Linda Hundt thought she had everything in life. Until she woke up one day, suffering from real depression. With the help of God, she was able to fight her way back and find a sense of purpose. That is showing love for the world through her love of baking pies. From there, she would go on to win all kinds of national awards. This truly is a great and inspiring story.
Links:
Sweetie-Licious Website: http://www.sweetie-licious.com/
Sweetie-Licious Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweetieliciousbakery/
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Transcript
I never thought I was good at anything. I never thought I was special. and that's one reason I love to share this story to, to let you know that if I'm special at something, so are you. And it doesn't mean you have to open a pie shop. But it does mean that you are gifted and that God gives us these gifts for a reason.
Cliff Duvernois:Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Total Michigan, where we interview ordinary people doing some pretty extraordinary things. I'm your host, Cliff Duvernois. Today I am sitting outside of Lansing in the ridiculously cute little town of DeWitt. And for today, I was very excited that she agreed to be on the show because as a little kid, one of my most favorite desserts in the world was when my mom would bake pie. And come to find out we've got a national champion of a pie maker here who started a bakery who's got an incredible story to share with us. So she has actually won the Food Network Pie Challenge as well as the Crisco National Pie Championship. She has been featured in USA Today, Food and Wine Magazine, and just about every other periodical that is out there. And we're going to talk all about that. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the owner of Sweetielicious Bakery and Cafe. That would be Linda Hunt. Linda, how are you?
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:I'm good, Cliff. Thank
Cliff Duvernois:I I might just say that intro again. That is just absolutely incredible. Okay. so let's get to the good stuff. Tell me, where are you from? Where did you grow up?
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:I live in DeWitt, just a mere five minutes away. In a little, cute little farmhouse. And, I grew up in Lansing. So just 15 minutes away. And I went to Michigan State. And that was another 15 minutes away. So I have not, we are too far from where I was born actually. My, I have a twin sister. And she's lived all over the world. I'm just your basic little pie maker. Laughter What did you study at Michigan State? Education. Elementary Ed. Yeah. But that was back when there were no jobs in the mid 80s. Everybody that I graduated with moved to like California and Texas. And, I always wanted to be close to my family, as they aged. and just to enjoy them and all of that. So I ended up in politics of all things, just because it was a full time job, and I knew I wanted children. And so I hated every second of being there. Although it's not, it was nothing like it is now, that was over 30 years ago. but the people were amazing, and still some of my dearest friends. And I have a lot of folks that still come in here, from those days,
Cliff Duvernois:Now, why did you decide to go into education?
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:My parents, my mom was a high school English teacher. My dad was elementary school principal. My grandmas and aunts were one room school teachers. My brother was a teacher. my twin
Cliff Duvernois:So it's clearly in your
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:It's clearly in my family. That and pie baking, And cooking and baking in general really. yeah,
Cliff Duvernois:Certainly. And then, So you get your, you get, you got your degree in education, but you started working in politics?
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:Because there were no jobs here. Ah. So I did not want, I had no desire to move, to Dallas, Texas, or anything like that, and, which is where they were. So I, so yeah, I just found, just like we all do, sometimes the path that you want isn't exactly, God's plan and God's path for you. that was the first, big lightning bolt that happened to me early on that, because, honestly, you can look at it like, Oh, I hate politics. Why am I here? Or I can look at it like, Oh, my gosh, the people are wonderful. And, I have a job with benefit, all the other good things, which is what I chose to do for a long time. and then it, I knew that there was. Something else.
Cliff Duvernois:Indeed. And we're going to talk about that. Because dying of curiousity. So you actually got into pie baking or
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:baking in general Yeah, yep.
Cliff Duvernois:Yeah, talk to us about that.
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:Yeah, my twin sister and I, I think it was 1968, could have been 1969. We got an easy bake oven, the turquoise one. I think kids are still getting them. I know my granddaughter has one, so yeah. And I was just mesmerized. And, I have three older brothers. And I always tell this story. And it's so true. I didn't, you know how they had the little brownie pack, and you had the light bulb, and you would look, and everything smelled great, and it tasted good, as a kid. You need any type of baked goods Exactly. And I remember my three brothers coming out of nowhere and saying what's that? what's baking? What's happening? And, and we would, I remember my mom, would be burning hot from that light bulb. And my mom cutting it in five little pieces. And my brothers were nice to me, for the first time, for the first time in my life. And I really, I really at a young age really realized the love, and probably with my brothers more so appreciation, for, For baking and giving, I'm, I love to give it away if I can. You know what I mean? I love to be able to, to make people happy. that's what always been my quest in life. And, so it all just came together, full stop at one point, that this is what I need to do full time,
Cliff Duvernois:Now, was your mother a baker?
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:Oh, yeah. Oh, they all were. My Aunt Margie, My cookbook has all the stories about it. And I really wanted, and I know I'm probably jumping around here, but this, each of the pies have a story. I wanted to, pay tribute to, these people, whether they were school teachers, or secretaries, or stay at home moms, or presidents of corporations, whatever it was, that their lives were, important and worthy for, baking and cooking and making meals and making family dinners and traditions important. And that's what I grew up on and what I wanted to continue doing, not only for all my customers, but there was all sorts of ways to do that. And that's why kind of the different media things took off. Because I feel that's, a really important tenet in life that sometimes gets forgotten between soccer games and cell phones and all the things that can distract us from the real essentials of life,
Cliff Duvernois:things took So, you're a little girl, you're experiencing mom, grandma, and aunt Margie, baking away. So what is maybe like some of the, when they're teaching you, what is some of the key pieces of advice that they gave you?
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:what is maybe like I Margie's farm and, my twin sister would stay a week there and we literally were like Tom Sawyer painting the fence and doing the whole farm life, feeding the chickens and same with my Grandma Farrell. And they were the, so farm life and that I was very, I knew that was my dream. And then professionally baking was it was not anything that entered my life at a young age, but I was certainly influenced my I remember mom having, pies. She's always baking pies. And I remember there we'd get home from school and again, she was a high school English teacher. So she wasn't there right away, and I remember there'd be this pie in the refrigerator that said do not eat For church circle tonight, and I'm like no way I always said, I always when I teach baking classes or whatever television whenever doing always bake two pies You know what? Never one. Because someone else needs that. And anyway, so that was, it was always around. We always had Sunday dinners after church, we had all of those. But one of the, I think, of the big catalysts really was, I married my high school sweetheart. And he, we were talking about coconut cream pie was his favorite. We were, I was probably 19 or so. And, I was gonna bake him his favorite meal and have a picnic. And, I remember trying to make this crust. I was independent. And mom had, of course, gazillion cookbooks. And she was teaching after school, she wasn't home yet. And I was just in tears, because my crust wasn't working. And, And I wanted to make this pie and have it be super special for my boyfriend at the time, she walked me through it, And, I, just the little things. Like the crust doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be this pizza dough, You can piece it and make it together. And then when you put it in, you don't know it and it's like a perfect pie. There's so many things about, just the analogy of pies, in life. That really... or real and true, that, the crust and all the wonderful flavors inside, are another testament of, the more the better, I always fill the pies to the very top. So we're not being scant in the sense of, you need to live your life really full, and, I, I just think, her, she was always, a perfectionist cook and baker. But she also never used recipes. And and there was always something delicious, on the stove, even if she had conferences or whatever. And I just really felt, super, super connected to that. When mom would get, her Good Housekeeping magazines, Family Circle, Country Living, all of it, I would get it before she did. And I remember being 10 years old and going, Family Circle used to have a menu in the middle. It was like a paper menu of the whole month. And I would cross things off and put things. And then I just started experimenting with flavors and Just, I always loved trying to make, a lot of our, all of our things here are based on vintage recipes. Whether it be my own or from vintage cookbooks. And then, My job, I thought, is to, aren't we always trying to make the next generation better than we are in some way, right? We want them to be, I don't, I guess better may be the wrong word, but enriched, and have a richer life, not in money, but, or as rich as possible. As we have and blessed and all of those things. So I always thought it was my job that they, these pioneers of cookbooks from the turn of the century. I even have a couple of those, that I based some of these on. But I wanted to make them my own, too, and I wanted to make them even more flavorful and even, better than, so I really experimented with that and kept doing that until I was called to have my own pie shop
Cliff Duvernois:Sure, and before when you're talking about cookbooks, I was just thinking that one of my mom's most prized possessions is like a Betty Crocker cookbook that has been used so many times. The pages
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:are falling. Yes, it's got the red yes, That's one of my all time favorites. Yes. Actually, yeah, that, is actually a better home and garden. And then the Betty Crocker is just the red, not to get technical with you, but I have the, I have, no, because the better, is the red and white chalked. Cause that's the one I, my high school girls when they graduate and they go on to college, I always get the reproduction one like that. You can still buy it. Oh, really? Yeah, because you can't beat the rhubarb pie, the bread and butter pickles in there, are still some of my scalloped potatoes, yeah.
Cliff Duvernois:we're going to have a hard time stopping this interview. I can tell that right now because I absolutely love this topic. for our audience, we're going to take a quick break and thank our sponsors. When we come back, we're going to talk about Linda's meteoric rise. And, when it comes to, baking pies, we'll see you after the break. Are you enjoying these amazing stories? Michigan is full of people that are doing some pretty extraordinary things. If you want these amazing stories sent directly to your inbox, head over to total michigan.com. Enter your email address and get them today. What are you going to get? I'm glad you asked. First, you're gonna join our awesome Michigan community Second, you will get an email that includes the top five interviews from the show sent directly to your inbox. Third, you're gonna get exclusive behind the scenes information about the show. There's a lot of things that are happening to grow this movement beyond the confines of just a radio show and a podcast. You'll get advanced notice of upcoming guests and early access to their interviews. Now to get all these goodies, just head over to total michigan.com/join. Enter your email address and join our awesome community today. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Total Michigan, where we talk to ordinary people doing some pretty extraordinary things. I'm your host, Cliff Duvernois. Today, we're talking with Linda Hunt, owner of the Sweetielicious Bakery and Cafe. Linda, before the break, we were talking a lot about pie. And I am so hungry right now. the question that I got for you is, when we left off on your life's journey, that you had gotten your degree in education, you were now working in politics, you had a full time job.
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:children
Cliff Duvernois:With children now? Yes, you married your high school sweetheart. idyllic. Benny? Any stretch of the imagination? anybody would just be like, perfectly content with that. But, something came up. Why don't you share with us about what was happening?
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:out of nowhere, I got depression. And it back then, I'm so glad that it's talked about now. And we just, no, it's still mental health. No mental health month was September, I believe. but. But back then you didn't really talk about it. So I certainly didn't share. And I was always known, and still am, as the happy one, and the positive one. And I, that's who I felt who I was. So this was like this slap on my face when it came. Slap on my face. in bed bawling my eyes out of feeling unworthy. Unworthy of God's love and worthy of anyone's love. And, especially his, and, so I would sneak to therapy on, my lunch break. And, so no one knew and I just, my family didn't know. I didn't want them to have any burden of, so would cry on your way to work and cry in the shower and all the typical things that one does. But one day, I have, and still do, a stack on my nightstand filled with cookbooks and spiritual books, bible, every kind of spiritual, but just, poetry, just everything that inspires me, And I had read this particular one my friend had sent me, and it was basically saying faith is, and all the wonderful things that faith is. And one of them had said, and I had read this book many times, and read this quote. But I'm going to butcher it, but it said something like, pain is knowing That, all the pain in your life is all a part of God's perfect plan for you. The minute that I read that, I got this warm, it was a flood. Yet it was slow. this flood of warmth and love that went from my toes all the way to my heart. Through my body and the message was you are loved and special. And you need to love people. And I can't, it didn't say the masses. But it was very clear, that's the cool thing about the Holy Spirit. I. Just even saying it in words, it doesn't seem worthy. But I always get teary when it happened, because I can't believe to this day that happened to me. little me.
Cliff Duvernois:Like God reached down and touched you.
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:Yeah, in such a way. And when that happened, all of these, and he had tried giving, these little hints to me all this time. And I just ignored them. I just didn't even put them together of, and when it happened, it was almost like flashing your life and all the things like a puzzle piece or I always refer to it as One of those things the number things where you when you're a kid and you connect the numbers. That's exactly what it felt like. Every single things like flash in my life of what was important to me. But not only that I had gifts. I never thought I was good at anything. I never thought I was special. I never thought that, and that's one reason I love to share this story to people to, to let you know that if I'm special at something, so are you, and it doesn't mean you have to open a pie shop. But it does mean that you are gifted and that God gives us these gifts for a reason. So when that happened, I never turned back. I had to quit my job. All of this was a huge financial burden. but I knew that when I connected the dots, that, I didn't say this and I forgot to say it, but on my honeymoon in 1985, we were at a pie shop in Cape Cod. And I said aloud to my husband, this is a dream of mine someday. But I never ever thought I'd get there. Because back then, when you graduated back then, if you were to own a business, you obviously had to go to business school, That was really what was, exactly, that's what it was taught. I never ever thought I was ever smart enough to do this. and I never thought that I was, whatever, this would ever really happen. But when the Holy Spirit talks to you, then you don't give up. So that's where my drive came from. I don't have to say in my shop, God loves you. I just hope that they get that when they walk in. From not only the aromas, the smells and the food itself, but the people that wait on you, the smiles, the genuineness, but that's all love, and I've had so many stories. I wish I would have written another book on that. How that, has made a difference in people's lives. Our little teeny pie shop. And again, we're not moving mountains. We're just, moving little hills. And, but that's all any of us need to do. You know what I
Cliff Duvernois:Sure.
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:So
Cliff Duvernois:So. you've had this experience with God, you've had this epiphany, you've quit your job. Now you're going all in on pies. Now did you open up your store then or did you run it on your home.
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:ran it out of her little farmhouse. I had a little actually That pie safe over there was on my back porch, and I had an old refrigerator just like that. And I had a little bucket, and people used to, feed my chickens and wander around. If I wasn't there, they would just put the money in the bucket. I started the farm market here as well. And so I did it at the farm market and high end restaurants. And these are those things, like I would have to call these really nice restaurants. With, asking God to help me, to say, drop off a pie, are you interested? The whole media thing, I would, there was a radio personality here. And he, I went to his office and brought a pie and I said I had this brilliant idea. The ideas were, like, crazy. The thoughts and concepts and pie recipes would never stop in my mind. I had a really hard time sleeping and every morning, woke up just energized to do this, and get this opportunity, like when you ask, you know what my story is. And, and we talked about God prior to us talking right now. And you ask if I'd mind if I shared. And I said, I want to share. when I have this opportunity, I like people to know, like what I just said, that we're all important, we're all a part of his plan, which is sometimes really painful and hard. But, just opening the door for somebody, acting, lovely to somebody, buying them a cookie, that happens all the time here, people are constantly buying things, just like before when we got here, they're, yeah, you I think, when you have that kind of energy behind you, it, it just can't stop. There's so many times that we almost didn't make it not only through COVID, but our, we were supposed to do QVC and the all planned. I went to QVC school in Philadelphia, to make sure I was good for television. It was supposed to be our big break. And then the freezer broke down the night before with all 900 pies. And I asked God, right then I said, I don't know if I can keep doing this. I remember, cause I had to call QVC. And of course, I didn't have enough money to pay for any of that. So I'm like, where are we going to get this money? And weirdly, every single time I would get a weird inheritance from, I'm not kidding you, a weird inheritance. Or somebody would, somebody from the state or something would stop by and say, Hey, you might really apply for, you need to apply for this grant. I don't know if you know about it. But every single time. And so I've always known that God wants us to continue no matter what, and I love, we get to the people that work here. They just, everyone always said, how do you get these people? I had this gentleman. we do the Capital Farm Market, and he ran across the capital lawn. You're not even supposed to do that. And he came up to me and said, I've been trying to, talk to you for years. He said, how do you do it? How do you? Every time I go into your shop, everyone's so delightful, and the food is so good, and how, what are you doing? the atmosphere, what? And I said, that truly is a part of God's plan for me, they come to me and then they love what they do. And they, so it's been this, the media, I know you talked about that. that was the I would knock on doors, so the radio personality, I went in with a pie and said, I had this really good idea that I'll tell a story about a pie, and then your listeners have to guess what pie it is. And they would call in, and I had a little pink princess phone, do you remember those? So that was my phone at the time. And I would crawl down there. And I had a big sign up here on the case, the pie case, that said, I'll be right with you. I'm on live radio show. and, The people would come in. And then from that gig, I would get others. I would go to the television people and say, from Grand Rapids in Detroit, we didn't really have a local one. And then they liked it. And then that's how I won the 21 first places at the Crisco National Pie Championship. I hated competing. I hate competing. I hate it. But I knew I had to do that for more people to know who we were, because it is a destination. It was designed as a destination. Not everyone flies by, Dewitt every day, but that allowed more people to come for me to share love with people, and then once you get, You know the Steve Harvey found out about us. And then he you know the we won the best pie in Michigan Detroit Free Press. We're Mitt Romney came And then we did we were on the front of the New York Times, and the Washington Post and William Sonoma I used to get that catalog all the time. I'm like what a dream You know I would love to be able to have my pies, and then they called me up and said you know We would love to have your pies, which ended up being a nightmare. I know, because, but it was a, so it's all one thing leads to another. The cookbook, I really worked, I've always dreamed, because cookbooks were my favorite. My mom had gazillion. And, I always dreamed of writing one, and so I, back then, again, it's not like it is now, where you can't even find out who, literary agents are. so I'd go in the back of cookbooks I liked and try to find out who they were and I would write them and lots and lots of no's and then out of nowhere someone believed in me, And so then I had my cookbook of my dreams. And then that won the Michigan Notable Book Award. And so then, honestly, it, when I look back at it's hard to believe that's happened. But I think when you have a strong purpose, then things, and you're true about it, obviously it's not about the money for me, because there's not any money.
Cliff Duvernois:Obviously,
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:but we pay our bills, And I get to meet people from all over, just like you Cliff. And I get to the stories that I've had with people have just been unbelievable that it would never have happened. and the best part, to be honest, is people take these pies and their cookies or whatever it is, all over. I hear it all the time. This is going to our reunion in Kentucky. This Thanksgiving pie is going to Denver. people take them on planes, people take them everywhere. And that, That piece of pie is part of all of our legacy, the pies that we grew up on. There's nothing, we don't put anything artificial in them. It is exactly like your mom or your grandma, your aunt or your wife or whoever. That's what they taste like. That's why everyone loves it. Cause because they're. It's like eating a piece of, I say delicious memories, And continuing that on. And, there's, there's getting less and less of the hometown bakers around, the bakeries. So I feel honored honored that I've been able to do this.
Cliff Duvernois:And I know we just covered a lot right there, talking about, you starting your shop, getting out there, all the different opportunities that have become as of it. I'm taking advantage of that, which is extraordinary. I wish we had more time to go into all that. But I do. You made the comment. I want to explore that for a little bit. Because you've now been in this particular location for how many years,
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:It'll be 19 next month.
Cliff Duvernois:19 next month. You were talking before about the hometown bakers. talk to us a little bit about the legacy that's here.
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:My daughter Ellie started doing the pies with me when she was 12. We did our first wedding across the street at their farmhouse. And, granddaughter was getting married. I have a picture of it somewhere. and she, graduated from Michigan State in 2000 something, in food science. And so she went to work for Marie Callender and has the little pies and little cakes that are in your freezer. She developed and Banquet and, she came back. She ended up marrying a, local guy, which my daughter just married. His brother. So it's sisters marrying brothers. It's the cutest thing. It
Cliff Duvernois:old fashioned right there.
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:is. Oh, and they're just such a delightful family. So blessed. But, so she ended up doing that. And I had some health issues. And, she ended up taking over. And, it was a gradual thing. And. I've often told her, I said, she could be making four times what she makes here, literally, as a food scientist. And, I said, I never want you to ever feel like George Bailey in It's a Wonderful life, that you have to do this. Because, no big deal, I can close shop, sell it. I just don't want you to ever feel this is a burden to you. And, she told me with, we're, I was crying about it. I don't remember how we got on the subject and She started crying and she said mom, but this is my dream, too You know, you might have started it, but I want to continue it. You know, I have lots of things that I want to do different. I want to finish writing your cookbooks, you know I want to write the cookie one. And all of those things. I can't get over how Blessed I am, and what a wonderful spin she's doing on things herself. Making it her own. At the same time, we have all the regular goodies are still here. And we would never change that. at the same time as well, she's adding, wonderful spins on things and adding new cookies and adding youth, and different, through Instagram and all sorts of different kinds of social media like that, bringing different people in and celebrating different holidays that I wouldn't have even thought of. It's a absolutely beautiful thing, and I can't believe how blessed I am that it will continue, for, during COVID. I didn't know if we were gonna survive. people rallied around and kept coming in. And even with the prices going up with everything, people are still willing to do that. And I know I keep saying the word blessed, but I am really blessed. I'm really blessed that it's still here, and that Ellie will be able to So now, I she has two kids. So I get to be grandma. I get to be homemaker. And I get to still come up here. I'm the runner. I still bake pies and that kind of thing too. Today I did dishes. But I get to greet everybody without pies burning. I used to always be out here talking and there'd be pies burning in the Not literally, but I did burn some lemon meringues once. I will say that. But I get to greet everybody, which is one of my favorite things and just talk to people and enjoy them.
Cliff Duvernois:Sure. I bet you they really appreciate that as well. Linda, if somebody's listening to this episode. And they want to come and check out your awesome smelling bakery, maybe partake in some of the goodies that are here. what's the best way for them to connect to you? How do they find you? Instagram
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:we're Instagram people, which I know not everybody's on. But I love it because it's more pictures. Facebook got too political for me and just to and we didn't get as many people on that as far as business. so yeah, Instagram. You get on our website. You can, you can spend hours on that if you want to get into all the pie stories. but Yeah, we're in DeWitt. You can't miss us when you if you're looking for downtown DeWitt. Yeah, I used to have a runner that would run. It was 20 miles. He would run here. And he was trying to lose weight. And he said he would keep going around the building over and over smell all the food at five in the morning because that's, that's our bakers hour. So that's when pies were really rough, wafting through the whole neighborhood. Yeah, we love, our hours are 7. 30 to 2 during the week. And 8 to 2 on Saturdays. And we also have lunch. People love our lunches. homemade everything, my mom's chicken salad.
Cliff Duvernois:I see I got quiche on the menu.
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:you got quiche quiches. I think we made 10 today for folks. all different kinds of quiche. And that's an, oh, the flavors are just amazing. And, yeah, we have. We have. I have this one. These two gentlemen. One comes from Metro Detroit and one comes from Holland. And they've I think they've been here for started coming 18 years ago. So they meet here and somehow they saw me on TV of some sort, and they've come here ever since. And it's just been such a joy to see them. So we have a lot of people that, just love to come sit around. Listen to Frank Sinatra music. I have, I also listen to Bing. we listen to anything old. and then, just enjoy the clitter clatter of dishes and all the wonderful aromas that come from an old fashioned bakery,
Cliff Duvernois:And for our audience, we'll make sure to have all those links in the show notes down below. Linda, no pun intended. it's been a treat having you on the show today. I really appreciate it.
Linda Hundt, Sweetie-Licious Bakery:No pun intended. You're so sweet, Cliff.
Cliff Duvernois:And for our audience roll on over to Total Michigan, you can click on Linda's interview and get all the information she mentioned there. Join us next week when we talk to Michigander doing some pretty extraordinary things. We'll see you then.
