After a soft opening on Aug. 4, Bitsy Copp says her new bakery on West Gray Road in Gray is already a hit with the locals who visit the gun shop next door and tourists passing through the area who crave a warm, fresh-baked cookie and a hot coffee or tea to-go.

In just over a week since the opening, Copp said on Monday that business has been averaging at least 20 customers per day, “if not, more.” And, it’s the only locally owned bakery in Gray, Copp added.

“The chocolate cheesecake is outstanding,” boasted Mac McPeake, an employee of Howell’s Gun and Archery Center, located immediately next door to the shop, called Cheetah’s Cafe? and Bakery, about a mile from the Maine Turnpike exit in Gray, on Monday.

“It’s delicious,” McPeake added. “The food here is so good that it’s naughty – in a nice way,” he giggled, as he handed Copp $2.50 for his morning dose of coffee.

Adorned with intricately designed tin ceilings, an iron chandelier that hangs from the center of the shop, shiny hardwood floors and black granite countertops, the 20-by-17-square-foot bakery’s decor, according to Copp, was inspired by Italian-style bakeries she’s visited in New York. “It’s modern. It’s eclectic,” Copp said.

Copp, who grew up in western Maine and moved to Cumberland with her husband, Howell, owner of the adjacent gun shop, two years ago, said she feels opening the bakery – so far – has been a smart decision.

After working at Community Concepts for 20 years in Lewiston, specializing most recently in foreclosure prevention, Copp said her decision to leave and open the bakery rested mainly on the fact that she “needed a change.”

Runs in the family

Asked what interested her in running her own cafe? and bakery, Copp replied that cooking and baking runs in the family. Her parents, Bud and Barbara Scott, are former owners of Town Line Restaurant in Norway, and had years of experience in the catering industry, Copp explained.

She got her very own taste of the catering business when she worked in the kitchen at Mount Abrams Ski Resort years ago, she said.

“I like to bake,” Copp said. “It’s something fun to do,” she continued. “I wanted to do something that I enjoy,” she said, of opening the bakery.

Cheetah’s Cafe? and Bakery sells freshly baked goods, from peach cheesecake to whoopie pies, to raspberry-filled cookies. To top it off, all of the goodies Copp personally bakes fresh every morning are from a family recipe, she explained.

“It’s a regular, freshly made ‘grandma’s’ baked goods,” Copp said. Her customers are already requesting her to bake pies for them to bring to their Thanksgiving meals, she said.

In addition to desserts, Copp also plans to offer breakfast sandwiches, panini sandwiches, wraps and soups with her very own baked breads and fresh, local meats, as well as seven different flavors of organic gelato from Maple’s Organics in Yarmouth.

According to Copp, while searching for a logo to advertise her business, she came across a photo of cheetah she found to be particularly eye-catching. At the time, she was also deciding on a name, she said, and figured “Cheetah’s” would be a unique name for a bakery.

“It’s more for branding,” Copp said. “I was trying to find something different.”

With the help of her sister, Kathy Thurlow, from New Hampshire, Copp has been running the cafe? mostly by herself, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day, but anticipates hiring help once business picks up. This is Copp’s first time running her own business, she said.

For now, Copp said she wakes up every morning at 4:30 a.m. to bake her muffins, croissants and Eclairs, and though tired, she wouldn’t have it any other way. Not to mention, it keeps her busy, she said.

“The prices are so reasonable, anybody can afford it,” Thurlow said Monday.

“It’s a nice, family bakery, where you can sit and have tea,” Thurlow added.

Copp said one customer enjoyed the food so much the first time he even dug in his pockets for change so he could buy himself another raspberry-filled cookie in just a week’s time.

Cheetah’s Cafe? and Bakery is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Depending on business, the hours are subject to change, Copp said. She is also pondering the idea of expanding her business and possibly some catering at weddings.

“The town has been great; they have been spreading the word,” Copp said.

Copp said she anticipates a grand opening and ribbon-cutting with the local chamber within the next few weeks.

Bitsy Copp stands behind the counter of her new business, Cheetah’s Café and Bakery, which opened on Aug. 4 next to Howell’s Gun and Archery Center on West Gray Road in Gray.Cheesecake, cookies, muffins and bagels fill a display case in the newly opened Cheetah’s Café and Bakery on West Gray Road in Gray. The shop is owned by Bitsy Copp, wife of Howell Copp, who owns Howell’s Gun and Archery Center, right next door.