Few businesses have had more humble beginnings.
Veronica Anderson shared some homemade cookies with co-workers at BellSouth in 1975.
They were a hit. Her co-workers asked that she bring them in more often.
Soon, she was taking orders and selling them at the office. The cookies also proved to be popular at the city of Jacksonville fire station where her husband, Willis, worked.
“I couldn’t afford to bring them but I told them that they could buy them. So they started buying them and it took off from there,” she said.
Word of her cookies spread and she began selling them around their Arlington neighborhood one day a week. It grew to where she would sometimes have orders for 300 dozen cookies.
It was a modest endeavor for the couple that continued out of their home until November.
That’s when their four grown children decided to open a brick-and-mortar business in Northwest Jacksonville. Arble Baking Co. at 6765 Dunn Ave., Unit 327, was born.
The company is named after the street where the Andersons sold the cookies and raised their family.
The company is small, but has big plans, said son Alonza Anderson.
The four have invested about $300,000 to build-out the bakery. They’ve kept their day jobs and left the cookie making to their parents and six employees. The siblings will help in the kitchen with special orders and events on weekends, he said.
Alonza Anderson owns AJ Anderson Construction in Jacksonville. Lamar Anderson is a real estate agent in Tampa, Monica Anderson works for Merrill Lynch in Jacksonville and Whitney Anderson is a civil engineer who lives in Denver.
The four siblings are the managing members of the LLC.
When they approached their parents about moving the business out of the house, the Andersons agreed it was time.
“It was something they had wanted to do, but I don’t think that they had the confidence,” Alonza Anderson said.
It has also served to bring the four closer together.
“We had all graduated from college and gone off to do other things. We are not all in the same city. Prior to this venture we didn’t see each other as much. But this is something that brings all of us back together as a family,” he said.
When they started in November, the bakery was only open on Saturday until 5 p.m. They needed to hire staff and teach the cookie-making process. The family held a grand opening May 20. The store is open from noon to 7 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
After about 10 years of retirement Willis, 73, and Veronica, 71, are accustomed to working again. When it comes time to re-retire, Veronica will need to give up some secrets.
“Most of her favorite recipes, she keeps those close to her vest,” Alonza Anderson said.
She is known for her oatmeal and raisin cookies. Since opening the store, she has perfected a peanut butter cookie as well as a peanut butter cookie dipped in chocolate.
The company hired another baker who makes decorative cookies.
Cookies cost between $2 and $4 each or $20 a dozen. They also sell cupcakes, $3.75; mini cupcakes, $1.25; brownies, $2; and sweet potato pie for $3.99 a slice and $25 for a whole pie.
When renting the store, the children decided to lease two adjacent spaces. As a general contractor, Alonza Anderson was able to do the work himself. He said the project went as well as could be expected.
There are plans to add more seating and sell breakfast and lunch next door. The menu will be expanded to include bread and other baked goods.
The new space is in the early planning stages but is expected to be ready by the end of the year, Alonza Anderson said.