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SugarJam’s popularity expanding rapidly

BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer

After SugarJam The Southern Kitchen left its former Scottsdale home in January 2021, the restaurant has grown into much more at its new home near Hayden Road and Raintree Drive.

SugarJam opened The Market by SugarJam as well as an ice cream trailer on July 23 and the two locations have served as unique extensions of a growing concept.

“We’re still growing,” said SugarJam owner/CEO Dana Dumas. “This is a nice sized space but for the amount of volume that we receive during the weekend, we’re almost outpacing the size of the space now.”

As crowds began waiting outside her doors to get a table and diners anxiously awaited a hot meal, Damas had an idea of how to utilize a space she had been storing items in from her first restaurant.

“I had chairs and other things from my first restaurant and with that being said,” she explained, “I said to myself, ‘OK, I need to get rid of this stuff and I need to move forward with something.’ And then I realized I always wanted a retail store.

“We get a lot of out-of-towners from Texas and Atlanta to New York and Chicago and we get so many people asking us, ‘Hey, do you have anything that we can get that says SugarJam on it or something I can have as a memory?’”

Damas got to work clearing out the space and converting it into a boutique inspired by the shops that can be frequented in southern cities like Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, stocked full of SugarJambranded merchandise and crafts made by local artisans.

“I not only have our stuff that is branded SugarJam – like hats, bags and t-shirts. I also have gifts that are locally made,” Damas said. “I support local vendors and then I support smaller businesses that are throughout the country that are like mom and pops that are making things as long as I don’t see that it’s sold on Amazon.” The space is designed to flow eloquently next to the dining area that sits adjacent to her bakery — which pays homage to her original storefront.

Damas then focused on the other task she had been juggling amidst opening the retail store: opening an ice cream trailer, where her 12-year-old twin sons, Brody and Brayden, work.

Around the same time, she came up with the idea of her retail space, Damas noticed the influx of children coming in and out of the Aqua-Tots next door to her restaurant and retail space.

She began thinking about a way to serve kids and parents looking for a quick treat.

As someone who got her start in farmers markets, Damas devised the idea of purchasing a trailer and serving ice cream.

With the idea in mind and a trailer purchased, Damas’ next task was to find someone who could help her make ice cream.

Damas wanted to incorporate her baked goods – like her famous peach cobbler, bourbon pecan pie and apple pie – into ice cream.

So she called upon Tempe-based ice cream and gelato manufacturer William “Doc” Brown, who owns Doc’s Artisan Ice Creams and whom Damas met over a decade ago during her days at the Phoenix Farmer’s Market.

After securing a partner to create ice

SugarJam The Southern Kitchen owner/CEO Dana Dumas is expanding her operation as the popularity of her restaurant/bakery and ice cream trailer grows.

(David Minton/Progress Staff Photographer)

The ice cream trailer outside SugarJam The Southern Kitchen is open on the weekends only because owner Dana Dumas’ twin 12-year-old boys can only work there