Price: $/$$$$
Rating: A-
Location: 1195 SE Bishop Blvd. in Pullman.
It was a pleasingly warm spring evening, and on their third day of business, Sweet Mutiny was a busy place.
A growing line of people, all looking for a little bit of sweet relief from the near 80-degree temperature, collect inside the yellow and green painted walls of Pullman’s newest treat shop.
“It has absolutely blown away our expectations,” Sweet Mutiny co-owner Cindy Wendle said of how business has been so far. “People have been so supportive and patient.”
Wendle, a native Pullman resident and local bank branch manager, co-owns the shop along with her husband, Chud, a realtor, along with Jim and Jenny Harbour. Jim is a culinary educator at WSU’s School of Hospitality Business Management, and also co-owns South Fork Public House restaurant in Pullman.
The shop’s head baker, Lynn Leigh Hall, is also an alumna of WSU.
Having a self-serve yogurt store was something Chud and Jim had been thinking about doing for a while, Cindy said. The idea of also selling cupcakes is to compensate for the potential decrease in yogurt demand during colder months.
Sweet Mutiny currently offers a rotating variety of eight frozen yogurt and non-dairy sorbet flavors, and between four and eight different kinds of cupcakes at any time.
Custom cupcake orders can be made for parties, business events and receptions, Wendle said. Gluten-free cupcakes are also available.
The store also features cake pops: mixed balls of cake and frosting that are then dipped in more frosting.
Although the cupcakes at Sweet Mutiny might be considered somewhat small in size, they make up for it in big, rich flavors. Wendle said Sweet Mutiny did taste-testing in the community before opening, communicating with people mainly through Facebook.
“We… (took) these out everywhere we could, and got lots of great feedback,” she said.
While at Sweet Mutiny, I tried two cupcakes.
The first, the Crimson and Grey cupcake, is a WSU-themed desert of moist red velvet cake and rich cream cheese icing. The other, a decadent s’mores cupcake, consists of graham cracker-flavored chocolate cake filled with oozing chocolate and topped with a brûléed piece of marshmallow.
I also sampled the peanut butter frozen yogurt, which had a creamy, wonderful taste. It melts fast if you don’t eat it right away, however. There is also a topping bar for yogurt patrons, allowing one to cover their yogurt or sorbet in anything from fresh fruit to Sour Patch Kids.
Above the bar is a large mural of Sweet Mutiny’s logo: a cupcake wearing a pirate hat and smiling, with a patch over one of its eyes. Dollops of swirled frozen yogurt stand in the background to each side of the cupcake.
The pirate-themed logo was conceived by Jenny and designed by a Spokane marketing firm, Wendle said. Emphasis was placed on incorporating both cupcakes and yogurt and without creating a theme too “skull and crossbone”-oriented.
The pirate logo is featured on the business’s colorful t-shirts, which Wendle said have been a hit with children.
Sweet Mutiny’s atmosphere is a pleasant one, and besides the colors, the shop space has some very cool features, including a fire place for winter and a garage door to provide fresh air whenever it gets too hot.
“That has added an entirely different feel to the store,” Wendle said of the garage door. “We love it. When you live here, and you only have five months to enjoy nice weather…we’re going to take every advantage of (it).”
The shop also features a small party room that can be rented for small groups. There is no cost to reserve the room.
Sweet Mutiny also relies on a mixed staff of high school and college students, as well as recent graduates. Wendle said they are not hiring at the moment but encouraged anyone interested to inquire about employment.
All in all, Wendle said it has been great to see the mix of students, families with children, and seniors who have visited the shop.
“Pullman is a phenomenal community,” she said. “It’s just pretty amazing to see the support that people will bring to a local business. It definitely puts a smile on your face.”
Prices: Cupcakes are $2.75 each and $30 for a dozen. Frozen yogurt is 40 cents per ounce, and cake pops are $1.50 each. T-shirts are available for $15.
