Tall Order Is Sweet Dilemma For Cheesecake Business

By Tammy M. Smith The Commercial Dispatch, Columbus, MS
Sunday, August 23, 1992

Too much of a good thing? She might be working almost 25 hours a day, but for Jubilations owner Tammy Craddock, business is mighty sweet, thanks to a large order from Cracker Barrel restaurants.

Business is booming in the cheesecake kitchens of Jubilations, where Mrs. Craddock and her employees are working shifts to make enough to fill the restaurants' order -- 10,000 Cheesecakes Supreme.

But becoming pleasantly overworked didn't happen immediately for Jubilations. Getting an order from the restaurant chain has taken Mrs. Craddock about a year and a half, she said. "A year and a half ago, Cracker Barrel asked me to design a cheesecake recipe for them. I came up with Apples and Cream, but they decided it wasn't country-style enough for their restaurants," said Mrs. Craddock.

"The man who contacted me called back and said it was so good, he wanted to keep my name on file," Mrs. Craddock recalled. About a month ago, the call came.

"He called me back on July 16 and asked me to send two cheesecakes for the board of directors to sample," she said. Apparently, those two cheesecakes proved popular among the board members - the same Cracker Barrel representative asked for more cheesecakes to be sent to one of the company's restaurants for a trial run.

"My husband, Jim, took them to the Meridian restaurant for me - Meridian's is the closest one to us," Mrs. Craddock added. From there, the cheesecakes traveled to Lebanon, Tenn., home of Cracker Barrel's corporate headquarters.

A few days later, on July 24, Mrs. Craddock got another call from the now-familiar representative. "He asked me how quickly we could send an order of cheesecakes to be used in all the restaurants.

I said, 'Oh, yeah, we can do it.' Then I got off the phone and said, 'How in the world are we going to do this?'" she said. Mrs. Craddock went into action.

She placed an urgent order for a larger mixer which could blend ingredients for 50 cakes at a time. Her company's original mixer, which is still in use along with the new mixer, can handle ingredients for 30 cheesecakes.

"We didn't even have enough springform pans," she said. "That was another rush order." The required ingredients also multiplied. "We had been using between 24 and 30 boxes of cream cheese a week - you know, the shipping boxes. Suddenly, we had to start getting 32 boxes a day.

Our supplier couldn't believe it," Mrs. Craddock said. "And we went from orders of 50 pounds of sugar to 400 to 500 pounds." One of the biggest concerns was in keeping the cheesecakes properly frozen prior to shipment to the company's 130 restaurants in the Southeast.

"We had already ordered a new freezer. It had already been put in the Friday that Cracker Barrel called me. But even this new, larger freezer was too small for the number of cheesecakes we would have to make. We had to have a freezer trailer sent down from Memphis so we could store them," said Mrs. Craddock, indicating a trailer sitting just outside her office window. Equipment and ingredients were not the only elements which required immediate attention.

"I had to hire over twice as many people to meet the demand, " Mrs. Craddock said. Two women now stay busy folding heavy cardboard boxes for the cheesecakes. Two blend the graham cracker crust mixture. Two women wash the seemingly never-ending pile of springform pan parts.

Tray after tray of cheesecakes await being placed in the ovens while others go into containers, then the cardboard boxes, Mrs. Craddock also had to start a night shift to help handle the sudden flood of business.

"I've been really lucky to get a hard-working group of ladies," she said. "And they put up with me, too." The initial 5000-cheesecake shipment was sent to the restaurant headquarters Aug. 16. Another 5000 will be sent Aug. 30, and Jubilations is committed to making 2500 more.

Cheesecake Supreme was a good choice for the family-style restaurants, noted Mrs. Craddock, because the dessert is adaptable.

"They're so versatile - you can put just about any topping on them", she said. Cracker Barrel will serve it with a blackberry sauce.

"The shipment will be the featured dessert at all Cracker Barrel restaurants during September, Mrs. Craddock hopes the rich dessert is a big hit with customers.

"I was told that, if these do really well, they could be a permanent dessert on the menu. The man from Cracker Barrel told me that they just found their bread maker making bread in his basement, and today he's a millionaire.

I said that I just needed enough to send two kids through college," Mrs. Craddock said with a laugh. After the initial shock of getting the opportunity, Mrs. Craddock is keeping a balanced attitude toward the situation.

"It's a nice boost to our business - the exposure itself is great. This is what a manufacturer hopes for," she said.

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