LeeTy Delights
Des Moines' LeeTy Delights promises 'love at first bite' into more than 40 cinnamon roll flavors
By DOUGLAS BURNS
The Seven Times, The Iowa Mercury
DES MOINES, Iowa —
Elisha King and Tyondra Boagard will bag up their delectable home-made cinnamon rolls for customers around Iowa and watch them depart the booths of farmer's markets and events around Iowa.
But they provide forks for a reason. They don't want people to leave right away.
The founders of Des Moines-based LeeTy Delights never grow weary of seeing the reaction from first-time customers who taste one of their more than 40 flavors of cinnamon rolls — from banana pudding cinnamon rolls to blueberry to peach cobbler to S'more's and even a Tres Leche cinnamon roll.
It's love at first bite — LeeTy's catch phrase or motto. And witnessing sweet-toothed Iowans break into broad, toothy, smiles after forking in the first bites of the rolls is a thrill for these entrepreneurs, says King.
"It's really, really hard work," King said. "It is not for the weak. But at the end of the day it is very rewarding because the smiles that it gives on my customers' faces is life for me, is everything for me. The happiness that I bring to them makes me happy."
“The happiness that I bring to them makes me happy."
King said cinnamon rolls made Boagard, her wife, come alive. The couple regularly hit Cinnabon in Jordan Creek Mall in West Des Moines until it closed. But Boagard had a solution to the loss: craft her own cinnamon rolls.
"She actually made up her own recipe for cinnamon rolls," King said. "She woke me up one night and said, 'Taste this.' I tried it, and it was absolutely great."
Family members tried the rolls and urged the couple to sell the sugary sensations. They began just over four years ago by peddling the concoctions around Des Moines barber shops. Then came farmer's markets and a website for delivery from their Des Moines home-based bakery. And of course, events and celebrations. LeeTy Delights operated a booth at the Juneteenth recognition in Ottumwa's Railroad Park.
"We started out with a regular, basic cinnamon roll," King, 44, said. "We always sell a basic cinnamon roll."
Now the bakery has more than 40 flavors.
Two new varieties about to hit the roster: fruit pizza and strawberry shortcake.
"I have so many flavors," King said.
She said the process, from rolling the dough to baking just right, is both exciting and hard work. For now, the bakery is a part-time operation. King drives a bus for DART in Des Moines, while Boagard is a teacher's associate at Des Moines North High School.
The couple enjoys working on the rolls together.
"I think it's one of the best parts actually," Boagard, 45, said.
King and Boagard have sons and daughters involved in the production and sales — Depri Medina, 25; Cianna McQuerry, 16; and King Tramaris McQueery, 15.
Production of the rolls ranges.
"This week we are making like 27 dozen," King said.
Her dream: getting a food truck to hit more events with style and brand building.
One of the duo's secrets is the addition of a cookie-based crust on the bottom of some of the cinnamon rolls. King won't reveal the recipe or the technique for making this happen.
For the uninitiated LeeTy cinnamon roll customers what's the best one to taste — beyond the basic roll?
"Our signature cinnamon roll, our top seller, is the banana pudding one," King said. "People go crazy over the banana pudding one because that has the crust on the bottom."
