Check Out Jennifer Cassaday’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Cassaday

Hi Jennifer, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My grandfather bought the farm back in 1964 to fulfill his dream. He bought acreage at an auction in the middle of an ice storm out in the middle of nowhere. No running water just an outhouse and an old wood stove in the small farmhouse with some land covered with pecan trees. Then he went home to let his family know they would be moving from their cozy home located in the middle of a neighborhood in Adrian, Mo to the middle of nowhere 30 miles away on a back gravel road. The pecan trees he dreamed of harvesting were encased in brush so thick that he couldn’t even get to them. He spent the next weeks and months working third shift at the GM plant. He would come home, sleep for a few hours, then work on cleaning up the grove. The first pecan harvest was him climbing up into one of the few trees he could get to and hitting the limbs with a mallet while his wife and kids (including my mother at the age of 7) were down below to pick up and fill their buckets with their very first harvest of pecans. This grove today is completely cleared, gorgeous, and even a host to an annual festival for everyone to come out and appreciate what we get to enjoy every day.
I grew up in the small retail shop out west of Butler, Mo. It was more like a general store but also had all the pecan processing equipment located in the “cracker room”. My job was to bag up and staple labels onto product for the shelves. I don’t remember how old I was when I started doing this but I remember that even in early elementary school, if my grandpa walked by and saw that I wasn’t weighing up the bags of pecans precisely to the weight it was supposed to be, I got a full lecture right there on the spot about profit and loss. “Just an ounce extra in each bag will add up over time so it needs to be accurate every single time kiddo”
My grandfather and I used to sit around the kitchen table and talk about things we were going to do one day. His dream was that I open up a shop in Kansas City somewhere. Spoken like a true farmer, he would tell me to “go and teach these city folk a thing or two about pecans”. He passed away of cancer in 2003 and I promised that I would watch over my grandma and continue what he got started. He loved to teach people about pecans. In 2014 I finally decided to get the courage to venture off and open my own shop in Adrian, Mo where I now live. I actually started as a little shop on Main Street trying to figure out what I was doing – I really had no clue. I had passion and my drive was that his dream had now become mine. I now understand why he went to that auction in 1964 and did something that made absolutely no sense. He had a dream and no one was going to tell him he couldn’t do it. It didn’t make any sense to anyone else but it made perfect sense to him.
I have had one hurdle after another and have even been asked why I keep doing what I do. I honestly have asked myself that a lot of times as well and even considered quitting multiple times but I am stubborn (I have been told I take after my grandpa) and refuse to quit on a dream. In 2018, with the help of my husband and family, I renovated an old building located just off interstate 49. We had no money and still very little clue what we were doing but what I did have… a dream, drive & a vision. Even if it didn’t make any sense to anyone else but me.
We opened the summer of 2019 with a new business plan – restaurant/bakery/coffee/ice cream and also retail items focusing on merchandise from other small businesses. I barely made it six months in when the pandemic hit. That was followed by supply shortages, inflation, also a few months of helping my husband to recover from a major motorcycle accident, and multiple times of struggling to keep our doors open. I feel like I am the last person that could give advice on the right way to run a business – I am still trying to figure that one out. I could however, give ample advice on what NOT to do but then again that has been my best teacher over the years. Learning the hard way, after all, is where we gain most of our wisdom.
As for how I got to where I am today….. my family raised me with an old fashioned sense of survival techniques. Which is going after what you want – it won’t just come to you. You have to work for it. My grandfather always said laziness was a sign of weakness and being stubborn was in the blood – spoken like a true farmer. My family is still my biggest cheerleader – grandparents, parents, husband, and my kids – they are my rock that I lean on. But I keep moving forward because of the people. When a customer comes through the door with a sense of appreciation, it means more than what I could ever put into words. I get to witness families connecting over breakfast. I saw a mom meet her daughter for the first time as an adult since giving her up for adoption. I watch parents and kids play a friendly game of slap jack with no cell phone in sight. I see a stressed out mom drink coffee with a friend. A lonely elderly man with no family who orders a single egg just because he needs somewhere to go for a while…. my original push is the dream but all this (the people) is the thing that will continue to carry me. They are my people and my supporters. I couldn’t go any farther without them.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth road?? In an off road kind of way. haha!

I had a shop on Main Street that I rented but different issues with the building led me to buy the current location just off the interstate. After sinking our life savings into the renovation, we weren’t even open six months before the pandemic hit. That was followed by supply shortages including equipment break downs that we couldn’t get parts for or replace. In ’22 my husband was in a bad motorcycle accident when a car pulled out in front of him. His recovery was about 6 months before he could go back to work so at one point I was trying to help to recover while keeping my own business going, helping with his, and him to recover. Our small town really rallied behind us though. I had strangers offering to help & get supplies for my shop and random meals showing up on our doorstep. The love poured out from every direction.
Then inflation hit playing a huge role here recently. First, it was with the cost of supplies and now we can see a shift in customers spending money. Younger families with kids that used to come out for supper and ice cream just don’t do that as much any more so we had to recently adjust our hours. Being located in a rural area, it’s really hard some days to get traffic through the door. We are constantly trying to figure out budgets for advertising, specials, anything that will set us apart and encourage people to drive to our small town.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I graduated form culinary school with a degree in pastry arts in 2022. I was actually taking my final exam online in order to graduate while sitting with my husband in ICU after his motorcycle accident.

We are a pecan store but our slogan is “More than a pecan store”. While we do things with our own farm fresh pecans – we have 14 flavors of pecan pie, of which you can pick out a slice to blend with our homemade vanilla ice cream into a milkshake. We also have a pretty large breakfast and lunch menu focusing on making things from scratch. Our full order of biscuits & gravy that is all made from scratch is actually served on a platter. We have a balance of lighter things from soups & salads to a fully loaded pig and pulled pork nachos with our own smoked pork. So if you are hungry, we will fill you up with some old fashioned cookin and portion sizes that are off the charts.

How do you define success?
That’s simple…. by failing.

As humans we tend to judge each other and even ourselves based on our failures and a lot of times we have a hard time looking beyond that. However, the failures is how we learn. It’s how we grow. It’s why we step back and realize the stupid “something” we will never do again. In my opinion, without failing over and over again, it is impossible to be successful.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.byrdspecandelights.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/byrds_pecan_delights/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/byrdspecansdelights

Image Credits
Picture of myself was taken by “Martin City Telegraph” for an article they published