Jubilations' Cheesecakes Winning over the South

By Barbara Hull Topp
Modern Baking Magazine
June, 1994

The ladies living in the pre-Civil War mansions of Columbus, Miss. were born to be beauty queens, not business owners. Enter Tammy Craddock. Not only is she an attractive female entrepreneur, but she also is a "...Yankee trying to peddle cheesecake in pecan pie country."

While Craddock, a Midwesterner, won the battle to be accepted and respected in this southern community, she's still fighting for more supermarket freezer slots and menu mentions at restaurants.

A resilient leader, Craddock soon learned from her battles that she needed more than a superb product to grow her bakery. She needed, well, courage.

It was Craddock's courage, determination and resourcefulness that won Jubilations Inc. a 1992 National Blue Chip Enterprise Award, which is given to exceptional small businesses. More than 1400 small businesses as well as 900 chambers of commerce participated in the program.

In 11 years, Craddock's baking business grew from being home-based to operating from a 4500 sq. ft. cheesecake production shop with $600,000 in annual sales. Wholesale sales to foodservice distributors currently account for 60% of total sales, with 35% being attributed to retail (supermarket and walk-in) sales.

The remaining 5% comes from mail order sales. Jubilations packs frozen cheesecakes in plastic foam boxes and ships them via United Parcel Service.

Craddock says before this past Christmas, when Jubilations filled more mail orders in one day that it had in all previous holiday seasons, sales were growing at a stunning 65% per month.

Selling in nine states She says Jubilations is profitable with five employees producing 180 cakes per day during the slower summer months. Yet the company easily can produce 600 plus cheesecakes per day, which was necessary to produce an order from Cracker Barrel restaurants for 10,000 cheesecakes.

"The Cracker Barrel order let us see what we really could do," Craddock says. She pays rent with orders from people who simply stop by to pick up a cheesecake, even though Jubilations doesn't have a retail shop or even a showcase. Today, eight foodservice distributors sell Jubilations cheesecake in nine states.

Plus, Jubilations cheesecakes are sold in as many as 50 Kroger stores from Memphis, Tenn., south to Jackson, Miss.

"I'd hate to be without them now," explains Jerry Kendall, manager of a Columbus-Jitney Jungle supermarket. "We sell about sixty, 7-inch cheesecakes each week at $11 to $13. People aren't afraid to spend $12 for a cheesecake because they know it is that good."

What makes these cheesecakes so special? Craddock won't say -- both ingredients and production techniques are proprietary secrets. High quality ingredients She does publicize that Jubilations cheesecakes are scratch-made with premium ingredients- pure vanilla, real butter and fresh eggs from a nearby chicken farm.

For a southern twist, Craddock mixes fresh pecans into her graham cracker crust. No preservatives or additives are added. Every crust is hand-pressed. Each 9-in. cheesecake weighs between 5 1/2 and 6 lbs., while the smaller 7-in. cheesecakes weigh between 2 1/2 and 3 lbs., depending on the flavors.

The cheesecakes have a one-year frozen shelf life, and a two-week shelf life refrigerated. Jubilations' original formula, Cheesecake Supreme, is the basis from which all the other 36 flavors have been developed. It remains the most popular, probably because of its versatility. Praline is the second-best seller.

"This is truly a southern favorite that we just had to include in our cheesecake repertoire," Craddock says. She currently is developing a Mississippi Mud cheesecake for a Mississippi riverboat casino. "Many of these flavors were requested by customers," she says.

When developing new varieties, Craddock takes samples to people she does business with, including bankers, hairdressers, florists, etc.

"I get their opinions, which helps me develop better products. Plus, this helps to build good rapport around town." Craddock, a former school teacher and stay-at-home mom, began her formal baking career in 1983, when a friend opened a gourmet food store and asked her to bake breads and desserts. Soon, she was also baking for restaurants and many residents.

"I had a full-time business baking five to six days a week in my home kitchen. I baked anything customers wanted." As burnout approached, she decided to pick the product that had the best profit margin and was the quickest to make- cheesecake.

"No one was baking cheesecake here. People don't think of cheesecakes coming from Mississippi, which makes it fun for us," she says. For a fun company name, she scanned a thesaurus and came up with Jubilations.

"I wanted something festive." A home economist friend recommended she consult Mississippi State University's Food and Fiber Center, part of the free extension services provided to small companies engaged in food or fiber commerce by land grant institutions.

The center's consultants helped her develop a business plan, locate suppliers and tackle financing. Finding production space was her first skirmish. "All of the landlords I approached thought because I was a woman that I wanted a cutesy bakery with ruffled curtains."

Finally, she found a warehouse designed for small businesses. The unfinished space needed improvements to pass inspections for food manufacturing facilities, so "my landlord graciously allowed me to pay for the improvements over two years without interest," she explains. Obtaining capital was her second struggle. "The Small Business Administration told me to go get a job," Craddock recalls.

After three banks turned her down for lack of collateral and crEdit, an angel appeared in the form of a customer.

"She believed in me and my cheesecake, so she co-signed a loan and became a silent partner." Craddock opened shop in August, 1989.

To expand her customer base, Craddock realized she needed to concentrate in two areas: getting people to request Jubilations cheesecakes at both restaurants and supermarkets, and finding foodservice and supermarket distributors to carry Jubilations cheesecakes.

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