‘Sweeties’ baking strategy will soon be twice as nice

January 11, 2016

Rick Shrum
Observer Reporter

Betty Johns sells made-from-scratch baked goods of all sorts.

Well, not all.

“Cakes, pies, cookies, bread, buns. We do almost everything but doughnuts,” she said.

The owner of Sweetie’s Cinnamon House didn’t mention the bakery’s featured attraction because, well … that should be obvious.

“Cinnamon rolls.”

Her facility has a sweet presence on Route 40 in Beallsville, and is about to establish another 18 miles to the west. Johns will be opening a second Sweetie’s at 1 Humbert Lane, South Strabane Township – just off North Main Street and barely across the Washington line.

It will be in the building where American Meats, East & Foods – a store featuring to-go foods and a butcher shop – shut down about six months ago.

Launch, she said, will be within two weeks “if everything goes well. I have little odds and ends to get done. You take care of one thing and you have two other things.”

Johns, who lives in South Strabane, said she plans to bake certain items at one location or another and sell at both. She would like to have uniform hours at the two sites – 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday – but might amend them on Humbert Lane.

“I’m not sure what I’ll do Friday nights because we’re so close to (Washington High School’s) football field,” she said. “I don’t know if I’ll extend hours.”

Johns currently has seven employees, all family members. Some of them will work at both locations.

She said she has owned Sweetie’s “forever,” adding she shut it down once before reopening eight years ago.

The motivation behind her expansion is simple.

“This is going to be our retirement,” Johns said. “I’ll always work. Plus if you’re a baker, people are never going to let you not bake.”