When I began my senior year of high school I found that I was in need of some extra spending money. I had developed a crush on a girl in my class, and I wanted to be able to take her on a few dates. The problem is that dates take money, so I setoff in search of a job. I filled out an application at a local food restaurant called Sweet Mama’s. It is a local favorite and is well known for its baked goods. Every day the staff synthesizes eggs, flour, milk, and love into a variety of fresh pastries. They also produce a wide assortment of cookies to fit any customer’s preferences. Another favorite that Sweet Mama’s furnishes its customers with, are Pork pops. Pork pops are Sweet mama's specialty, and eating just a few of the bite-sized mixtures of cheese, sausage, and flaky bread kicks off any day to a great start. At the time, I looked to Sweet Mama’s only as a source of income. Little did know how much impact the restaurant would have on my life. Some of my sweetest moments occurred there, not only from the fantastic food, but also from my fellow employees.
Sweet Mama’s selection of food midway through a morning rush. It normally contains muffins, Danishes, doughnuts, slices of cake, sticky buns, cinnamon rolls, and nearly any cookie imaginable.
The bakers arrive at 3 am every morning to start preparing the dough and begin baking. By 6 am, the building is permeated by the scent of freshly baked foods. The doors are opened and the employees are greeted by a wave of warm, hungry customers. Nearly everyone stops by on his or her way to school or work. I know that you are not supposed to start off your morning with cookies, but I cannot even begin to tell you how often I did. Many times as I was driving to school I would stop by and kick off my morning with warm, gooey chocolate-chip cookies and a side of pork pops. Their sweet tea is also some of the best in the South. Customers, such as myself, continue to pour into the restaurant until closing time at 3 pm.
The owner and my future boss, dubbed “Boomer” by the locals, was looking to further expand his hours of operation except with a twist; Sweet Mama’s would now be open for dinner and would be serving pizza. A week after I had applied for the job, I got a call from my previous employer, Mike. I had worked for him at Pizza Inn during my sophomore year of high school until they ran out of business. Boomer had hired him to run the pizza department at Sweet Mama’s and he recommended me as an employee to Boomer. I was ecstatic. Not only did I get a source of income so that I could take my soon-to-be girlfriend on dates, but my best friends John and Charlie had both gotten jobs there as well. I was the luckiest guy on earth.
A frontal view of the main entrance to Sweet Mama’s. The pizza department is just to the right.
I started work a few days later, and it felt like fate that I was there. Sweet Mama’s had been my favorite restaurant since I was a kid, and now I was working here doing something that was new to its history. It was a joy to work there with my best friends, and a joy to make pizza. As we worked, we would compete to see who could make the tastiest looking pizza, or who could roll the pizza crust the fastest. As fun as this was, the real fun would commence with our break. Every night, Mike allowed us to split a pizza between the three of us, and it was then that I truly fell in love with pizza.
While we worked, we would pass the time by fantasizing about what sort of toppings we wanted on our pizza that night. This normally took us awhile because the three of us all have different tastes. Sometimes we would have to divide the pizza into thirds and each go our own route. Often times this could prove to be tricky, especially if each third of the pizza had a different type of sauce. However, most of the time we found a pizza that sounded appetizing to all three of us. Once we satisfied this prerequisite, we would take pride as we worked as a team to create our pizza with confectionary perfection. When the pizza was on its way out of the oven, we would crowd around it in excitement to see if it had turned out the way we planned. Usually it did. We would then cut it and commence its destruction.
On one occasion we decided to take things to the extreme. This was going to be the best pizza that any of us had ever made, or tasted. One special thing about Sweet Mama’s is that it also has some of the best BBQ in the area. This means that we were able to put special BBQ meats as toppings on the pizza if a guest requested them. Fortunately for us, few of the customers knew this, and we often had extra. This is the stuff we wanted! We journeyed into the back room where the BBQ was stored. As we slid open the door, our nostrils were slammed by the heavenly smell of perfectly roasted pork. It had been slow cooking overnight and the meat was freshly tender and perfectly seasoned. We selected some of the finest pieces of pulled pork and we could not help but sample a few of them. We put them into our mouths and the succulent meat expelled its glorious juices onto our taste buds. We all knew that if they were this good by themselves, they would only be better once there were part of our pizza. We began to place the pork even on the pizza. Then we complemented the pulled pork with pieces of bacon—not bacon bits—which we sprinkled on the pizza’s entirety. After adding bacon, we christened it with diced onions and a final garnish of cheddar cheese. For the finishing touches, we lathered the crusts with butter, and lightly added hot sauce across to our masterpiece. This last part may sound questionable, but the flavor of the sauce meshes very well with the pulled pork. The spiciness cooks out of the pizza and we are left only with the delicious seasoning that it gives. When our masterpiece came out of the oven, it looked perfect and we all took a bite out of heaven.
This is the actual pizza we ate that day.
I can honestly say that those days were some of the happiest days of my life. There is nothing better than working hard to achieve something with your friends and then reaping the rewards as a team. Creating and consuming pizza concoctions brought us closer together as friends. We all began to think of ourselves more as brothers than just friends. The food at Sweet Mama’s has significantly impacted my life because it taught me to work together as a team. Most importantly, it enabled us to share in our hard work and enjoy the benefits together. I will never forget the impact it has had on my life, or the joys that I experienced while working there.
"Image note: All images were photographed by myself. While they my not look "professional" they are definitely authentic.
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