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8/8/2019 Addies e Edition
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/addies-e-edition 1/2
Bill Fridge, a native of Chicago,
IL, started his career in law
enforcement and corporate
security as a police officer for five years
in Gary, IN. He left that job, moved to
Minneapolis, and became Director of
Safety and Security for Prudential
Financial, here in Twin Cities. His wife
and partner in life is Dolores Fridge,
former Minnesota State Human Rights Commissioner, and
former Associate Vice Chancellor at Minnesota State Colleges
and Universities (MNSCU).
But from his days as a young man, Bill Fridge harbored a
vision of bringing to market a food product that he
believed was divinely inspired. Described asauthentic and “down home” dessert, Fridge
says his work pays tribute to the “sacred
yam” - known in America as the
sweet potato.
Modeling the spirit of
collaboration that characterizes
legendary Black business
ingenuity, the Bakers and
the Fridges struck a deal
that provides first class
commercial production
facilities at Elite
Catering for the
creation of Fridge’s
masterwork, Addie’s
Sweet Potato Pie.
“It is simply delicious,”
Fridge said. “We also make a
healthy, tasty sweet potato
muffin. The original Addie’s sweet
potato muffin went over so well, we decided to have some fun
with it and add different flavors and fruits to it and make a line
of sweet potato based muffins. Each one has a unique flavor
and they are all as healthy as the original. Along the way we
took a detour and picked up a lime, a key lime, to be exact, and
made a pie with a hand-made graham cracker crust.”
As a boy, Fridge was like most children. He sat in the kitchen
with his mother as she baked. He waited for her to let him lick
the remaining batter from the mixing bowl. Fridge’s mother, like
her mother before her, baked her pies using a coffee cup instead
of a measuring cup, adding ingredients by memory and taste.
ADDIE’S SWEET SECRETS:
DIVINELY INSPIRED TRIBUTE
TO THE SACRED YAM
BY AL MCFARLANE AND B.P. FORD, THE EDITORS
IT’S THE KIND OF COLLABORATION THAT FORMS THE BEDROCK OF BUSINESS SUCCESS.
Entrepreneurs James and Alice Baker, owners of Elite Catering and its retail restaurant subsidiary, Sunnyside
Café on Glenwood Avenue in North Minneapolis, determined that their businesses had excess capacity.
They had down time for their commercial kitchens which served the restaurant and the catering operations.
8/8/2019 Addies e Edition
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/addies-e-edition 2/2
Fridge had only a vague idea of ingredients and measurements
of his mother’s sweet potato pie. His interest as a child was the
final product: the exquisitely delicious pie. There was never a
written recipe for this special family treat. When his mother,
father and three siblings died in an auto accident, the then 18-
year-old Fridge was more focused on surviving and helping his
remaining eight brothers and sisters than preserving familyrecipes and traditions.
But after many years of combining different ingredients and
spices, Fridge was able to reconstruct his mother’s sweet potato
pie. It was first introduced to family and friends during the
holidays. It then made its first public appearance at David
Howard’s Fish and Seafood Restaurant in Minneapolis in 1991.
The pies made their second appearance at the Bill & Jerry’s
Shrimp Boil, an annual Twin Cities charity event.
In October of 2004, William Fridge decided to go into businessfull-time, making his mother’s sweet potato pies for the masses.
He formed Addie’s Sweet Secrets, L.L.C., naming the company
in honor of his mother. The signature and staple of the
company is his Addie’s ‘down-home’ sweet potato pie, as
remembered by her son. Addie’s Sweet Secrets pies and muffins
are available retail at Eastside Coop Grocery Store, 2552 Central
Avenue, and North Country Coop Grocery Store, 1929 5th
Avenue S, in Minneapolis. Addie’s Key Lime pie is on the menu
at Crave Restaurant in the Galleria Shopping Center in Edina
and the pies and muffins are available at Keith Baker’s Palm
Court Restaurant, 2424 Central Ave NE, Babalu’s Restaurant,
800 Washington Ave N, Minneapolis, Market Bar-B-Que,1414
Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis, and 15320 Wayzata Blvd, Wayzata,
Baker’s Ribs, 8019 Glen Lane, Eden Prairie, MN, and Cuppa
Java coffee restaurant, 400 Penn Ave. S, in Minneapolis’ Bryn
Mawr neighborhood. The muffins are available at DiamondsCoffee Shoppe, 1618 Central Avenue NE, Minneapolis.
Fridge says his desserts are huge hits at company and agency
meetings and events. Bill Davis, director of Minneapolis
Community Action Agency, and Attorney Jerry Blackwell are
among regular agency and corporate clients who serve Addie’s
Sweet Secrets products at events and meetings they host. The
delectable desserts can be custom ordered for events, meetings,
banquets and the like by calling 952-974-1232.
The Fridge’s say they are fortunate, blessed, to have their
daughter Denise Burnett as vice-president of the company withresponsibility for business planning and marketing. Burnett
moved back to Minneapolis from New York for two years to
help convert the Fridge’s dream from a sideline to a full-fledge
business operation. Burnett, a marketing and computer science
professional, earned her degrees at University of Minnesota. She
lives back in New York but visits frequently and participates in
the daily businesses of the family business via internet.
For further information about Addie’s Sweet Secrets, visit the
company online at www.addiesweetsecrets.com.