Meet Danielle Walters | Owner of Danielle’s Delights

We had the good fortune of connecting with Danielle Walters and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Danielle, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Owning my own business was always a dream of mine. Ever since I was in first grade I wanted to open a bakery/coffee shop. However, I also loved teaching so when it came to for college I decided to get undergraduate degree in entrepreneurship and my Master’s in education. I was teaching for about 10 years when I had to opportunity to start baking for a local shop. I started getting requests for online orders so I created a website and the business started to grow. As I began looking for an opportunity to get my own location, I left my teaching career behind me and focusing on building Danielle’s Delights. After originally projecting to open a location in a year, I had a rare opportunity to buy a food cart and it was just meant to be. Today marks one month of being open and I couldn’t be more excited!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I grew up in Ringwood, NJ and loved school. I had the most incredible teachers and knew I wanted to be that person for kids one day. However, I also had a passion for food and loved to cook with my mom and bake with my grandmas. When I went to college, I decided to study entrepreneurship for my undergraduate degree, knowing I wanted to own my own bakery/coffee shop one day but I also got my Master’s in education because I also wanted to be a teacher. I started my teaching career in Metuchen, NJ and was there for many years until my husband and I decided to leave to follow our love for the mountains. I began teaching in Breckenridge, CO until I had the opportunity to bake for Mountain View (a local coffee shop in town). This led to the start of Danielle’s Delights and before I knew it the business had taken off. I started with online orders and was getting too busy to balance both careers. I ultimately decided to leaving teaching and focus on my new business. Shortly after this commitment I started looking for a location. Little did I know, how quickly the perfect opportunity would come. A local had opened a food trailer in honor of her mom Dee Dee. Strangely enough, my mom’s nickname is also Dee Dee. She opened the shop to serve coffee and baked goods and matched my exact needs. We knew it was meant to be, so only one day after seeing the trailer, my husband and I bought it. My dad flew out from NJ to help renovate the trailer and it was ready for business a week later. It was not easy but here we are a month later with a thriving shop open 7 days a week serving fresh baked goods daily, made to order Belgian waffles and pancake puffs, along with delicious coffee!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
A weekend in Breckenridge –

I would make us coffee and grab some baked goods for breakfast.
If it was summer we would go on one of my favorite hikes – Mohawk Lakes
Then we would rent a boat from Dillon Marina and spend a few hours relaxing on Lake Dillon
We would end the day grilling at Blue Lakes

If it was winter we would spend the day shredding on Peak 6 and hit happy hour at Aurum or Cabin Juice
We would do a little shopping at Kaleidoscope (say hi to Sam), Limber Grove, Global Candle Store, and Ohana
Since, I am always hungry we would probably grab a drink and poke bowl from Castaway Cove.
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It wouldn’t be a visit without taking a stroll through the woods to see the Breckenridge troll also known as Isak Heartstone

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d love to dedicate this shutout to my dad who made everything possible. As a little girl he showed me what it takes to start a business and now he’s helped me create my own. I wouldn’t be where I am today without him so thanks for being the greatest dad and role model.

Website: www.ddbake.com

Instagram: @daniellesdelightsco