The Dessert Spot brings South Tampa a place to meet for coffee and custom treats
Tampa, Fla. — This past month the founders of Toffee to Go, Lisa and Jim Schalk, along with their daughter Courtney, opened a signature dessert café at their retail location on Bay to Bay Boulevard. The Dessert Spot at Toffee to Go features local favorites from Kahwa Coffee, Working Cow Ice Cream and Mike’s Pies—along with custom specialty desserts from Pastry Chef Sharon Nasrallah (Chef Naz).
As The Dessert Spot’s general manager, Courtney 
Schalk brings her creativity, business acumen and intimate involvement with growing the Toffee to Go brand to this new concept.
“We’re thrilled to give Tampa a distinctive dessert café that brings people together over delicious local creations,” Courtney said. “We hope to create a popular meeting spot, fun date night destination and after school treat—a place where everyone feels welcome.”
The Dessert Spot menu offers new items made with Toffee to Go products—such as Milk Chocolate Almond Toffee Cheesecake with a brownie crust, Toffee Coffee Cake, and Working Cow’s three signature Toffee to Go ice cream flavors. Chef Naz will also bring a variety of creative ideas to the mix that will vary each week, from cookies and cakes to pastries and pies. Customers can still sample and pick up boxes of Toffee to Go.
Courtney and her team are planning special community events, such as a monthly Dessert Date Night with a unique three-course dessert menu, Coffee with Courtney gathering professionals to share business ideas over coffee and pastries, and Tasting Tuesdays on the first Tuesday of each month with a new item for customers to sample. Giving back is important to the Schalk family, and they are always open to hosting fundraisers and supporting charities.
“My parents have always kept a community focus, and we want to show our gratitude to the community that helped us build Toffee to Go,” said Courtney.
Growing up, Courtney recalls awakening to the smell of fresh toffee, rather than bacon and pancakes like other children. She is very aware of all the hard work and sacrifices her parents made to build their toffee production from a family assembly line in the living room to a 16,000-square-foot facility producing up to 3,000 lbs. of toffee per day. She is excited to help them expand their family business even further.
“Courtney always enjoyed traveling with me to take Toffee to Go to trade shows and building connections with people,” said Jim Schalk. “I knew she would pursue a career in hospitality, but it’s a dream come true for Lisa and me that she wanted to join our family business.”
About The Dessert Spot: After 15 years crafting mouthwatering, buttery custom toffee for customers nationwide, Toffee to Go now invites visitors to stay and enjoy coffee and sweets at The Dessert Spot. This warm, friendly dessert café is located inside the Toffee to Go building in the heart of South Tampa at 3251 W. Bay to Bay Blvd. The Dessert Spot serves up sweetness from 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. Sunday – Thursday, and 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Learn more about Toffee to Go’s new venture at toffeetogo.com/the-dessert-spot.
About Toffee to Go: Founded in 2002 by Lisa and Jim Schalk, Toffee to Go has won Best Chocolate, Best Candy, Best Dessert and Editor’s Choice awards. The business really boomed when Oprah Winfrey gave her gold seal of approval by choosing Toffee to Go as one of Oprah’s Favorite Things in 2013. Made daily by hand in small batches from a secret family recipe, Toffee to Go is free of added preservatives and became Kosher certified in 2016. WARNING: Toffee to Go is highly addictive, and we cannot be held responsible for toffee cravings that may occur after your first bite! toffeetogo.com