Baked to Perfection: Theresa’s Delectables Has Built a Reputation for Excellence

from The Lakes Magazine April 2020

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Theresa’s Delectables Bakery & Cafe has a strong reputation for excellence that extends well outside of Indiana, enabling the business to grow steadily through recent years.

However, co-owner Randy Watts says he and his wife Theresa began the successful business on a small scale.

“We started out doing crafts shows in the Kosciusko County area in 2002,” Randy says. “The second year, we introduced our Theresa’s homemade cheeseball. That was designed to get everyone to stop at the booth. It took off from there. In the

Christmas season of 2013, we started selling our cheeseballs at Bale’s meat market in Syracuse.”

On July 5, 2014, Theresa and Randy opened up their first brickand-mortar business on 4th Street in Milford.

“From there we grew quickly,” Randy says. “On August 8, 2017, we opened up in our new and current location here in Milford. We now have thirty locations selling our cheeseballs throughout Indiana.”

The bakery currently offers the original cheeseballs, and a jalapeño version.

“We have a dessert cheeseball now too - s’mores,” Randy says. “Our cheeseballs are what we are known for. We ship them all over the continental U.S. via our website. We have had our cheeseballs taken to two-thirds of the states and six countries, including as far away as Thailand.”

The cheeseballs are made with a long-held family recipe that Theresa and Randy have tweaked in order to accommodate bulk production.

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Randy says he and Theresa have succeeded in a small town because their product footprint is now in 30 stores around the state as well as numerous pop-up spots in hospitals, event centers and other businesses.

“Because of the cheeseballs we have succeeded, and not just off of the local, small-town population,” he says. “Our bakery and cafe has done well on its own also because we make 95 percent of our bakery items from scratch. All our breakfast and lunch menu items are made per order. We also make and sell kolaches, which is a bun dough we make with many different meats, fruits and cheeses. We, and a company in the Indianapolis area, are the only places in Indiana that make them. Ours are all handmade.”

The homemade cinnamon rolls and chocolate cream cake are also popular at Theresa’s.

“Our homemade pies and decorated cakes are popular too,” Randy adds.

Nevertheless, the cheeseballs remain the biggest hit at Theresa’s.

“We tell people all the time about our cheeseballs, and ask them

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if they have tried it,” Randy says. “We give out free samples. Our cheeseballs are still our favorite even after all these years.”

Randy says the shop is truly a mom-and-pop organization.

“Theresa is the face of the company with all our distribution locations,” he says. “I take care of the back-of-the-house part of the business. Theresa handles most of the bakery duties, while I handle the cheeseball production and day-to-day operations. I no longer have time to help with the baking, although we both have bakery and restaurant backgrounds. We currently have six employees who help us keep up.”

When Theresa and Randy realized they needed more space for the business prior to relocating to their current location, they also knew they wanted to stay in Milford.

“Small businesses struggle to survive in small towns, and we could probably do quite well in much bigger towns or cities, but that is not who we are,” Randy says. “We love our small town. We are originally from Elkhart, but after 26 years, this is home.”

Theresa’s Delectables is located at 207 North Higbee Street in Milford. Call 574-361-8058 and visit theresasdelectables.com for more info.

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