SHORTLY AFTER THE CALIFORNIA HOMEMADE FOOD ACT became effective Jan. 1, making home-based production possible, Benician Krizy Osada decided to launch Whipt Baked Goods, specializing in cookies.

The home-based bakery makes hand-decorated sugar cookies and other gourmet treats, Osada said.

What’s more, “Whipt’s cottage food operation is groundbreaking, because it is the first of its kind in the city of Benicia,” Osada said.

The bakery, defined as a Cottage Food Operation under the new act, is the first CFO in Solano County to pass home health inspection, she said.

Osada is a graduate of the University of California-Berkeley, but she said she put her career goals on hold while she focused on her family.

A stay-at-home mother, she has been raising Osiris, 4, Zolia, 3, and Milani, 1.

At the same time, she started baking treats, first as favors, then as donations to friends, other families and to local organizations’ fundraisers.

She kept hearing good reviews of her products and considered opening a conventional bakery, but Osada said she was discouraged by the costs of renting a commercial kitchen or leasing a brick-and-mortar space.

All the while she kept testing her recipes, using gourmet-quality ingredients, and designed logos and packaging.

When Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1616 that regulates homemade foods sold commercially, she was ready to start her business, she said.

Osada has obtained partnerships with area shops and organizations for special-occasion cookie sales and fundraisers. Her specialty is the sugar cookie, though she also bakes coconut shortbread cookies dipped in white or milk chocolate and topped with toasted coconut shreds, and a walnut chocolate chip cookie.

Osada said she also is offering consultation assistance to those who are interested in starting their own CFO; she can be emailed at info@whiptbakedgoods.com.

Those interested may call Whipt Baked Goods at 707-742-3215 or email orders@whiptbakedgoods.com.

Its website is www.whiptbakedgoods.com, and the home-based company is on Facebook.

Rags to Riches Is 21

Calling her store “Benicia’s best-kept secret,” Remy Regala said Rags to Riches Consignment Boutique celebrated its 21st anniversary March 21.

In the historic Arsenal Park, Rags to Riches opened its doors the first day of spring in 1992, she said.

“In today’s shaky economy, buying second-hand is especially attractive to consumers as they keep a close eye on their pocketbooks,” she said.

“Consignment shops sell top name-brand merchandise at a fraction or less of their original cost,” she said.

“The great thing about resale shops is that they mostly sell high-end items, and everything is either gently used or new with the tags still attached,” Regala said.

That describes her store, which she called “a shopping destination!”

Rags to Riches Consignment Boutique is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 1-5 p.m. Sundays at 946 Tyler Street, Studio C.

Those interested may call the store at 707-747-5050 and email her at rrdesign@inreach.com.

The Benicia Herald’s weekly Benicia Business Beat column is an opportunity for local businesses and companies to tell our readers about such news as moves, grand openings, awards, promotion of employees, staff changes and changes in goods and services.

Submissions need to answer the questions who, what, when, where, why and how, preferably in the body of an email, and provide contact information.

Deadline is 3 p.m. Friday for news items that will appear in the next Tuesday edition’s Benicia Business Beat. Please email news releases and accompanying high-resolution photographs and logos to beniciaherald@gmail.com, and put “Attn. Business Beat” in the subject line, as well as the name of the business.

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