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The couple's recipe for success has proven as delicious as customers seem to find the pecan pies, macaroons, apricot almond squares, ginger pound cake and other goodies stocked in Haika's pastry case.

Watching them in their element, Rapoport in constant marketing mode and Powell chatting about everything from duck pâté to Native American spiritualism with customers, one might think they've been at it for years.

But both say the road to launching their business in the spring of this year has been fraught with uncertainty, the occasional miss start and frequent changes in direction.

"It was kind of a long line to come to this," said Rapoport, a former dealer in real estate and classic and antique cars who recalls the germ of the idea came to him while listening to a tape by business self-help guru Robert Kiyosaki.

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