KALAMAZOO, MI –– Kristi Potts’ sugar cookies are no longer a sweet secret.
With the cut of a ribbon on Tuesday, Sept. 2, the Kalamazoo native’s secret cookie recipe became available to taste at her new shop, Kzoo Cream.
“I’ve been dreaming of doing this for a long time,” Potts said. “I’ve always wanted to own my own business.”
Potts calls the cream cheese sugar cookies, “Frosted Whispers.”
A second-generation baker, Potts derived the recipe from her mother, who is well known in the area.
Sue Potts was a home economics teacher at Portage Public Schools for 30 years.
According to Kzoo Cream’s website, Sue Potts had a “cult following for her decadent desserts.”
Kzoo Cream is located at 1502 S. Westnedge Ave in Kalamazoo. The building was formerly a Taco Bob’s restaurant.
‘Put it all down on this business’
At the start of 2025, Kristi Potts took a leap of faith.
Potts is from Kalamazoo and earned a doctorate from Western Michigan University in 2011.
After years away from the classroom, Potts decided she was ready to return.
She never finished her latest degree, because while taking culinary classes at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, something unexpected happened.
Her bake-from-home business blew up.
Potts was selling out of cookies weekly. She’d bring dozens to the farmers market and leave empty-handed.
Potts decided now was the time to go all in.
She found the location, 1502 S. Westnedge Avenue, in the Vine Neighborhood. Then, she ran into issue No. 1:
“Funding,” Potts said. “No one is really willing to fund a new business to buy this location.”
Potts received support from the city of Kalamazoo’s economic development department, as well as startup funding from Michigan Women Forward.
Even with the support, Potts had to bet on herself.
“I had to dip into my life savings and I took all of it and put it all down on this business,” Potts said. “It’s going to work out. I just know it.”
‘My new home’
Potts has been exuberant since opening Kzoo Cream.
After growing up down the street and living in Vine again for college, Potts said being in the area has brought back a lot of good memories.
But she hasn’t strayed far, as she lives just 4 miles down the road in Portage.
“I’ve watched the Vine community just come together. They are all riding their bikes here and walking here all hours of the day and night,” Potts said. “This is my new home.”
‘There isn’t anything else like it’
Potts has confidence in her cookies.
A unique taste in the cream cheese sugar cookie itself is accented by various frostings.
Options include almond cream, lemon cream, orange creamsicle, coconut cream, apple cream pie and more.
The almond cream cookie is her signature, she said.
“There isn’t anything else like it out there,” Potts said.
When Potts sources for ingredients, she does it both with health and ethical considerations.
The cookies themselves only have seven ingredients total.
They include real butter, local eggs and local fruits.
Kzoo Cream gets eggs from Bailey Farms in Schoolcraft, fruit from the Schultz family in Mattawan and sugar from the Michigan Sugar Co. in Bay City.
Visitors can either walk up or drive-thru at Kzoo Cream.
Frosted Whispers are $1 or 10 for $7, among other options.
Potts also serves soft-serve ice cream and dirty sodas ($5).
Potts is currently hiring culinary interns for paid internships.
Visit Kzoo Cream’s website by clicking this link.
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