457 - A Story of Baking in Cartersville & the Christmas Cookie Challenge w/ Johannah Emmons
Welcome to Episode 457 of Your Morning Drive. This episode is brought to you with collaboration with Cartersville Living magazine.
In this episode of Your Morning Drive, host Logan Lewis welcomes back Johannah Emmons, the founder of Goodies & Grace, a bakery in Cartersville, GA. They discuss how Goodies & Grace started, the behind the scenes of being on Food Network, the need for a larger space, quality over quantity, future plans & much more.
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Transcript
Hello everybody. Welcome back to another edition of your morning drive. I am your host with the most Logan Lewis. It is good to be back with you guys. This podcast is proudly sponsored by Cartersville living powered by best version media. Their magazine is your go-to source for uplifting local content, expert insights, community events, and more.
They're bringing people together every month with compelling stories and informative articles from around our great town. Each new edition of Cartersville Living brings us closer to our vision of uniting the community, one person, one home, one business at a time. Before we dive in guys, hit follow or subscribe so that you never miss an episode. Share this with a friend that could use a new podcast to listen to on their morning drive.
Listen, of course, on Apple, Spotify, watch on YouTube if you like, and a five star rating on any or all of those platforms helps always. And of course, if you want to, and I would love you to follow along outside of the media platforms, follow along on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. No, I don't know why I said that. No Twitter. TikTok. That's what I meant. And LinkedIn. My guest today is the owner and head baker.
of Goodies and Grace in Cartersville, a local favorite known for its from scratch recipes, warm hospitality and faith driven mission. She started Goodies and Grace out of her home kitchen, inspired by a life long love of baking and a desire to bring sweetness and encouragement to her community. What began as a small batch quickly grew into a full fledged bakery where every treat is made with intention, prayer and plenty of butter. Her story is one of faith.
family and finding purpose in the details. Proof that when you mix passion with grace, good things rise. Please welcome my returning friend, Joe Emmons. I love it. Thank you so much for having me today. Yes. Thanks for coming to be back. Yes. Look at us. About a year or so ago, we sat down originally and did this just because I...
Logan & Johannah (02:18.252)
had posted that thing in that Facebook group. You were the first I did that with. Now, wow, it's all coming back to me. And I said, let's do a podcast together. And you were like, I'm down. And not only you said it, but like 15 people tagged you and they're like, this chick needs to do it. And we did it. And then Small World, we both are kind of involved with an organization that sponsors this podcast, Cartersville Living with Caitlin. And she said, yeah, the cover for December is going to be
Johanna, Nunez or Emmons. And I was like, no way. I actually did an episode with her already. And we decided that we would always ask those people if they would want to do it again. And if not, we'll just do another one of their like expert contributors in the magazine or whatever. But she was like, do you want to do it with her again? And I was like, yeah, because right when we did it last time, it was before I'll
bunch of big things happened. year was a big year. And I was like, my God, I got to get with her again just to catch up and just talk about that stuff. Yeah. So I mean, for those who haven't listened to that previous episode, first of all, I encourage you to do so to kind of go back and see where she was a year ago today. But also, tell the people like who you are and kind of the brief origin story on how this beautiful pink place if you're watching on YouTube, you can see it.
how this place came to be. Hi, I'm Jo Emmons and we started this with my family. I always had a dream to have a bakery but always felt like it was a little bit out of the spectrum of what could be possible for my life. And then after getting my biology degree and trying to get into med school and deciding I was not going to be happy there, I ended up trying and dabbling in a bunch of different other careers and the lores said, nope, we're gonna...
gets you your bakery. so he, whenever he qualifies the call, let me tell you, that was the truth. I was definitely not ready for all that we had, but the community really stepped in and just gave me great opportunities. So being on Food Network happened post last podcast. So we have a lot to talk about in that regard, behind the scenes and everything. but yeah, the community has been really awesome in supporting me and the Lord has just
Logan & Johannah (04:37.9)
He has given me things I never thought I ever applied for. So I'm excited to see where it goes. Yeah, that's exciting. So in the last year or so, how's just generally just how's business? the I assume the Food Network did something, right? Yeah, Food Network definitely said, OK, she actually does know what she's doing. She's not just a home baker who decided to open up a shop and give it a try, which.
I didn't realize it would give me that much, but it did. And there was a lot of advertisement that happened around that. So a lot of social media stuff, a lot of billboards being in the news on Fox five. So there were a lot of really cool things that came out of that and just getting to experience some of the publicity behind actually being a Food Network champion. So what does that look like just from like the perspective of like being onboarded? Like did someone?
come here and like see the place for themselves and say like, hey, like we are with X and we want to have you like, did you have to like apply to be on and they chose you? Like how was the whole, like how did you even get on the Food Network? So the story that I heard was Bailey Roberts, a friend from high school. She is the one who saw a producer from Food Network asking if you know of any local cookie bakers. And she tagged my name in.
She didn't tell me that at the time. So then, you know, I get a text from Food Network and they're like, hi, this is so and so from Food Network. We would love to interview you for the Christmas cookie challenge. And I'm like, I text my fiance at the time and I said, is this a scam? What is this? It's That's the first thing that comes to my mind. Yeah, absolutely. And so I was like, hi, yes. Like, what do I need to do? So I didn't actually apply. Bailey put my name in a Facebook group. And so that's how it.
came about. And then after that it was a series of zoom calls and interviews online. I had mock competitions that I had to submit cookies for and then which people don't necessarily know is you do know a little bit about the competition before you ever actually do go on. So they give you prompts and they say this could be what you have to do. Of course the secret ingredient or like the secret thing
Logan & Johannah (06:54.828)
Definitely is a secret. I did not know what my secret ingredient was going to be prior to being on the show, but we had a pretty good feel for what we needed to do. Wow. Okay. And so this Christmas cookie challenge, what did this, what did this entail? So it was two competitions the same day. It was super quick. They flew us out. We got settled the first day and did like preliminary things, preliminary interviews. And where was this? It was in LA. Okay. So they flew us there and gave us food stipends and
helped us get situated and everything. And then after the preliminary interviews, the next day was the competition. So we got ready for that. The first one happened and then the second one was like an hour or two after that. And then the day after we had to do post interviews, which was very like weird because you had to speak as though you were present. And so instead of it being past tense, you had to do present tense. So that was a little bit tricky, but it was fun.
And then the actual competition we had to do, I'm gonna have to remember this now, my goodness, was over like almost a year ago. So the first competition was to create two super hero, or a super hero and a super villain for Christmas at the North Pole. And they had to have superpowers and you had to display that super power actively on your cookie. And then the next competition was a 3D cookie that had to be at least six inches tall.
And it could not be a truck or a car and it had to be the mode of transportation for whichever one you picked, either the superhero or the supervillain. So of course I picked my superhero. But yeah, it was very cool. My secret ingredient was turmeric. Did not expect that. That was wild. Okay. And so for the non baking heads out there, what is turmeric? Turmeric is a spice. A lot of Indian cultures use it. Okay. And it's yellow.
The only thing I knew about it prior to the competition was that I didn't like the taste of it at all. And it was great for inflammation. So you could take it for your joints. Nice. That was all I knew about it. But they had four total ingredients. And right before we were supposed to head on to the second competition, I was going to be close to the pantry, which meant I was close to the secret ingredients. But then they moved me to the very end right before we walked on. So I got I was the last one to get to get to pick what I wanted.
Logan & Johannah (09:19.586)
Mm. So and so what the secret ingredients that's if they're all in the cabinet. So does everyone just pick one by one like randomly and whatever they pick is what they get. And then you were just the last one to go. So they were all laid out and it was like first come first serve. So one, two, three, go. Whoever got there first got their pick. And mine was between acai and turmeric. And honestly, I had no idea what acai tasted like. I knew nothing. But luckily I did have
the cheat like it's kind of like a little cheat sheet from winning the first competition. So as soon as I saw that and knew that I had turmeric, it paired well with cinnamon, I was pretty golden because I had a great cinnamon cookie recipe. What was the whole experience like? Like I assume that before like they actually filmed everything. Did you have to go through like hair and makeup and like, did you have to get the full treatment of like you were going on TV?
So we weren't like treated that that well. We did our own hair and makeup, but they did help. They like gave us powder and stuff to make sure that we didn't look shiny. And they wanted us to look good. They were definitely in our corner. This was not like some reality TV where they're just trying to get views off of drama. They truly did want us to do our best and to be our best. And so were people the other contestants in this? Were they all throughout Georgia, the United States, the world?
So throughout the United States, were pretty much, all hit the corners, North, South, East and West. Okay. Very cool. This is fascinating. This is so fun. mean, what's the, cause I'm like, I'm a TV nerd and a movie buff and all that stuff. So I just think about like how exciting it would be like, wow, like the food network is putting me on a plane and I'm going to go travel on someone else's dime. Like was that whole experience just like super like, like, whoa.
Yes, 100%. It definitely, me growing up, was like, this was never going to be my life. Just throughout this whole opening a bakery and being an owner of it process has been very God driven. He has given me so much more than just, I never would have imagined myself had gone to France, like we talked about in the last episode and going on Food Network, let alone winning the whole thing. So yes, very surreal. And so then what does, I know you won the
Logan & Johannah (11:32.726)
So you won the first competition and the second then. Yes. what does that besides of course the publicity, what does that do? Did you get like a cash prize? Like was there like a grant or you know, like I don't want to dive into the finances and things too deep. I don't want to get into your business that deep, but. Well that's on national TV so we can talk about. Okay. So what'd you get?
So the first competition I got a $500 gift card and then $500 ish dollars worth of Gear Deli chocolates and merch. And then the second competition I got $10,000. Wow. And that $10,000 check came in and I thought that it was like a scam because I opened up a lot of credit cards for this, to open this bakery. And I thought it was, one of those checks that they send like, here's a check to pay off all your debt and decrease your, you know, whatever you get them all the time. I almost threw it away. Wow.
And so was this like, they always say, you know, like when you win something on like a TV show or reality show, like they take the taxes from it you really only get like half of it. Was that the same thing here? Or did you get a check for $10,000? So I just had to the taxes on the back end. Right. So I did get a check for $10,000, but because it does go into the bakery, it falls under your tax bracket. So interesting. Well, that's fun. And then plus the publicity. like,
I know that you're like a, don't sell online, do you? No. So it's not like you would have overnight seen like online sales skyrocket. So did you notice foot traffic or maybe more attention on social media? Like was there any indicator of like, this was, I don't want to say worth it, but like at what point did you think like, wow, this really did do something for us besides the cash that you won? I definitely think that it helped with people who weren't on social media.
because we were in the newspaper and on the TV. So a lot of the older generation or people who aren't super active on social media ended up knowing about it. So that did boost publicity in different areas. So it didn't necessarily skyrocket social media, but I did get text messages from people in other states saying, watched you and this, that and the other. And they hadn't met me before, but because they watched and ended up finding out a little bit more about the story than they reached out. So that was cool to get to connect with other people outside of Cartersville in Georgia.
Logan & Johannah (13:51.692)
Yeah, is it a weird thing to go and do something like that and then to get back here and then it's just like, back to reality and like back to just the daily grind. And it was just happenstance that your friend mentioned you in this Facebook group. So it's like, God, like, do you want to do more stuff like that if you can or did like the whole like traveling and the publicity and the press and the interviews and the newspaper, like all of that stuff did it.
kind of overwhelm you at all or were you just like I'm good with this? was definitely overwhelming. I felt like it was most overwhelming because I was also trying to plan my wedding like a few months later. So last year was very busy and it all happened all at once. So it was stressful and I would think about like you know people who are actors or do this for a living and have to fly from here to there and do hair and makeup and always be on and be rested and manage life. I thought that I was like I couldn't do that like long term.
felt like that was a great little taste of being on TV. But honestly, I don't really want to be famous. I don't want people to be all in my business. like, I don't know, I'm okay living in a small town and loving my community. if I mean, if they invited me back, which sadly Christmas cookie challenge has been canceled on Food Network. Yes, so sad. So but if they had invited me back to do like a winners round and compete against some of the other winners from different seasons, I would have totally gone back. So
If the opportunity presents itself, I won't say no. Now, if I had to work with a team of people I didn't know, I am so out on that. Like that would be chaotic to me and very stressful. Yeah, I can imagine it's definitely a lot. What were some things that are like a maybe like a common misconception about being on a show like that, that people would just say, you know, a lot of people, watch the show and they're and they automatically have opinions about like how things might have gone or whatever.
Are there things that you got back and you're like, actually, that's not the case at all. I kind of thought that people did not know what they were doing when they went on the show, but that was definitely not true. Like, you know what your competition is going to be. You know what to expect. You know what the rules are, what the guidelines are. And honestly, whenever they started reiterating the guidelines on set, they said that our cookie could not be larger than six inches. And I was freaking out. like, does this disqualify me? Because that was not in the rules.
Logan & Johannah (16:15.054)
previously and they said no, it doesn't disqualify you. We primarily put that in there to make sure that you finish your cookie. They said if you guarantee you finish your cookie and have something to present, then you're fine. which I was fine in that case, but that did, that did startle me a bit before going onto the show. was like, uh-oh. So I think that's probably the biggest misconception. We didn't have a clock. I think a lot of people maybe thought that we could like, look at the time. Yes. Tell how much time we had left. I was
constantly asking and I'm like, why won't y'all tell us? that one was really difficult for me cause you don't know, you don't want to add something to your cookie that you can't finish because you know, that would be negative towards your design versus just not having it and making it look complete. So that I think was one of the most frustrating things about it was just not knowing how much time I had left. Wow. Yeah, I can, I mean, especially when you're in the heat of it and you're doing your thing, but you're like, man, I'm not
at home, so it's not like I can't like take my time. got to speed this up, but I also don't want to screw up the design and I don't want to screw up the recipe. So it's like that added pressure of not being able to glance up and be like, oh, I still got 20 minutes. I'm right. Yeah. Or two hours or however long it is. you won both competitions. What was there? Because I personally, I have not seen it. Oh, my goodness. We got to watch it. I I need to watch it. I need to watch it.
You guys were planning on having like a screening here and you did have a screening here, didn't you? It wasn't here at the bakery. was at the church I grew up in. But yes, we did have a watch party and all those proceeds went to fund a scholarship in Bartow County. Amazing. And I was out of town that weekend and I was like, man, dang it. wanted to be there to watch it. It was a lot of fun. So when you. So what made you the champion? Like what was there like?
a deciding factor for both competitions. Was there like one thing or was it like your overall designer? Like what, what made you get crowned the winner? I think a lot of things. think people might initially say, well, she's the most talented, but that is not the case. Those makers are really amazing. If you go back and look at their social medias and their feeds and even the pictures that they post on the actual show, they are really truly artists and they're great at what they do. I, however,
Logan & Johannah (18:30.508)
have been doing this since I was five and I haven't just been doing cookies. I've been doing cakes and cookies and my personality overbooks myself all the time. So that means I have to do everything very, very fast because of what I did to myself. And so between my personality and really needing to be super efficient at what I do because I overbook myself and have to get things done that along with talent and then just my personality of being like extra.
I think really, really did well for me. I was in my element, not necessarily just based on decorating and baking, but just personality wise, I was very comfortable to be on the show. That's good. That's good. How would you, uh, dang, I had a good one. Um, Oh, how do you, because I'm similar in that, especially with this new phase of life that I'm in, I'm just like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
I'll be there. I'll be there. I'll be there. I don't mind to drive. I don't mind to drive. I don't mind to go there. How do you manage? How do you micromanage yourself to be able to do the things not only to do, of course, what you do here, but like you're a business owner. So you're doing payroll. You're doing marketing. You're doing all of the things that make up a business when you're an entrepreneur. So how do you set away, set aside the time to do all that stuff? Or is it like you're doing it on your laptop in bed? Like
the that extra stuff you're doing it in the wee hours of the morning or the late hours in the night? Like, how do you do it? I think that balance is a myth. There's actually no balance at all. And especially when you're starting a business, you are in the thick of it. And to be really great at something, you have to invest the time to do it. So it's very, very long hours. I think people think because the shop is only open three days a week, I don't actually work every day, which I take Sundays off.
because biblically, spiritually, physically, we... Lord would want you to have that day off. Yes, we need it. And recently the pastor at church on Sunday said that we don't rest from work, we rest for work. We were made to work. We were made to do hard things, but our mind and our bodies need to rest to prepare for what is ahead. And God is the God of creativity. And I truly feel that all of that comes from Him. And so I have to rest to do that. So Sundays, I do take that time.
Logan & Johannah (20:57.603)
but Monday through Saturday is, mean, pedal to the metal. We are getting things done. I will, when I have, know, in the baking world and in world in general, things go wrong. And so if my employees, they do a great job and we don't have mistakes, then I can, you know, throw a reel in here or there and do some marketing or I can try a new recipe. But if that week is just a hard week and a lot of things go wrong and we don't have a lot of time on our hands, then.
things get pushed by the wayside. Ultimately, the most important thing is making sure that the custom orders are wonderful. That's my top priority because they don't actually know what they're going to buy until they pick it up. And so those are always going to be my top priority. If things at the shop are a little bit behind, like we didn't have quite as many different flavors than that is okay. And then marketing will ultimately always be the last thing because I mean, custom orders already paid for my clientele is already there. And so I needed to make sure
that I take care of the people who have been loyal since day one. Yeah, absolutely. What would you say is, man, I keep thinking of great questions and then losing them right before it's time to ask them. That's just the joys of being me. It'll come back to me. It will. What are, so you're freaking brain fart, man. Don't worry, I'll take this out. I'll take this out, friends.
Man sometimes I just need a sip. Is that new? The photo or the phone booth? Yeah we've been doing tea times here so we had a London phone booth. Tea time? Define tea time. Tea time is just like it sounds you get to dress up pretty and act like you're in London and walk into our pink phone booth and make a pretend phone call. But we have I have partnered with spill the tea 3.
And they are a group of three amazing women plus their mom and they come and they provide tea. So they'll do the tea sandwiches and service. And then we have, make the croissants desserts and then I have the space. So it's a really, truly a great partnership. And we're going to have the next tea time coming up in December. So after the weekend, after pink Santa, we'll have a Christmas tea. Very fun. We'll talk about pink Santa in a second, but I remembered what I was going to say.
Logan & Johannah (23:20.295)
so, know, when you're, especially in this kind of business, you know, like you, you know, part of your story that we talk about on the first episode that we do together is that you did this at home for a long time. Like you were doing orders at home, delivering them. People were picking them up. Like you were doing all the things at home and then you level up and you're here. What's the level up from here or is it franchising? Is it a larger space that you can
do more in? what, I mean, is it events? Like how do you scale up from here? It's a great question and something that I have thought a lot about. So this was a great starting point to put our feet in the water a bit and and see how it goes. The most difficult thing with our space since we're still a food cottage bakery is that we bring everything prepackaged and we're kind of divided between help. So my dad always is at the shop.
but then I'm at home and I can't just step into the other room and say, hey, our customers or throw an extra cookie in the oven and bake it for somebody if they want something specific. So that has made it very difficult, which I didn't anticipate being so hard. So the next upgrade in the business would 100 % be having a space large enough that our people can enjoy, but then also be able to bake everything in the back. And most places like,
I don't know. Like the cinnamon bun, what is it called? What's the? Cinnabun? Cinnabun, is that the name of it? Okay. So they only do cinnamon rolls. That's it. So to have the equipment to only do one product is pretty easy. You can keep that pretty small as far as the footprint of your location. But considering we do everything from croissants to brioche bread to cakes and cookies and chocolates, that's a lot of different mediums, a lot of different ingredients. And you also need a lot of different stations to operate those very well.
And so our next upgrade would 100 % be a large kitchen that can provide everything that we need for our customers. so this is, this is coming out in December of 25. Is there, is there anything cooking? Is something on the horizon? You know, I wish I knew, but the Lord is keeping that a secret for now. we'll see what he has in store. I know that this has all been a gift from him. And so I'm just anxiously and patiently.
Logan & Johannah (25:42.369)
If you can do both at the same time, waiting for him to grant us the next step. have no idea what it is. My hands are open. Is there a reality where, because every business owner I'm sure thinks about this. I mean, I've thought about it in the past month since kind of taking this, this leap of, you know, being on my own in that there could be a reality where I have to go back and work for someone else. Right.
Is that a reality for you or would you? I mean, I'd like to say that anyone would do what it takes to not have to go back to that. I mean, have you ever thought about stopping or being done or like, do you just are you obsessed with this so much that there's no way you could stop? Like, I guess I'm trying to ask, like, do you experience burnout? I 100 % experience burnout. Yes, absolutely. So I do try to take time to be with my family and things, but I do not ever
I do not envision a world where I don't have the bakery, but I also don't have children yet. So if the Lord gives me that gift, then I don't think that it would be very hard to choose children over a career, but I do, this place is special. So I don't ever want to see it go, but there again, the Lord, it's in the Lord's hands. So depending on where the economy goes and where...
you know, physical locations are if something opens up, if rent increases, there's a lot of factors that go into it. And so I'm just trying to do the best with what I have right now and do what I can to make it happen and give it my all. And if something from there happens, it happens and the Lord is still good. So I don't ever want to lose this place. I think it is very special. I only want to grow it, but I just want it to be one. I don't ever want to, I don't ever want to franchise if I can't be with my community and get to
grow that and those connections, then I don't want another one. And you can't have to and be close to everybody. Yeah, franchising is one of those weird things where it's like, especially for this business, mean, like so much of your story has so much to do with community. So to go in like, let's just say we set up another one of these guys in Woodstock. It'd be like, OK, like Woodstock is a great community also, but like
Logan & Johannah (28:05.443)
this community and the area you grew up in and Cartersville in general has just been super supportive towards you and been there for you. So it would be kind of, I don't want to say hokey, but it would just be like so forced to go and have a franchise out in another location. I don't know. It just doesn't feel, it's almost like it's a weird comparison, but I guess that's kind of the same industry as Cake Boss. Like they have one location, don't they? If you want to go to Cake Boss, you got to go to the Cake Boss location in Hoboken.
Well, it's the same for you. if you want to go to goodies and grace, you've got to go to Cartersville. Yeah. No ifs, ands buts about it. Yeah. And I think that that makes it, whenever you don't have such easy access to it, almost makes it more valuable. And I will never sacrifice quality or the presence of what we have here for money. If that was the case, I would have never opened up the location period. Do you find that it's difficult, especially with you're in the place where you have a couple
I know you said your dad helps you out a lot. have employees as well. So me and my mom are full time in the kitchen. Okay. She is a huge help. And then I have one to two other employees that will help make cookie dough and mix up cake batter and help with dishes and cleaning and the, the beginning baking stuff, the preliminary steps of what it takes to decorate. Do you find that even though your mom and your dad are such a huge help in this?
Do you find still that there's times that you have to come in and be like, no dad, not like that. That's not how I do it. Like, cause I know a buddy who had a meal prepping business for a long time and he got real busy. The business was growing and so he was exploring how to scale it and grow it. So he had put, you know, like a manager in place, but then as soon as he did that as a subscriber to the meal service, I noticed a decline in the quality and
it was like, I would tell him just candid honest feedback, because he's a good friend of mine. I'd be like, hey, man, I don't care because it's you, but like your other customers that aren't buddies with you, they might be annoyed by this. And he always appreciated it. And he was like, yeah, man, that's one of the things about like hiring people is they're never going to care about your baby as much as you do. Right. Do find that? 100%, 100%. And it's, it's tricky trying to find the right people because truly the right people are the
Logan & Johannah (30:29.689)
the ones who want to own their own business one day. So you're training somebody up to move on and do their own thing, which is, I think, a part of discipleship. I think that that's a good thing because you can't, no one baker can accommodate the entire city. Like that's just way too much. And so I love training, but to run my own business, that's why I never want to get too big. I never want a second location because I don't ever, ever, ever want to sacrifice quality. And a lot of times,
People use the keep it simple, stupid method and things are, they're mediocre, but they're scalable and they make money. That's not goodies and grace. We're luxury. We want to offer the best and be the best and move towards making everything the best. So to scale that it just, it's just not what I want. I don't want to spend my time behind a computer and figuring out all these systems and everything to just make extra money. If the connections in the community aren't there, it's not for me. Yeah, that makes total sense.
So tell me about Pink Santa. What's this event that's coming up? This is dropping the first week of December. So this event is either this week or the coming weeks. The next week after, yes. So what's all about this event? So we have had regular Pink Santa the first time and then the second time we had PJs with Pink Santa and this year is pink carpet with Pink Santa. So you get to dress up, wear your Sunday best, feeling super pretty, let your girls wear their princess dresses.
and come walk the pink carpet with Santa and get some little shots and just feel fancy, feel luxury and just get to feel like you're the center of attention for a day. You're serving shots.
Photo shoot photo shoot. Great disclaimer. Sorry, not alcohol. Sorry parents. I know you got excited for a split second. You're like, you mean I can bring my kid and I can get served a shot. You can 100 % get served an espresso shot. There you go. And hey, if you want, if you want a real shot, just leave your kiddos here for a second and you can just shoot across the street and go over to to sixes and you'll be you'll be in good shape there.
Logan & Johannah (32:34.179)
I love this little parking lot. There's something for everybody. There is. You can go work out and come grab a dessert. You can go get adjusted, get your hair done, your nails done. It's a one stop shop over here. really is. It's great. I love that. so one thing that you were doing a lot or you were kind of starting to do the last time we talked was you had a, was it like a slushy?
thing or you have like a snow cone thing? Italian ice. Italian ice. How's that going? It has been amazing. We have been doing a lot of events with Italian ice. go to different schools throughout the week and we serve Italian ice along with baked goods. And then we are also opening up a mobile coffee cart. So lots of new exciting things happening.
My older brother is going to be living here soon and he loves coffee. So we're going to be roasting our own coffee beans and there's a lot of new things on the horizon with some young blood and some muscle. We can make a lot of things happen. So yeah, growing the family business is going to be great. Wow. So
So a mobile coffee card, that'll be fun. yeah. You could take that to like networking events and stuff and people would love that. mean, yes. Client appreciation. Anything and everything. Yes. Yeah. So what's if there's do you guys do I'm trying to think of like, is there a big push that you're pushing for? Like, do you guys try to go out of your way to market, like get corporate orders in for parties? Like, what kind of stuff are you guys pushing right now?
I am not pushing anything, honestly. It's kind of crazy, but I don't have the time to really market. My community knows me for the custom orders. I would love to be able to expand the shop a little bit more and have, and be open and have more open hours. So we, we're just trying to figure out what is the next best step and what to move into. But the mobile coffee, coffee bar, I can't even talk the mobile.
Logan & Johannah (34:26.649)
coffee bar will hard to say fast. That will be something that I'm going to be really excited to offer because I love making drinks and we're going to start dabbling in making homemade syrups and really just coming back to being healthier. And I know that sounds weird by owning a bakery, but we don't use seed oils anymore. So we've only, we have only started using olive oil. So we don't ever use any of the others. And we're just really trying to make a step forward to being healthier and
taking our customers more into account as far as what they're putting into their bodies. Yeah, that's really smart. I love that too. mean, hey, is I mean, shout out to you. I mean, is this is this coffee a sneak peek to the to the coffee that you got? Have you always served coffee like this? We have always served coffee and I didn't give you the pink Chantilly cream because I didn't want you to feel too frou frou. That's OK. But maybe next time I'll get you the pink coffee. I'm down for the pink Chantilly.
I love this heart-shaped straw I'm drinking. I've never seen anything like that before. So I'm always down for pink drinks. Hey, I love a pink drink. I love it. Next time I'll give you the pink Chantilly cream for sure. Love it. So no, this does not have the homemade syrups in it. But this week I'm going to start trying some actually. It tastes really good actually. And I'm not just saying that because you gave it to me and it was free 99.
It tastes really similar to caribou coffee. Have you ever had them? It tastes real good. And like I said, when you were making it, like I like it. I'm like a Starbucks white chocolate mocha kind of gal. Um, but definitely added on the pink Chantilly cream. Definitely should have it all together. It would have just been on brand for me. Anyone drinking, be like, yeah, Logan's drinking a girly drink. Surprise, surprise. Even when I drink alcohol, it's a girly drink because beer is nasty.
I agree. Yes, I agree. Why would you drink if you can't enjoy what you're having? So yeah, if Logan's brand is that he drinks girly drinks, sue me. It tastes good. So I'll take that 10 times out of 10 any day. And so then you also mentioned to me that you're doing like lemonades and like boba teas. Is that all like a new thing too?
Logan & Johannah (36:40.269)
That's we're going to be expanding our drink menu. Yes. That's big step here. And we are able to use fruits to make smoothies and just different things. I don't want to be buying pre-packaged syrup and doing all of these other things. I really want to move towards homemade stuff because every single one of our bakery items is homemade and we want to use quality ingredients in that. And that goes for our drinks as well. I love that. I love that a lot. Joanna. I felt weird to say that.
Joe, do people just call you Joe? Joe, yeah. Okay. Makes it easy. I always like read it and I'm just like, is it Johanna? Johanna? It's Johanna, but it's okay. Joe is great. I overthink it all the time. people will be like, yeah, my last name is Smith. And I'll be like, Smythe. Like I'll say it wrong just because my brain is just like, you're going to say it wrong. You're in the South. You naturally want to say Johanna and it's spelled Johanna. So it does.
makes your brain think a little extra hard. So we just go with Joe makes it easy. Joe makes it easy. Joe, what's besides all the things that we talked about? mean, mobile coffee cart, we got some boba teas and some drinks come in. I mean, we've got this pink Santa event. What's 2026 look like for goodies and grace? That that truly is a big question mark. I truly have no idea. I believe that we will continue doing what we already do and just making it better.
And being open more hours, being able to serve our community better and expand the line. I don't think that it's going to be anything too drastically crazy, but just better. you find that.
What would you say is your biggest struggle right now? Like, would you say that, maybe struggle is not the right word, but like... there are a lot of struggles. The fact that, not having the time to do anything and overbooking yourself, is it like you wish you could be open more? Like, you wish you maybe had one or two extra hands at help? Like, what would you say is kind of your biggest, I don't want to say roadblock, but roadblock right now?
Logan & Johannah (38:42.489)
So 100 % location. I would truly love to be able to purchase a place that has walk-in traffic, foot traffic, somewhere downtown is truly where I would love to be. Somewhere that I can have the full-fledged kitchen, be able to have this beautiful space like we already have and keep on moving. I think that that is the biggest hurdle for me is baking somewhere different from where we serve. That has been a struggle because any little...
If I forget anything or if somebody wants something, just, makes it tougher whenever, because truly if we did that also, we would be opened six days a week, you know? We would be opened all the time and our hours would be probably 10, 12 hour days because that's naturally what I work anyways. We would just be able to be open in the same place that I actually am working. I can't imagine like how, how competitive it is, especially for like, we have a great
We're so lucky. have a great downtown area in our town. there's amazing businesses down there that all are just iconic in and of themselves. But I can only imagine that when a place is for sale or when someone moves out that like it's like, you know, it's like piranhas eating, you know, a piece of meat that falls into the tank. Like whoever gets it first is there. And it's, it's a damn, it's a struggle to whoever.
Whoever gets it first is whoever wins. if you don't, tough luck, better luck next time. So I can only imagine like you and a handful of other people are just like looking, looking, looking. You hear it and by the time you hear it's already gone or it's already spoken for. Yeah. Well, there was a place downtown for sale and it might still be for sale, but there was no back entrance. It just wasn't perfect.
I told my husband, said, the Lord gave me you and you were perfect for me. You're not perfect, but you are my perfect husband and everything that I could have wanted. And I told him, I said, why would the Lord not give me that in a business? And it took all of my human nature and human being to not pursue that. But I knew in my heart that the Lord had better. So I'm waiting. Yeah. You don't need to settle. I mean, especially if you're focused on this continued growth and
Logan & Johannah (40:53.155)
community, especially like another thing that you're trying to focus on I'm picking up is that you don't want all the hassle with another location. if you, excuse me, if you go to from this to another location, you don't want to have to go back and forth all the time. You don't want to have to go back home if you forgot something. You want to be able to do it all in one place. So if you're going to, what's the point of moving if you can't have that? Exactly. Why would you level up?
or not even level up, why would you just make a lateral move? Yeah, maybe you're in a better location, but it's not, it's still giving you the same struggles that you have now. So what's the point, you know? Yeah, no, exactly. And so we're waiting patiently waiting on what the Lord has in store. So maybe in a year, maybe in a year we'll do this from the new location. That would be pretty cool. We'll just, we'll just keep waiting a year in between seeing each other again. happens in a year and it flies, it flies by so fast. can't keep up.
I know you got married. Yes. You got married. were on the Food Network. How was the wedding, by the way? It was very cold. It was amazing. Yeah. It was so beautiful and so pink. here? So cold. No. Where'd you guys get married? It was in Dawsonville, Georgia. And, you know, ironically enough, it snowed, it snowed flurries on our wedding day, just like it did today. Wow. You know, and, but it was cold. It was very icy. Yeah. Yeah. An icy wedding, but a lot of fun. It was so much fun. It was so beautiful. I will say my cake fell.
Your cake fell. Yeah, and I made it. Isn't that wrong? you made your own wedding cake and then it fell. I had two hours to sleep the night before our wedding. And because you were baking? Well, I was doing all the things. Amongst. Because I was doing all the things. Amongst being a bride. And I had my topper because of the ice storm got it went to Florida. I don't know why it was in Georgia to begin with. It was made in Georgia and then somehow it ended up in Florida. So, yeah, just a lot of things kind of went
a little crazy with my cake and that's the only time that's ever happened to me. Luckily it happened to me and nobody else. But we got it on video, so I need to post that eventually. That'll be interesting to see. Yeah, really interesting. Well, Joe, it's been fun catching up. It has been. flies. Did we miss anything? I don't think so. We talked about... Food network. Yeah, the competition and new things coming around. Yeah, new stuff in the biz.
Logan & Johannah (43:17.773)
I think we briefly covered it all. it cool to be with this Cartersville living thing? it really neat to be? Cause you know, I know community is such a big thing for you as it is for me. So to be able to be put on the cover of a magazine that's going to go to three or 4,000 homes in the Cartersville area. does that just, do you see that as like validation? Do you see it as maybe you see it as a bunch of things, but what do you, what do you
feel like when when Caitlin hits you up and says, Hey, we want to feature you as on the cover. Like how does that make you feel? felt very blessed. Truthfully, it was one of again, one of those things like what this is not my life. And there again, the Lord says, here you go. And so whenever she told me, I was super excited to be able to do that. And ultimately, like the reason that I did open up this shop was to be able to tell people that God sees them. Like there are so many people who don't believe that
The Lord sees you. He knows every hair on your head. He knit you together in your mother's womb. And not to brag or to be prideful, but more of a testimony to the Lord sees. He sees what I'm doing. He sees where it's going. He sees where my heart is. And he has given me so many opportunities to share a story about this bakery. And ultimately, I just want everybody, especially girls, because this is why I built the place.
Ultimately, everybody to know how much the Lord loves you and sees you and wants to give the best gifts that he has to you. I love it. Just another testament to that. Yes. Very good. Very good. Well, Joe, tell the people where to find you, how to follow along, how to follow along on your journey on the shop's journey.
all the things, and if they want to go and watch the food network thing, how can they, where can they? Alrighty. So goodies and grace on Instagram, on Facebook. I'm not really on Tik Tok a whole lot, but, Instagram is where I like to hang out. That's like my sweet spot. And then let's see the food network. So the easiest place for me to have found it was on Amazon. It's season eight of Christmas cookie challenge and it's episode five. So it's the superheroes of Christmas.
Logan & Johannah (45:34.529)
And so that's the best place to watch there. But yeah, Instagram is where I put all the updates. I'm, you know, hop on the stories and ask for your opinions on what you want. What do we have that you love? What do we don't have that you love? What are your favorite flavors of boba? And just, yeah, we're always there. That's, that's where I like to hang out. But if you need a custom order call or text 678 or 775739. Do not DM me. have hundreds of messages on Instagram and Facebook.
That is not the place to get in contact with me and definitely don't email me. Definitely do not email or DM. Do not slide in this woman's DMs. She will not see it. I will eventually, but not for an order. She'll do it six months later and be like, Hey, did you ever get this? very good. I'll make sure that I link, all of those things in the description of the episodes that if people are interested and they want to place an order or they want to follow along, they can.
do that. Absolutely. I appreciate you. Yeah. Thanks for doing this with me again. So fun. Yeah. It's always so good to see you again and wish you continued success. My friend. Thank you. saying to you. Thank you guys. Again, we will make sure all of her stuff is in the description of the episode. Of course, my stuff is in the description of the episode as well. Check out hammerheadcreations.com to learn more about me and the things that I do here at Ear Morning.
Drive, thank you guys for listening. Thank you to Cartersville Living for putting this together. And we will see you next time. Bye.