With big-store orders of tasty pastry,
Just Delicious is just (more) successful

Twenty years ago, Jen Stockwell and Darcy Towns were asked by a friend to cater a party of 350 people.

“Never having done it before, we took about three days, spent a ton of money and made appetizers – 1,500 for this group,” Stockwell recalls.

The catering business took hold and they together did 167 parties for 10,000 people in total.

“We didn’t plan it that way, but it happened that way," said Stockwell, who today has turned her knack with the small and tasty into Just Delicious, on Kercheval in Grosse Pointe Park. She manages 12 employees and what’s more, she and Towns have a deal with Kroger currently in the works.

“I wasn’t going to sell to Kroger,” Stockwell says. “I like the fancy markets, I like the small (family-owned) stores. But one day, I just thought I’d give it a shot anyways.”

And so she and Towns made a batch of hot scones to deliver to Kroger on a day they knew the managers had a district meeting. After the scones were served at the meeting, Stockwell says the lady in charge of the meeting received calls from all the mangers. They all wanted more scones.

They’re currently in a transitional period. Stockwell doesn’t know when they’ll get the first order.
“I know when the orders come, they’re going to be enormous. It’s kind of that anxious waiting time. They’ve got our work cut out for us.”

Kroger isn’t the only one buying in bulk. Stockwell said there are 28 markets that sell their scones, and Clint Eastwood went crazy for them when he was in the Pointes shooting "Gran Torino".

“We delivered scones to the film crew,” she said. “They ate a hundred of them every week. I just found out recently that Clint Eastwood liked them so much, he’s the reason they were ordered.” They were even invited to the film’s wrap party.

The store, which took seven to eight months to build, was not in either of their original plans. “We’ve always been doing this, but having a storefront was just something to make it a little easier,” Stockwell said.

Since January 2008, the scones have increased their sales by nearly 500 percent. What used to bring in $200 a month now brings in $10,000 a month.

“We’ve had a lot of fun doing it," said Stockwell. “People made fun of us for having a pink store. They said men wouldn’t come into our store, but there’s always food. And where there’s food, there are men.” 

• Login or register to post comments
• Printer-friendly version
• Send to friend