Mouthful of Joy

Gary Owen has always loved to bake. Back in 2009, someone asked if he would make a birthday cake for them. He did. After it was made, he had to attend to his full-time job as a truck driver, so wife Jerri decorated it. The rest, as they say, is history.

The news spread by word-of-mouth – literally – and Mouthful of Joy was born about a year later. With the help of his mother and his wife, Gary has been cranking out pastries and such for farmers’ markets and special orders ever since.

While Gary is chained to the oven, Jerri oversees the mechanics of being fulltime purveyors of baked confections. “I do all the supply ordering, and I manage our Facebook, Instagram and our website,” she explained. “On Mondays,

I post the weekly menu for the farmers’ market at shopmouthfulofjoy.com. You can place your order and pay online, and we’ll have your order ready on Saturday.

“I also update the Facebook page weekly with the menu. We accept orders by email, by phone, by fax, text, Facebook message, it doesn’t matter. There’s no reason not to place an order. We’ll take it just about any way.”

Jerri said, “It’s a full-time affair. You have to plan your menu and do the shopping and do the prep work. We bake everything fresh each week. We don’t freeze our product. Everything has to be made from scratch. Fridays are really long days,” she said, but added, “The smell of baked bread on Fridays is torture.”

In his quickly vanishing free time, Gary is poring over videos, reading cookbooks or trying out a new recipe. They’ll probably be busier this year. They’re planning to post a weekly bake schedule online and take orders with a special incentive. “We do provide delivery for free within the Shreveport/Bossier area.”

If the smell of baking bread overwhelms you on any given Friday, it’s probably Gary, his mom and Jerri whipping up the week’s treats. Check them out at shopmouthfulofjoy.com or www.instagram.com/mouthfulofjoybakery or www.facebook.com/mouthfulofjoy. And bring your sweet tooth.