How a Christmas movie inspired a reluctant baker to sell ‘yamalicious’ treats
A Christmas movie inspired Karen Ervin of Mableton-based Yams Foods to overcome her reluctance to bake, develop a recipe for sweet potato cookies, and create a business based on a vegetable that had been a family favorite for decades.
“Sweet potatoes were just always on the family dinner table. My maternal grandmother, Corean Russell-King, enjoyed a baked sweet potato every day of her adult life. My mom cooked with sweet potatoes, making the best candied yams and sweet potato pie. I was never good at cooking or baking. The one time I made a sweet potato pie, it was terrible,” said Ervin.
In 2022, while watching “The First Noelle,” all that changed. “They were eating sweet potato cookies, and I almost fainted. I love sweet potato pie so much and I thought sweet potato cookies would have to be delicious. That Christmas Eve, I made a batch.”
Not happy with that first batch, Ervin gradually equipped her kitchen with what she needed for baking and spent three months baking sweet potato cookies every week until she found a recipe she thought was just right. Excited about the possibilities, she started experimenting with sweet potato cornbread, pound cake and doughnuts.
Her success in baking inspired Ervin to start a business. She had the background to do it, having earned her master’s degree in entrepreneurship and marketing from Kennesaw State University.
She incorporated her business, made a website and was ready to sell her sweet potato treats.
Acquiring a manufacturer’s license allowed her to sell online and ship across the country. She started making her sweet potato products in a commercial kitchen in Marietta and is currently the company’s only employee.
“I am a recovering motivational speaker,” she said with a laugh. ”I love coming up with slogans and like Beyonce’s ‘put a ring on it,’ I say ‘put a spin on it’. My spin is developing different desserts. My newest are sweet potato pecan and peanut brittle. I created s’mores using sweet potato cookies instead of graham crackers.”
She also makes sweet potato pound cake, sweet potato cinnamon rolls, sweet potato pecan biscuits, sweet potato holiday cookies, and still offers doughnuts and cornbread. And she’s offering sweet potato ice cream.
Ervin will deliver the ice cream within a 10-mile radius in east, west or south Cobb County. Otherwise, sweet potato ice cream enthusiasts can meet Ervin at the festivals and markets she attends, or pick it up at Ervin’s commissary kitchen.
When asked which product has surprised her with its popularity, she said it’s her sweet potato pecan syrup. “People love it. It’s so versatile. You don’t just pour it on pancakes. People put it in their coffee, in bourbon cocktails, and it is amazing on ice cream. It’s so ‘yamalicious’ you’ll want to pour it in a cup and drink it.”
Her products are gaining statewide attention. Her sweet potato cookies and sweet potato pecan syrup were finalists in the 2025 Flavor of Georgia competition.
After a career giving motivational workshops and writing business plans for other people, Ervin now has her passion business. “I left a six-figure income to do this full-time. It gives me so much pleasure and satisfaction when people tell me they liked something I baked. I had never heard that before.”
As she remembers her mother and grandmother and their love of sweet potatoes, she believes they would be overjoyed with her success. “Nobody knew this was how I would pivot. No one ever thought I’d be in the baking business. And neither did I.”
