Brooklyn Park entrepreneur inspires through cookies
Junita Flowers started baking cookies as a way to spark joy in her own life. She now produces cookies and cookie dough to sell online through her company, Junita’s Jar.
It started with cookies.
Good Bakers know to make a good cookies, you can’t skimp on quality ingredients.
“Every really good batch starts with real butter,” explains Junita Flowers. “This is how I learned with my mother and grandmother.”
Baking has always brought Junita joy, whether she’s baking for fun at home, or in a food kitchen where she cranks out batches by the dozens. A few years back when life got tough, Junita would escape to bake in the kitchen.
“Some days were really hard,” remembers Junita. “I literally wanted to take my heart out of my chest so I wouldn’t have to feel for a little while.”
Junita was in an abusive relationship for about 10 years. She would escape mentally by going to the kitchen, pulling out the best ingredients, and getting to work.
“I was making cookies, but not as a business. It was a way to connect with something that made me smile,” says Junita.
Expanding out of her own kitchen
Over time, Junita perfected her grandmother’s recipes and created a few of her own. She baked up cookies for farmers’ markets and eventually took steps to develop a mission-driven cookie business.
“Once I got on the other side and I was out of the abusive relationship, things started to come together,” explains Junita.
You can find three varieties of Junita’s Jar cookies on the store shelves at Dean’s Supermarket in Osseo and online at junitasjar.com. You will find Triple Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Raisin.
“There are people who exist in the world who don’t like chocolate, believe it or not,” jokes Junita. “So we have a cookie for that population as well.”
A mission-driven business
A portion of all of the profits of Junita’s Jar cookies go to education and awareness initiatives dedicated to ending relationship violence.
“Domestic violence became a part of my story. It was an opportunity to take something I was so passionate about and a trying situation in my life and bring the two together,” explains Junita. “We’re creating so much more than a cookie company. We are creating a movement that ‘Hope munches on’ because hope is a game changer.
You can see Junita’s motto, “Hope Munches On”, on the label of every product Junita sells.
