INSIGHT Magazine February 2014 | Page 17

I n the game of baseball, the “sweet spot” is the area of the bat that a hitter can count on to get the best possible results: line drives, RBIs, homeruns, etc. With baseball season just around the corner, I decided to track down the city of Oxford’s own “sweet spot”. Although it has nothing to do with sports or baseball, it’s been the talk of the town since its opening on November 22, 2014. I’m referring, of course, to Smallcakes Cupcakery located just behind Logan’s and next to Struts. I recently sat down with the owners, Jason and Jennifer Green, to get the inside story of what brought the dynamic duo to town, and to find out the secrets behind their growing popularity and tasty treats. Both born and raised in Calhoun County, Jason and Jennifer found themselves working and raising their son, Hayden, in Marietta, Georgia. Jason, who was a police officer at the time, was growing weary of all the stress that his job entailed. “I was just getting burnt out and tired of the daily grind and politics of it all,” Jason says. One day the Greens heard about a friend of theirs who had opened a Smallcakes in Marietta, Georgia, and within very little time, had been fortunate enough to expand into three other cities! Jason and Jennifer started doing some back- INSIGHT ground research and quickly decided that this could be a huge opportunity for their family. After carefully weighing their costs and surveying various locations throughout Alabama, they decided to make the trek back to Oxford to try their hand at the cupcake world. “I have always loved to cook,” Jason admits, “and we had always talked about moving back home someday. My last day [as a police officer] was October 31, 2013, and I haven’t looked back since!” Smallcakes Cupcakery was founded by Jeff Martin out of a tiny storefront in Kansas City in 2008. He February 2014 17