Sweet Mona’s in Langley earns coveted spot in Advent calendar

The Willy Wonka of Whidbey, Ramona Newbauer, earned a coveted spot in this year’s Pacific Northwest Advent Calendar for her shortbread whale cookies.

The calendar features sweets from 24 businesses spanning Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, with Sweet Mona’s in Langley landing a prime slot in the calendar.

Newbauer, an Italian-American Langley resident, is a tenacious chocolatier who built her business out of pure curiosity and persistence. What began as a desire to learn something new evolved into years of trial, experimentation and unwavering determination to make the best kind of chocolate she could. Over 20 years later, the shop now features luxury chocolates, gelato and coffee, offering customers a taste of a European retreat without leaving the Pacific Northwest.

“I think I’ve cracked the code,” Newbauer told The Record.

Despite her current success, Newbauer began her chocolate shop career with zero experience in making chocolate. In 2002, when her son, who worked for The Langley Bakery, offered his mom a chance to sell truffles at the shop, she was up for the challenge.

“I’ve always been one to think that once one door opens, you should walk in, ” Newbauer said.

After calling many chocolatiers, asking for help in shelf-stabilization no one would give her an answer, so she landed on a temporary solution to hold up against time and mold, using alcohol in everything. Later, she graduated from Ecole Chocolat, a professional school of chocolate arts, where Newbauer refined her methods. She transitioned from renting a kitchen inside Ken’s Korner Shopping Plaza to a year later creating a limited liability company, to opening her first shop in 2006. She eventually would relocate across the street, where Sweet Mona’s, in its inviting yellow building, sits today.

Even when help was hard to find, Newbauer said, she kept going, teaching herself how to continue to preserve freshness and craft chocolates that reflected both skill and heart. For eight years, Newbauer ran the chocolate shop, not earning a cent the entire time. Her biggest support was her husband, she said, who loved her enough to fund her throughout those turbulent years as she poured every ounce of spare time into her craft.

Today, the shop door is rarely closed for long, with the business receiving between 75 to 205 customers a day, she said. But, what makes her chocolates so popular isn’t a specific ingredient; it’s Newbauer’s knack at listening to her customers. Popular items like espresso drinks were born directly from conversations in her shop.

She said her goal was to create a business that would sustain itself and fill a need in the community. She kept reinventing her menu, testing waffles, crepes and a hot chocolate bar.

“I would try anything,” Newbauer said. “I would say yes to everybody.”

For Newbauer, her success isn’t just about taste; it’s about connection, and she believes in the power of community to help small dreams flourish.

“This is a business of miracles,” she said.

Every time she has needed it, someone has stepped in to perform a “miracle,” and kept her business afloat, Newbauer said, from buying her shop an awning, to redoing her website out of pure generosity.

Newbauer believes she was meant to be running the business, or it would not have worked out how it did. She said her love and resilience are baked into everything she makes — even the soon-famous whale-shaped cookie that caught the attention of the Advent calendar curators.

Newbauer hopes the recognition from the calendar brings new visitors to her shop and shines a light on what passion, determination and sweetness can achieve.

Sweet Mona’s chocolates can be purchased in store or online. The advent calendar is available at deliciousfooddelivered.com/products/delicious-pacific-northwest-advent-calendar.

Photo by Marina Blatt Newbauer sits among her boutique’s Halloween decor.

Photo by Marina Blatt Jaden Varljen, an employee, serves up chocolates.

Photo by Marina Blatt Newbauer’s chocolate boutique earned a coveted spot in this year’s Pacific Northwest Advent Calendar for its shortbread whale cookies.