Until this past week, Newton County residents had go just over the Scott County line to pick up some of Spoonfudge’s seemingly endless menu of sweet treats. Now county residents only have to drop by on Main Street in Newton at the newly opened Spoonfudge 2.
The shop officially opened in the former Main Street Diner’s building on Tuesday, Sept. 5 and the Newton Chamber of Commerce held its ribbon cutting on Friday.
Spoonfudge owners Aleisa “Nelly” Johnson and Tarah “Queenie” Boykin opened their first Spoonfudge shop in Sebastopol in 2012. The two met at the annual Sebastopolooza festival, and when the original Spoonfudge internet-only business became available a few years ago, the two women bought the recipe and the rights to the name.
Since then, the Spoonfudge clientele has grown, bringing in customers from around East Mississippi as well as west Alabama. Boykin said they had always considered expanding to a second location and that the Newton building’s owners Kim and Ken Henley had always suggested the town would be the perfect spot.
“We’ve always thought it was something we could do, it was just a matter of when we could do it,” Boykin said. “Mrs. Henley has asked us for the past three years to come to Newton and we never really took her seriously. The building we have in Sebastopol, which we love, we’d never trade that building in, it has so much character. But we’ve just grown to the point where we can’t grow anymore there. So we thought, when she asked this time, that we should consider it, and God just kept opening doors.”
After the Main Street Diner closed in mid-August, Johnson and Boykin moved into the space and quickly got to work refashioning and redecorating it to give it their own unique atmosphere.
“We had lots of help. Ken Henley’s crew and the new employees and their families pitched in,” Boykin said. “Thank goodness for our reliable staff at Sebastopol keeping things running there so we could be here the last three weeks, because right now it takes both of us just to adjust and train everybody.”
The duo said business has been brisk since last Tuesday and that they have been balancing running the two shops while also keeping up with online cake and fudge orders and making the daily batches of their trademark fudge.
“It has been pretty challenging – a little more than we expected,” Johnson said.
While the jars of fudge, featuring more than flavors, can be bought and much of the menu will be the same as in Sebastopol, there will be a few differences at the new location.
“In Sebastopol lunch service was a secondary thing and Spoonfudge was the focus, but over here lunch service is the focus and Spoonfudge is something extra they get to have,” Boykin said.
Other than the food, the decorations might the one thing that leaves a lasting impression on customers. The shop features several comic book inspired items and murals, including one of a train located in the upper meeting room that was painted by Paulette Trammell.
“We wanted it to be a place where anybody could walk in and be like, ‘well, this is fun.’ And if a kid spills something or scratches up a chair, it’s ok,” Boykin said. “We’re a family place and kids are the core of what we do.”
For more information about Spoonfudge, visit spoonfudge.com or the shop’s Facebook page.
