We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Micquetia Mitchell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Micquetia , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I had just delivered my 2nd daughter and my husband and I agreed for me not to go back to work. So I had to do something and thought about selling baked items around the holiday season. My husband stated turn it into a business and do it year round. We were successful as a sweet treats business for the first half of the year. Then my husband wanted to explore BBQ as a vendor at local markets. We gave it a try and the business took off. We have BBQ and Sweet Treats

Micquetia , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ll tell you about my husband and I since we own the business together; we are The Mitchell’s and owners of 2JS Smokin’ BBQ and Sweets. We’ve been married for 9 years with 2 beautiful girls, hence the 2Js come into play (Journie & Jade). We both are graduates of USF and has worked for our local county. I always liked to bake but never had the time and he always loved to smoke meats but only on holidays when he had the time. Since I became a stay at home mom in 2022, more time became available and we thought to work and expand in our hobbies. The best part about being out at events is doing it with someone who understands me and loves to make sure im ok and comfortable. We laugh all day at the events; it never being a dull moment. Customers can feel the genuine connection from us to the food and out to them. We play music that makes us feel good, Luther Vandross, Teddy Pendergrass, Isley Brother’s etc… Im most proud that we’re doing what we love together.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I’ve learned you have to be consistent. Post on your social media and community pages as much as possible. How can anyone find you if you’re not posting. I went without posting for several days and decided to post on a random day and received a message saying ” I’ve been looking for your post to order but couldn’t find you”. There are always people watching, there are always people who inquire, but if you don’t put yourself out there people won’t come. There are dry days when there’s no interaction but as you consistently post, interaction increases.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

The co-founder is my husband. We met 11 years ago at work and at the thought of starting a business a year ago.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @smokin_bbq85 @2js_sweettreats
• Facebook: 2Js Smokin BBQ 2Js_Sweettreats