‘Willy Wonka’ workshop. If you can dream it, new Tri-Cities snack company can freeze dry it
If you can dream it, they can freeze-dry it.
A new Tri-Cities business is putting a fun new twist on candy.
JoJo’s Freeze Dried Goodies is wowing customers across the Tri-Cities with unique new flavors made from classics.
They have everything from freeze-dried fruit to candy, ice cream and even pie. They’ve even managed to figure out how to freeze-dry pickles.
In just three months they’ve expanded to selling in six locations, with more on the way. Their newest spot at the Tri-Cities Airport will take the unique treats all over the country.
Flavor experimenting
Sarra Hendrick of Pasco never intend to start a freeze-dried treat company. She was growing microgreens for local restaurants and just wanted to find a way to share them with relatives across the country.
So she bought a freeze-dryer thinking she would use it to make pestos and salt mixes with excess greens to offset the cost.
“The first time I ran it with the greens, I did not like the way they tasted reconstituted,” she said. “So I was actually a little discouraged because I spent all this money on this machine and the greens didn’t turn out the way I wanted them to.”
The commercial freeze-dryers are a pretty significant investment for a small business, with the smallest model from Harvest Right running about $2,400. Larger models can cost more than $5,000.
Hendrick said a friend mentioned that the machines are great for fruit, so she thought she’d give it a try.
She bought some fresh pineapple, and 96 hours later, her entire life changed.
The pineapple was a hit. Friends and family couldn’t get enough of it. So she decided to try some other local fruit, experimenting with strawberries, cinnamon apples and other snacks.
Freeze-dried snacks
Hendrick said she took some to a farmers market and it sold faster than she could have imagined. From that point, she decided to go all in on the freeze-dried snacks.
She began shifting her business completely toward it, made changes to her food licensing and even converted a room in her home into a commercial kitchen for freeze-drying.
Converting the old microgreen growing space seems like an inevitability at this point because every freeze-dryer she has is running nonstop.
She’s now has five freeze-dryers and will likely purchase a sixth soon to help keep up with demand.
Pineapple remains one of her most popular treats, but is also the hardest as it take four days to prepare. Strawberries aren’t as bad, at only 50 hours.
“It’s hard though because fruit is not always in season,” she said. “We try to do as much local as we can. It’s a family event, we all go and pick it and then we come home and process it.”
The candy is much faster though. Depending on the type of candy and texture, some can be done in as few as 4 hours.
Rainbow Puffs (think fat Skittles) are the most popular, but Funny Cluster Puffs (exploded Nerd Clusters) and peach rings also have customers clamoring for a bag.
Sweet experiments
The great thing about the candy is that the nutritional content stays the same, but the candy expands in size and the flavor intensifies.
Hendrick said she was reluctant to do candy at first, because she had been on a weight loss journey losing 145 pounds and didn’t want the temptation.
Her mother, Johanna Merritt, finally convinced her to give it a try, and she had another hit on her hands.
“I have taste-tested everything, and it’s a blessing and a curse,” she said. “When I do something, I do it big so I decided I’m going to freeze-dry every kind of candy I can.”
The name of the business comes from her daughter’s nickname for Hendrick’s mother, Jojo. Hendrick said she couldn’t do it without the help of her parents Johanna and Bart, her husband and daughter and their in-laws.
It’s practically Willy Wonka’s workshop in her freeze-drying kitchen.
There are hundreds of completed packages on display and shelves, ready to head to stores and shelves stacked with every kind of candy imaginable.
There are Sour Patch marshmallows, chocolate and orange cream-flavored popsicles, banana pudding drops, cookies and so much more.
What comes next?
Hendrick is working on their airport setup and already has her sights set on local hospital gift shops. If the airport is successful, she hopes to add more locations and other airports.
It took a lot of work to create a fully licensed and permitted commercial freeze-drying kitchen, but she knows they’ll need more space. Expanding the home business is likely a temporary measure because she can see the business easily growing to up to 20 freeze-dryers.
A commercial space could be on the horizon, but the dream, she said, is building a “barndominium” with the commercial space in it.
Barndominiums have become popular options for people looking to build on their own land in recent years. Typically they start with a prefabricated metal building, often a barn-style and build it out to meet their needs for living space along with business needs.
A much larger space would also allow for more experimentation. Right now she’s using only fully prepared foods for treats like the pecan pie bites and banana pudding drops. It allows her to partner with local bakers, but it can be limiting because she can’t just whip something up to experiment with.
Jojo’s Freeze Dried Goodies can be found at locations across Tri-Cities. They also ship within the United States.
What’s the Scoop? - 3902 W. Clearwater Ave. #119, Kennewick
Livin’ The Dream Stop and Shop - 118 Vista Way, Kennewick
Mi Gusto Es Boutique - 114 N. 4th Ave., Pasco
Hampton Inn & Suites - 6826 Burden Blvd., Pasco
Sub Zero Ice Cream Shop - 321 N. Columbia Center Blvd., Kennewick
Tri-Cities Airport gift shop - 3601 N. 20th Ave., Pasco
Hendrick said they’re always open to trying new ideas, so customers interested in custom orders can contact her through their website or on social media.
