‘The whole experience will be different.’ New dessert shop to open in downtown Macon
When Scott Mitchell was a kid, if he behaved well in school, his grandmother, Eleanor, would take him to get a special treat.
“Nanny had a way... of making you feel so special with a scoop of ice cream,” Mitchell said.
After Decadent Dessert Bar abruptly closed in July, Mitchell said he felt that something was missing in downtown Macon.
“I saw this need here, and I did not want there to be a time in Macon where we don’t have a dessert and gelato shop,” he said.
Mitchell reached out to NewTown Macon and started the process of opening a new business called Sweet Eleanor’s Divine Desserts. He announced on Facebook Saturday that the restaurant, located at 530 Poplar St., will open in the fall.
“When I started thinking about the whole concept…, I knew immediately that I did not want it to feel like a restaurant because I wanted it to feel like a place where you can lounge,” Mitchell said. “I want it to be more like an experience where it’s a treat to be able to come and get a scoop of gelato or a cookie.”
Although the building used to house Decadent, Mitchell said Sweet Eleanor’s is going to be completely different. The space is being painted and redecorated.
“You’re gonna tell when you walk in, it’s different. It’s gonna look different. It’s gonna feel different. It’s going to taste different. I’m pretty sure the whole experience will be different,” he said.
Mitchell, also the owner of The Bohemian Den, said because he has amazing employees at The Bohemian Den, he knew he could rely on them as he opens this new venture.
“I can’t wait to build the team there that I’ve built here. It’s so important for me as a business owner to be a really decent boss, and I always want to be the boss that I never had or the boss that I always wanted,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell has already hired four employees for the dessert shop, and he plans to wait and see how the first few weeks go before bringing on additional employees, he said.
When the store opens in the fall, Mitchell said visitors can expect pastries, cheesecake, 12 different flavors of gelato, cookies, shakes and more. He also plans to have monthly specials based around his grandmother’s recipes and pairing them with gelato flavors.
Growing up, Mitchell said he remembers being in his grandmother’s kitchen around the holidays as they baked cheese straws, rum balls and all kinds of goodies.
“So many memories I have are of my grandmother’s sweets and things,” Mitchell said. “They’re just such fond memories.”
When Mitchell started thinking about this venture, he said he wanted those memories to be at the forefront of the business, and he wanted to include his grandmother’s name in the name of the restaurant. With the help of his husband and mother-in-law, they came up with the name Sweet Eleanor’s Divine Desserts. He wants kids today to fondly remember their experience at Sweet Eleanor’s.
“I would love for this space to be a place where people taste a food item, taste a dessert, taste a gelato flavor, and it takes them back to a time where they have a really good memory,” Mitchell said.