,” Vicki Goellner says.

The Goellners have added production staff to keep up with increasing cakes and retail sales, but the work environment still feels intimate. “We are all in there baking together,” Natasha Goellner says. “We are still very hands-on.”