Come visit our shop in Vardaman!
Our team at the family-owned bakery and confectionery still delights in creating the finest sweet potato treats by hand.
“We are family-owned and still make everything by hand. We hand-peel every sweet potato, handpack every order and bake every pie, every cookie, and every sausage ball one-by-one. It’s all done with love.”
— Jan Cook Houston, owner, Sweet Potato Sweets
Our History
Sweet Potato Sweets was established in 1996 in the heart of a small town named the sweet potato capitol of the world by Mississippi Governor William Waller. The store was founded by a trio of passionate women partners, Daphana Cook, Karen Wright, and Barbara Williams—all wives of local sweet potato farmers—who were inspired by a challenge to supply 300 pies per week to a buyer.
Although that opportunity never materialized, the women moved forward with the bakery, driven by a desire to ensure every local and visitor had a place to get a pie made from Vardaman sweet potatoes.
Today, the shop sits along a stretch of Highway 8 in Vardaman, known as Sweet Potato Avenue, and is solely owned by the Cook family. Daphna’s daughter, Jan Cook Houston, now carries on her mother’s legacy by overseeing daily operations. While the team continues to craft new items, Sweet Potato Sweets remains rooted in tradition, using treasured recipes passed down through the family and local community. For example, the pie recipe is from Jan’s aunt, the muffin tops are Daphna’s recipe, and the yum yums were developed by Jan’s sister and mother experimenting in the kitchen.
Ready to taste the nation's best sweet potato pie?
Sweet Potato Sweets in the News
September 2016
Vardaman Woman Returns to Her First, and Last Love
Mississippi State University Extension