Got a sweet tooth? These three new Stanislaus County businesses have opened to serve
Look, 2020 has been a lot. You certainly deserve a treat. And now three new Stanislaus County businesses are offering sweet ways to give you exactly that.
Two artisan sweet sellers have opened new shops and a local jam company has expanded its business recently, offering valley residents hand-crafted delicacies to help us get through this seemingly endless pandemic, year and everything else.
Roberts Ferry Nut Company, a longtime purveyor of flavored nuts, popcorn and more, has opened a location in downtown Oakdale. Fudge-It, a handmade fudge company, has a new storefront in Ceres. And Jars of Delicious, a local farmers market favorite for its jams, has transitioned from cottage seller to a commercial kitchen in Riverbank.
The three ventures, all helmed by women, have the sugar, spice and strength to open despite the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak and all the disruption it has wrought.
Headquartered in the tiny town of Roberts Ferry near the eastern edge of the county, Roberts Ferry Nut Company opened its original country store 1983 and has since made a name for itself selling gourmet treats like caramel popcorn, hand-dipped chocolates, old-fashioned milkshakes and more. Sisters Stacey Kollmeyer and Kim West, and Kim’s husband Nic West, bought the business in 2015.
They’ve had their Roberts Ferry store ever since, but decided to branch out to expand its customer base. While the new site was planned before the pandemic hit, they hope it will also help mitigate the dramatic drop in tourism they’ve seen from people heading to the foothills and Yosemite National Park.
New Oakdale site features large selection
“We always wanted to bring the product to the people,” Stacey Kollmeyer said. “We’ve had a lot of luck bringing the people to the product in Roberts Ferry. But, we think we’ve got some delicious goodies and when we looked around in Oakdale we didn’t see anything that looked like our business and we thought it would be a great opportunity.”
The new shop opened at the start of the month on Third Avenue, in the former Rivi’s restaurant site, and sells a colorful assortment of all of its confections, which are made in the company’s Roberts Ferry production site. They’re also offering the full line of their candy popcorn, which comes in seven flavors, along with their 20 flavors of caramel popcorn. And, new since the coronavirus crisis started, they have a selection of take-and-bake family style meals like lasagna and tamales.
The store also sells some other local artisan offerings, including Burroughs Family Farms soap and Jars of Delicious jam (more on that later).
Kollmeyer said the new shop also will help them promote their gift baskets, which are fully customizeable and will be able to include beer and wine. Once their license is approved, which should happen in a week or so, they’ll be able to offer adult milkshakes and beer floats. We tried the non-alcoholic kind, and have no doubt a liquid courage would only make it more delicious.
Roberts Ferry Nut Company, at 150 N 3rd Ave. in Oakdale, is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday (open late on Wednesdays during the farmers market). Call 209-874-3247 or visit robertsferrynutcompany.com.
Fudge lovers have a new spot in Ceres
Another shop offering a small cornucopia of local confections is Ceres’s new Fudge-It. Owner Rhonda Vargas opened her commercial kitchen 11 years ago, and has been selling her fudge squares at events, festivals and to wholesale accounts since. But, when coronavirus closed all the fairs and festivals, she had to think outside of the box — or more accurately inside of her existing commercial kitchen space.
At the start of the month she added a small storefront to her kitchen, giving her a public-facing permanent site for people to stop by and pick up her fudge and the other sweets and products the store sells. Those stores include Jars of Delicious (I promise, more on them later) and Roberts Ferry Nut Company popcorn and Ripon’s Nature’s Candy Nut Company.
But, with a name like Fudge-It, the fudge better be the main attraction and here it definitely is. Vargas makes some 80 different flavors of fudge in-house, from traditional chocolate to fruit and seasonal offerings. The shop stocks around 20 to 30 flavors at a time, all displayed in individually packaged squares which weigh in at a hefty quarter-pound and sell for $4 each.
This is Vargas’s second foray into owning a local sweets shop. Around the mid-2000s she owned the Candy Bouquet, a candy store in Modesto, which lasted about three years before the Great Recession hit. But since retiring from Delicato Family Wines she returned to her dream of having a little shop of her own.
“I’ve been making fudge for 15 years, and I thought heck if we don’t do this now we’ll never do it,” she said.
Fudge-It, at 2445 Whitmore Ave. in Ceres, is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Call 209-523-8343 or visit fudgeitconfections.com.
Jam maker opens commercial kitchen in Riverbank
The common denominator between the two, Jars of Delicious, is also making big moves. First started as a cottage food business in 2014 by Hughson resident Cheree Hill, the jam, jellies and filling business is a staple at area farmers markets. She has been working out of her home ever since.
But in July she took over the former Cobblestone Bakery location on Third Street in downtown Riverbank. She has been transforming the space into her commercial kitchen and, eventually down the road, possibly a small storefront and cafe.
The idea for Jars of Delicious started some 15 years ago before Hill and her husband got married. She started spending a week helping his mother can peaches each year. It became a family tradition and when her mother-in-law passed away in 2014, they made 300 jars of jam in her favorite flavor to give away at her memorial.
“Not even a week later, people were calling me asking, ‘How do I order more jam?’ I had no clue, throughout the summer I went through cottage food guidelines and then started at the Thursday Modesto farmers market that September,” she said. “We make it all by hand using the methods Peggy taught me over a decade ago.”
Jars of Delicious makes some 60 flavors, which change depending on the seasons and what’s available. They range from popular favorites like strawberry rhubarb to blackberry pomegranate. She has her jam in 15 stores across the region, and regularly attends four farmers markets as well as various community events year round.
Hill said the new commercial space will allow her to launch online sales, as well as ramp up her gift baskets for the holidays. The new website should go live next month, and possibly launch a jam of the month club as well.
For more on Jars of Delicious call 209-981-9775 or visit www.facebook.com/jarsofdelicious.
Elsewhere around the Business Beat:
Dick’s Sporting Goods is hiring for its new location inside Modesto’s Vintage Faire Mall opening this fall.
The sports gear and apparel company, which has had an existing standalone store on Dale Road since 2011, is taking over the lower level of the former Sears site. The second level of the old anchor space will be home to the county’s first Dave & Buster’s entertainment center.
According to a press release from the company, the store has 10 part-time and 20 temporary positions available for the new store. People can apply online at dickssportinggoods.jobs.
The store is slated to open in October.
This story was originally published September 18, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
