Sweet Evelyn’s sees successful opening weekend

PERRY, Ga. — Downtown Perry became a little bit sweeter last weekend, with the expansion of a local storefront. Now, the shop brings the area a taste of the owner’s passion, a passion already shared on the national stage.

Sweet Evelyn’s, formerly Jones and Company, has added a bakery to their retail space, converting half of the store to an outlet of various cookies and cupcakes. On June 24, the bakery opened with 14 varieties of treats, and saw each flavor sold out within hours. The next few days saw sweet success as well.

Cory Jones, the shop’s owner, said the menu will evolve and expand from week-to-week, with room for experimentation for new flavors.

“It’ll be trial and error for a few weeks, experimenting and offering multiple recipes that I’ve developed, just to see what people like. Then, I’ll have some things that I consider staples, that we’ll have every day, and then stuff that’s not, that we’ll mix in weekly,” Jones explained.

Some early contenders for staples, according to Jones, include the “O.G.:” a take on the classic chocolate chip cookie, with a twist of brown butter, bourbon and pecan. A close second is their summer exclusive cookie, the “Mango Tajin:” a sweet and spicy mix of mango and tajin seasoning, topped with lime buttercream frosting.

All of these are sold in a brightly decorated open space that Jones said gives the community the chance to share in his passion.

Describing himself as an entrepreneur, Jones began his stint in retail in Unadilla with a clothing store 15 years ago, then moved shop to Perry.

In 2016, as a gift to his mom, Jones attended baking classes with her, but he became hooked to the hobby instead, starting Sweet Evelyn’s out of his kitchen. Sometime later, Jones sold decorated cookies at the shop downtown, but at the time it wasn’t manageable.

Jones continued baking though, and found himself on the national stage last November, competing in an episode of the Food Network’s Christmas Cookie Challenge. While he didn’t take the top prize, he did take away support from the community, and it further proved to him that he provides a desirable product.

“After being on Food Network and the hype of that, honestly, it made me know that I needed to set up shop for people to actually get what I did,” Jones said.

Since his appearance on the show, decorated cookie orders began to skyrocket and they’re not easy to make a large amount of. This led to a shift in the storefront’s product to what Jones calls “dropped cookies,” cookies that can be made in larger batches and are easier to decorate — but are just as delicious. Doing this ensures that they can be made all the time.

While he shares his passion with the community, he also encourages them to keep on the look out.

“Stay tuned, you never know what’s going to be next,” Jones said.

You can stay updated on Sweet Evelyn’s offerings on Facebook at “Sweet Evelyn’s” and “Sweet Evelyn’s Perry,” as well as on Instagram: @sweetevelyns and @sweetevelynsperry and TikTok: @sweetevelyns.

Sweet Evelyn’s is located at 910 Carroll Street and is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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