By Abby Bell
Jaime Johnson has always loved baking. As a three-year-old child, Johnson started learning traditional family recipes from her grandma. Today, Johnson owns a business blending those family recipes with her own unique pastry style. Based in Strongs, Johnson’s business, Triple J’s Home Bakery, creates confectionary delights for clients across the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
“For as long as I can remember, I have been in the kitchen baking and cooking with my grandma,” Johnson recalls. “My grandma is really the inspiration behind my business.”
After her high school graduation, Johnson attended the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts. Throughout the 18-month degree program, Johnson spent hours baking often asking her grandma for guidance as she adapted recipes and completed course projects. In addition to baking, the program required Johnson to create a business plan and website.
"My grandma came up with the name Triple J's Home Bakery, for my initials, Jaime Jean Johnson," Johnson explains.
Johnson earned her diploma as certified pastry chef in September 2020. Two months later, she launched her business, Triple J’s Home Bakery. The bakery operates under Michigan’s Cottage Foods Law, primarily focused on custom and holiday themed pre-orders. After two successful years in business, Johnson was ready to expand. Triple J’s Roadside Stand launched in September 2022 as Johnson’s first retail location. Expanding the business was challenging, but Johnson was up for the task.
Johnson explains she was waking up at 4 a.m. to bake, spending hours preparing the roadside stand and delivering custom orders to clients before finally returning home to complete paperwork and prepare for the next day's clients. The hard work was worth it when the roadside stand opened.
“On the first day I had a line up down the road,” Johnson states. “I sold out of cinnamon rolls in 15 minutes.”
Triple J’s Roadside Stand was a project accomplished with help from Johnson’s grandparents. Johnson’s grandpa built the stand and her grandma helped with decorations. Visitors to the stand are met with an assortment of muffins, cookies and cinnamon rolls which pair perfectly with Triple J’s freshly brewed coffee.
“Most of my recipes have been in my family for generations,” Johnson explains. "Those traditional recipes never fail."
Johnson enjoys baking a variety of goods, but her specialty is custom cakes. Combining traditional recipes with decoration inspiration from her clients, Johnson ensures each cake is an original work of art. Johnson bakes cakes for all occasions with experience in birthday, baby shower, retirement and wedding cakes.
Wedding cakes are a detailed process for the young pastry artist. Johnson spends time communicating with clients and learning about the details of their event. Couples taste cake and frosting combinations to pick the perfect flavor profile for their wedding day. Johnson explains between communication, planning, shopping, baking and delivery, a wedding cake can take about 13 total hours to create. Johnson’s most requested wedding cake design includes a rustic theme with hand-formed fondant roses.
“Each cake design is 100% my own original work,” Johnson explains.
With strong family support and a long list of loyal clients – Johnson proves she has the drive and passion to continue growing the success of Triple J’s Home Bakery. Johnson encourages any other young entrepreneurs interested in business to start small and dream big.
"It's required a lot of hard work, but I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else," Johnson states.
For more information, please visit triplejshomebakery.com and follow Triple J's Home Bakery on Facebook.
