Sweet Jayne’s opens new spot in downtown Gainesville | Local News

After much anticipation, the local Gainesville bakery Sweet Jayne’s new location is open for business.

“I went from renting a building four years ago, to building my own building here, without investors, I’ve done it all on my own, and the reason I’ve been able to do this so quickly is because of the support that I’ve received: my friends, family, my kindergarten teacher, my second grade teacher, high school teachers, people that I grew up with; that’s literally the biggest reason,” said Carri Strom, the owner and founder of Sweet Jayne’s.

The newly-built spot is at the intersection of Broadway and Weaver Street in downtown Gainesville.

“It makes me proud that I decided to do it here, because I feel like I’ve done this. This, to me, is about giving back to my family. So it’s been, It’s exciting for me, for people to come see it, because it’s really like, I’m doing this for you guys, because of everything you’ve done for me.”

A lot of new things are being added with the new location, including expanded coffee service.

“Now it’ll change because we’ve put in a coffee bar, and an espresso machine, and we will have lattes, cappuccinos, cortado; all the good espresso drinks, which will be different because at the other store we only had drip coffee,” Strom explained. “Our employees actually have to know a lot about coffee to use it. It’s not just pushing a button like some places. It’s exciting; It’s going to be truly handcrafted espresso.”

In addition to more food items, Sweet Jayne’s is also going to be selling various merchandise.

“We have t-shirts, which we give a 10% discount to customers that wear their shirts… We’ve got stickers, keychains, cups and mugs,” said Strom. “We have private labeled coffee coming so that in the next month we’ll have our own Sweet Jayne’s line of coffee, and we’ve got loose leaf tea.”

More hours

Along with serving more items, Sweet Jayne’s will be expanding their hours to be able to serve more customers.

“We used to open at 7 [a.m.] and now we’re opening it at 6 [a.m.] because so many people would say to me, ‘I work in Denton and I have to leave Gainesville by 6:30 [a.m.], so if you were open a little bit earlier, I could get my coffee from you instead of stopping at a chain restaurant to get coffee,’ so that’s why we decided to open at 6, so that we can catch all of our Gainesville people that go down to Denton and the Metroplex for work, so we’re excited about that,” said Strom. “We’re also staying open two hours later, because a lot of people will say, ‘Oh, I would love to bring my kids after they get out of school,’ so we decided to stay until four.

The new spot will run Tuesday through Saturday, adding one more weekday to the old schedule.

But the change Strom may be the most excited for is Sweet Jayne’s becoming a place where people can come inside and enjoy their baked goods instead of taking it to go.

“We have seating for 32 inside and 12 outside, which is huge, so we’re excited for our customers to come in and enjoy their food with us,” said Strom. “We’ve made it where we’ve got charging outlets at each of the wall tables so people can plug in their laptops, they can sit and charge their phones; We’re trying to make it a place where this is their place.”

While wanting to provide a place for people to relax and enjoy the food, Strom is also glad people will be able to enjoy their treats in-person for the social aspect.

“When I had the architects design the building, I chose to make our kitchen open. That was my number one design request, because I want to be able to say ‘hi’ to my customers all day long,” Strom explained. “Honestly, this is a business, but it still feels like to me that I’m cooking in my kitchen at home. That’s honestly how I treat it: like I’m having company over at my house cooking, so it’s going to be really exciting to see people enjoying their food. I can’t wait.”

The new location will also have a drive-through eventually.

“We’re not going to open the drive-through just yet,” Strom explained. “We’re going to wait until we get our flow down and we’re all adjusted to our new menu, the new amount of busyness… whenever we feel ready, we’ll get the drive-through open.”

Five years in

Strom opened Sweet Jayne’s in 2018 wanting to share baked goods and other foods she learned to make from her grandmother.

“My grandmother’s name was Eunice Wolf, and she was from Gainesville. She taught me how to cook and bake, and I always loved it. I never had any professional training or anything,” said Strom. “I’m a nurse, actually. I’m a registered nurse of 25 years, and I did newborn nursing, neonatal nursing and teaching in health care for a while. Then I just got really tired of doing that, so I decided to follow my passion.”

The name of the bakery, Sweet Jayne’s, is in honor of her grandparents, particularly her grandfather and his name for her.

“So my grandpa, the husband to my granny that taught me to bake, his name was Ed Wolf, and he wanted my name to be Carri Jayne. My mom named me Carri Dawn and my grandpa continued to call me Carri Jayne my whole life, so the name is a nod to him and what he always called me,” Strom told. “People call me Jayne, I answer to it, I would never correct anybody… My grandpa was a farmer in Cooke County, a longtime resident, and it’s a big deal to come back here to do this here and to name it after that name .

In addition to being grateful to the community for their support, Strom is particularly grateful for her family and staff for helping make her dream a reality.

“I could not have done this without my kids. I have three really awesome kids… They’ve all helped me… And then my parents, my dad has done so many things, my brother and my mom have helped so much. It’s really awesome that it’s really been a family affair for me,” Strom explained. “I’ve got 13 others hired for the opening, so we’ve got 14 of us total, and 90% of my employees are full-time employed.”