A New Store Serves Up Old Tradition: Classic Cobbler

Chicago Heights native Bonnie Thompson cracked an egg on the side of a stainless steel bowl and smiled as she talked about her new business, Classic Cobbler.

"We're all homemade," she said, as she whipped custard for her pies. "We want to stay as fresh as possible and never change our taste."

On a recent Saturday morning, Thompson and employee Shawnta Jenkins also prepared crusts and fruit for that day's orders in the shop's tidy kitchen. Cobbler, Thompson explained, is an old-fashioned Southern tradition.

"It's the juice and the fruit that make the cobbler," Johnson said. "I'm not going to tell you all the ingredients, but it's not like pie. Pie is more solid. ... We've got peach, blueberry, cherry and blackberry cobbler. Blackberry is seasonal because it's very expensive, but it's good."

Johnson, now a South Side resident, graduated from Bloom Township High School and still has ties to the area. She's been baking for years.

"I'd make them for friends and parties," Thompson said. "I was giving them away."

Then came the idea of opening a store in her hometown with her daughter, Branarla "Brandy" Johnson, of Park Forest. They said they knew they wanted to be near established businesses and somewhat close to both of their homes.

"When the mall opened (in the 200 block of Dixie Highway), all the stores filled up," Thompson said. "We wanted it so bad. I think it's our desire that made it happen. Instead of thinking, 'No, we can't,' we thought, 'Yes, we can.'"

The first official day of business was Nov. 27—the Saturday after Thanksgiving—but they already had prepared dozens of orders of cobblers, pies and cakes from a pre-opening event. The business, on Dixie Highway near the Egg and I, is not open Sundays and Mondays.

Thompson, a licensed mental health counselor, is the owner. Johnson, who worked in management for telecommunications companies such as MCI and Verizon, is the vice president of marketing and sales.

"It's what I used to do, except now it's for pie," Johnson said. 

The pair plan on growing the business to offer dinner pot pies and organic desserts in the future. For now, the two women and their families are happy that Classic Cobbler has become a reality.

"A lot of people come in here and ask me, 'Is this a franchise?'" Johnson said. "I tell them, 'Give me time.'"