The decision to move Jessie Jean’s from their long-time Roy location on 1900 West to Ogden’s Historic 25th Street wasn’t an easy one, but it was time. Plus, it was a fulfillment of a long-time goal for Ron Davidson who owns the eclectic breakfast-lunch and now-dinner and coffee shop with his wife Anna Davidson.
Anna opened Jessie Jean’s back in November of 2000 with the help of her family and lots of blood, sweat and tears. She has worked nonstop to keep the shop in business, battling road construction and a myriad of other issues in Roy, but she loved it and everyone who walked through the door was family. It’s that atmosphere and building a menu of good food and excellent coffee that led them to burst at the seams in their Roy location.
The couple started thinking of moving to a bigger location in 2014 and tried lots of different locations in Roy. Roy Mayor Willard Cragun also worked hard to find them a new home but nothing worked out. They had been working with real estate agent that introduced them to a space in Ogden on 24th and Kiesel Ave where a new opportunity presented itself – a sweet bakery called Black Lotus Coffee and Bakery.
They opened the bakery with a partner, Bryan Wrigley, in February. It wasn’t long after that partnership with Black Lotus that he came to them with a new opportunity – move Jessie Jean’s to 25th Street. “Now we are not the kind of people to just jump into things,” Anna said, sitting at a table in their beautiful new digs on 195 25th Street.
But the crazy thing about the whole deal was that in 2009 when Anna and Ron first met each other they sat on the patio of Karen’s Café (where Jessie Jean’s now sits) and Ron said to Anna, “Someday we are going to own this place. Someday we are going to do it.” Anna didn’t know what to think at the time, but when Wrigley told them about the space and his idea, not knowing about Ron’s dream, it hit a little close to home. Plus, for Anna, she was feeling the nudge to grow bigger to help her family.
“I knew I needed to do something to help my parents. I either needed to get a job or make this grow. I haven’t worked for anyone for a very long time so this was what I knew I needed to do,” Anna said.
Now to make it grow. At their Roy locations they were used to filling the place and knowing just about everyone who walked through the door. Their Roy people still come to visit in Ogden, but both Ron and Anna look forward to having those same relationships with Ogdenites. They want to know their customers by name and know their favorite menu items. They will even name menu items after their customers, like Ron’s favorite dish, Mike’s O’Brian’s. Ron smiled as he talked about perfecting the dish, named after some of their most regular Sunday morning customers. “I kept working at it for a few weeks. He would try it and he loved it, so we named it after him,” Ron said.
Anna’s favorite dish, the Crafty Pig, a sandwich with pulled pork and macaroni and cheese came out of a crazy time in Anna’s life, when Ron was out of town and she was trying to come up with something new and clever. “I hadn’t tried it for a few weeks and then I tried it and it was amazing! It’s just the best kind of comfort food,” she said.
At Jessie Jean’s they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, but dinner is new. They didn’t serve dinner at the Roy location, but they have enjoyed expanding a dinner menu and have made sure to keep it affordable. Breakfast is served until 11 a.m. each day.
The move has been a huge change on many levels for Ron and Anna – they live upstairs from the restaurant. They both admit the transition has been rough, but they feel it will be worth it. “We are just here all the time…It’s been a weird, deep grieving process,” Anna said of closing the Roy shop, but it’s getting better and they both are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
Their soft opening was in July and word is starting to spread about the move. Ron will sit up on the patio from their condo upstairs and hear people walk by and say, “Oh is this Jessie Jean’s from Roy?” He doesn’t hesitate to yell down a simple, “Yes.” It’s also been nice having the bakery close by and selling each other’s bakery items and Ron’s black feather coffee at both locations.
They are working out the kinks – trying new things and incorporating the old. But there is one thing that remains the same – Anna and Ron want to be friends with everyone who walks through their doors and once you’ve eaten there you will leave feeling the love from good food and good company.
