Jackson Jambalaya

I would say “smart folks,” but why did it take them so long

A specialty food business like this one is tough enough in the best of times, but in the middle of this pandemic? No chance. It's a shame. If they could have waited another year to open it would have been nice. Too bad.

Never heard of 'em. I've been here for nearly 40 years.

Low margin products and no drive thru window. I'm surprised more bakeries and coffee shops haven't closed. Some are making it though. I know one that is matching or beating the numbers from the previous year. Bakery I used last fall for birthday cake (I think it's For Heaven's Cakes) needed at least a month notice for a cake. One business told me they did better in 2020 BUT the composition of business was different. They worked that online business and it took a much bigger share of sales as walk-in business fell as expected.

I know restaurants that beat the prior year's numbers. They stayed busy. They adjusted their service and menus, worked their social media accounts, and got proactive. They worked the online neighborhood FB groups and newsletters. They didn't go for fancy apps but let customers call them on their cellphones. While Keifers shut it down, Krilakis was killing it on weekends as there was usually a line of cars for example.

The lack of workers downtown after Covid likely didn't help either. I hate it for them - there were some really good items on the menu. I had yet to try but was looking forward to trying the biscuits that were just put on the menu a couple of weeks ago.

Nobody wants a $2 donut.

I hate to see any business that I like have to close. Especially in Jackson.

If JPD officers paid for their donuts that would be a wind-fall. //just kidding//

Hard to compete with Donut Palace. The ones in Rankin are owned by legal immigrants from Asia who work their asses off. Immigrants who still remember how bad things could be are grateful for how much Americans take for granted. The Gen Z or their kids will likely be the last generation to have it this easy.

I miss the old Primos Northgate gingerbread men.

I love doughnuts, but I did not think theirs were good. They were not very sweet. If they sold Krispy Kream or Shipley's out of that location, I would go a long way toward keeping them in business by myself.

no drive thru window. the bread and butter of the doughnut shop.

Sorry to see them close. But seriously, who needs a doughnut the size of a pie?

The Donut Palace at 471/Vine Street in Flowood does it right. Good food, quick service and reasonably priced. Plus they have a DT.

Oh my, The Belhaven is doomed.

Sad. But you really have to consider all the possibilities when starting a new biz... esp a speciality food niche.

Does the Clarion Ledger have a drive-thru? I keep hearing about the 'drive by' media but am confused.

I won't sugar coat it. There was likely a hole in their business plan.

Yep 8:04. Kinda like District Drugs....

@9:35 AM - hole, sugar coat....donuts. Get it?

Isn't that the same folks who just shut down in Madison. They were way too damned proud of their prices.

Partly this is a Jackson/mississippi/southern problem. People in the south remark about big city neighborhoods where residents can walk to amenities. But when those amenities are built in the south, southerners won't walk to them. Belhaven is full of people who claim to want to walk to things, but the reality is they're driving for anything over 2 blocks.

This Campbell's wasn't a bakery - his bakery in Fondren shall remain open. Nor was this supposed to be a drive-thru donut shop. Instead it's a restaurant, but maybe the concept was muddled.

They made really good donuts - worth every penny. Hate to see them go. But, it takes a lot of donuts (even at $4) to pay for that beautiful building and equipment.

There's an elephant in the room. Fancy donuts are, well, a white person thing. And there are only about 20,000 white people left in Jackson... not a big enough population to support a craft donut shop.

Sure there are plenty of whites around Jackson that would enjoy a $4 donut, but no one is driving 15 minutes for one. And there are a lot of employees at Baptist, but they rarely leave campus to eat (why would they when there's a Chik-fil-A inside?).

I could imagine a Campbell's Craft Donuts on wheels. No overhead, and they could drive to their market.

Trashing a good segment of your customers on social media is not exactly a good idea. Saying you support someone or something is one thing, insulting certain groups or people because you don't like their politics doesn't make for good business, especially when they all live in the same hood as your business.

In theory, I am all in favor of 'Craft Donuts'. I think "not very sweet" craft donuts must be heavenly - particularly if they're "the size of pies". What's not to love? This all sounds great. Sorry I missed experiencing them at Campbell's. The cheap donuts, in big box stores, are sickeningly-sweet: almost burning my mouth with all that sugar. By age 20, I knew that having a donut would make me ILL. I haven't attempted to consume a donut, in DECADES - like maybe a quarter-CENTURY. And I'm not very old. However, growing up malnourished (as most Southern kids are) - crammed-full of sugar and grains (probably fed sugar-laden "formula", and sugar-laden baby food, then grits, biscuits, cornbread... the usual poisons), I had FATTY LIVER Disease, was insulin resistant, and was probably experiencing full-blown Type II Diabetes. Anything sugary - even the pasta sauce from jars, at so-called "Italian" restaurants - gave me near-instant REACTIVE HYPOGLYCEMIA.

When in the throes of Reactive Hypoglycemia, I'm a bitch-from-Hell: not fun for me, or for those unfortunate enough to be around me. I can't let that happen.

While added sugar is the worst, in the last two years, I've learned that the supposedly-"healthy" sugar in fresh fruits, is nearly as bad. Too, I've learned that all grains are an hour or so away from becoming basically sugar. Once the digestive system has begun to process grains - and it doesn't take long - the resulting GLYCEMIC LOAD is pretty bad (not as bad as with foods containing fructose, but bad).

In fighting my carb-driven mood swings, I've accidentally lost one-fifth of my weight (as a gymbunny, I was hiding it well, and nobody realized I had weight to lose). And my story is not rare. It's become COMMON, among Upper Middle Class Mississippians, and educated/disciplined people everywhere I go, to be suddenly-skinny/suddenly-healthy/suddenly-SANE (because we've "gone Keto" or "gone Carnivore", and have kicked-the-carbs). And I have to wonder whether the drop-off in Campbell's business doesn't have something to do with that.

Too many people, simply have discovered they CANNOT AFFORD TO eat sweets - or be around sweets. And these tend to be among the class of consumers who were once willing to spend extra for the wonderful, superior, ultra-delicious sort of sweets offered by Campbell's. I hope the Owners find a lucrative NEW niche.

Rumor has it District Doughnuts out of NOLA will be occupying the space in the near future.

"Trashing a good segment of your customers on social media is not exactly a good idea."

Why do you drop 'teasers' with zero explanation or follow-up. Who trashed whom, why, when and where?

You farted in a whirlwind, 1:03 a.m.

Maybe, just maybe, if he didn’t charge an ridiculous price for mediocre product, he could have survived. Or, maybe if he didn’t treat everyone with such a callous attitude. Or maybe if the food was good. Sure, Covid didn’t help, but it likely didn’t hurt either. The guy is in way over his head. He has zero business sense and even less common decency.