H-E-B Quest for Texas Best | Sweet Life Jelly Company | Our Entry Essay
Sweet Life Jelly Company is a family run, women owned business that was born out of a tradition of showing love by feeding and giving homemade gifts to family and friends. My name is Deena White, I am the founder of the company. I brought my daughter, Christine in as co-owner because our talents are opposite and symbiotic. She is gifted at all things digital and administrative, and I am the driving force behind production, marketing, and networking.
The company slogan “Life is short make it sweet.” has a deep personal meaning to me. My parents and grandparents died very early and by 18 I was on my own. In the short time they were here, my parents gifted me with the belief that family and the family you choose are the most important. They gave me a clear picture of the life I wanted to create for my future children.
Life had different ideas. I found myself the single parent of four neurodivergent children. There were unique challenges that I needed to adjust for and adapt to while raising my ADHD and Autistic children. I tried to provide them the emotional and therapeutic support they needed with the little resources I had. Even still, sometimes life was overwhelming and not so sweet. The traditions surrounding family that I learned at an early age became the foundation that kept us close knit and provided comfort and joy.
One of the ways that we tried to make life sweet was to sit down at the table and slow life down at dinner time when work and activity schedules allowed. Fresh wholesome meals were important to me so convenient, easy recipes were my saving grace. I realized that although I really wanted to create interesting flavorful meals from scratch, sometimes life didn’t allow for that, and I had to find different ways to accomplish that goal. This helped to plant the seed that became the idea the company was based on.
Holidays also made up some of our “sweetest” times with many of our traditions revolving around Christmas. One of our favorites was picking the name of a child in each my childrens’ own age group from the local Angel Tree. We would go shopping together as a family and help pick out what gift they each wanted to give the other children. I wanted to be sure to instill the core belief of generosity into my children that my parents had instilled in us. I have always believed that even if you don’t have much you can still be a blessing to those that have even less.
At Sweet Life Jelly we try to operate in the same way. Although we are small, we support many non-profit events and organizations from local benefits to well-known organizations that impact our community. In the baskets we donate, there is not just our jellies and jams, but a carefully coordinated array of locally produced items. We support local businesses and people in the same way that we have been supported.
We believe God will provide what is ours to have and that open hands not only give more but receive more. Knowing HEB and how it also supports Texans and constantly gives back, makes them the perfect example of how to conduct business and why we want to grow to be a nationwide brand also representing the heart of the people of Texas.
My career choice has spanned a wide variety of fields. From restaurants to insurance, the common thread has always been impacting the lives of the people around me in simple ways. Most of my career has been in restaurant management. This was a natural choice for me. I love people, I love hosting, and being in the kitchen for me is life. I love to cook, and restaurants allowed me to combine all my talents, passions, and creativity. It helped further my food knowledge and fostered some of the ideas I had about flavor combinations.
As the general manager, I would often take the ingredients we had in the kitchen for the stock menu and create dinners for my employees to thank them for all the hard work and care they exhibited. It gave me great joy to give them the same care and treatment they gave to our customers. My family heritage is Italian and Syrian, both cultures revolve around food. It’s how we connect and share life. You never leave hungry or empty handed.
In December of 2021 I moved on to insurance and I was working at a large company based in the Galveston area. The company has a major branch in Missouri. The modern world being what it is, most of my coworkers, trainers, and supervisors worked remotely in the Missouri office. When I heard that a few of them were coming to visit I took the opportunity to send Christmas gifts back for all my supervisors. I gave them Cranberry Jalapeno jelly, so they could bring a taste of Texas home with them for the holidays. They were so excited about the jelly and how good it was that I had several people message me and ask me how they could order more.
In that moment Sweet Life Jelly Company was born. I had started many home-based businesses in the years leading up to that moment. I always knew in the back of my mind that my path to freedom and the ability to achieve my dreams and goals lay solely in my own hands. This wasn’t the first time that I was able to make money with my talent for cooking, however, it was the first time that timing, talent, passion and opportunity came together to make the way clear.
I came to the realization that Sweet Life Jelly Company was the way I could build a lasting legacy to pass to my children, and that it would be built on love, tradition, and principles that would stand the test of time. It would also give them some of the sweeter things in life that I had not been able to provide, in the early years. Sweet Life Jelly Company is my passion because it is the culmination of my dreams but also more importantly my heart gift to my children, grandchildren and soon all of Texas!
I believe our company is a leader in the jelly market because of the passion behind it and the unique Texas flavors showcased in our products. I am a cook and to me it is natural to use the jellies as an ingredient to make a dish stand out and or bring a unique twist to an old favorite. I often provide recipes that are “semi-homemade” when I am selling at the Farmers Markets and especially when I am presenting in a group. People get excited about new ways to bring flavor to their dishes.
My experience allows me to understand the challenges of the modern career woman and gives me insight to create products that allow them to serve homemade quality and flavor using shortcuts and recipes that fit their lifestyle. We offer easy to use sauces, jams and jellies that allow them to do that without a lot of work or time spent in the kitchen.
Our top three flavors are Pineapple Mango Ghost Pepper Sauce, Savory Onion Jam, and A Taste of Texas Glaze. There is nothing a true Texan loves more than a sweet spicy kick, full on flavor, and our state soda. These are flavors that I have not seen a great deal of in HEB, or at even at a local level at the markets that I am a part of.
All products are made in a one-woman commercial kitchen located in a small Gulf Coast city in small batches. This ensures the freshness of the product for the customer. When creating a flavor, I think about all the ways it can be used in my recipes as a main ingredient or flavor enhancer. I focus on how I can provide the best product using simple, quality, natural ingredients. I am proud that my customers can read my nutrition labels and know immediately what is in my products. I have maintained a very simple natural ingredient list in most of our products with the exception of Splenda in the no-sugar-added jams, or some of the specialty products for limited edition seasonal flavors.
I truly want to bring value to the lives of our customers and give them a way to experience something new, whether they put my jelly on crackers or use it to make Grandma’s pot roast even better. I want them to be proud to serve our jelly and be completely certain that the quality and care is unmatched. Sweet Life Jelly company assures you that our products make every meal a memory.
Our dedication to quality has lead to the ability to hire employees and expand the number of markets we are in including local farmers markets, specialty boutiques and grocery stores. Our goal is to move into a co packer process for statewide distribution through such avenues as Arlan’s and HEB. Our ultimate goal is to move into nationwide distribution through other grocery chains and online avenues to become a household name synonymous with quality, flavor and convenience.
Winning this competition would give us the ability to move into full production by obtaining a commercial kitchen of our own. We would hire staff including a kitchen manager and accountant, which would allow me to concentrate on product development, quality control, sales and marketing. In short it would be a huge leap in our plan to make sure there is a jar of Sweet Jelly Life Jelly Company jelly on every table making every meal a memory.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Tejas Imagery & Media Services for so beautifully capturing our story. Thank you to my amazing supportive friends who came out to share their thoughts on our products and most of all thank you to everyone who loves our products and supports our business. Winning this contest would be a dream come true and we wouldn’t be here if it weren't for you!
