NORTHPORT—Down the road on Route 1 from The Only Doughnut sits the newly built brick-and-mortar home of The Scone Goddess.

“We call this area of Route 1 ‘The Corridor of Yum,’ ” said founder and CEO Veronica Stubbs, who held the grand opening of The Scone Goddess’ new physical location on May 26.

A one-woman business in 2019, Stubbs began baking and perfecting her scone recipes out of her kitchen.

“I started baking scones one day a week as a way to get to know my community,” said Stubbs who lives with her husband and daughters in Northport. “We’d start at the farmer’s market and sell out in an hour. Then, the pandemic hit and we had to pivot, so we began making scone mixes that are now shipped across the U.S. Last summer, we had a food trailer custom-built and Liz Lane, who owns the Bayside store, allowed me to park there as a test spot. We collected data to see if there was enough ‘scone love’ to build a brick-and-mortar shop. We sold out of scones in 15 minutes in that trailer, so in September we bought a piece of land and began building.”

The building went up in six weeks, thanks to her contractor, whom she rewarded daily with scones. Stubbs thinks that might have had something to do with how quickly the project got done.

Still, people kept coming.

“Before there were even walls, people were putting on masks, and walking into an active construction site looking for scones,” she said.

Today, she sells more than 40 varieties of fresh-baked original and gluten-free scones.

The custom-built shop is a bakery inside with a retail section for her scone mixes, English accompaniments, such as U.K.-imported honey, clotted cream, and preserves.  There’s even a back room dedicated to making gluten-free scones. The mixer is actually a cement mixer with a food-grade drum. A storage area and her office are upstairs. After renovating their two-car garage into a manufacturing building, the business is continuing to expand with online orders, and even offers franchises to licensed bakers across the country. Stubbs said the second floor might be converted to a public area for high tea by invitation.

The scone, a British tea staple, is a pastry that has been around since 1513 and is connected with Scotland, Ireland, and England. It is no coincidence that a lot of people from the U.K. have stopped by her shop to try her baked treat and compare it to what they can get at home.

“We have a ton of European customers,” she said. “I had a customer from England tell me she was a scone snob and that I nailed it, which is huge for me. Because, when I first started, who knew?”

Her most popular scones are the raspberry and cream and wild Maine blueberry lemon, along with savory scones such as spinach feta and sun-dried tomato.

In addition, the shop offers a custom-blended full-bodied medium roasted coffee under The Scone Goddess label, as well as teas, lattes, iced tea, iced lemonade, bottled lemonades, and ginger beers imported from the U.K.

“We carry as much as Maine-made products as possible, such as cards, mugs, jewelry, honey, Tea Maineia, and Bixby chocolate bars out of Rockland,” said Stubbs.

For more information visit their website or their Facebook page.

Kay stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com