As remembered by
Dorothy Jones

Sally Bell’s Kitchen, which until 1959 had the name Sarah Lee Kitchen, begins its 81st year in October (2005).  I get a thrill when I think about it.  That is because I am eleven, almost twelve, years older than Sally Bell’s and I can personally remember almost all of its long story.  It is also because my father’s youngest sister was one of the “two distinguished Virginia ladies” who, on October 1, 1924, signed a partnership agreement that brought the business into being.

Sarah (“Sallie”) Cabell Jones of Ashland and Elizabeth Lee Milton of Gloucester met at the Woman’s Exchange of Richmond (note: the Woman’s Exchange of Richmond was a remarkable institution- perhaps we could tell its story later on this web site.  Would you be interested?)  Mrs. Milton told a news reporter “I knew as soon as I met Miss Jones that we would make good partners.  She could add and subtract and I could make a good cake.”  The two ladies named their business “Sarah Lee Kitchen”, borrowing from their respective names.  Their purpose, still the purpose today, was to produce a variety of good things to eat made each day from scratch.  The main focus was on having a wholesale business with a retail business less emphasized.  I remember the frantic search for old family recipes.  I remember my mother supplied a recipe for Sally Lunn bread.  I remember the careful search for good cooks, who from childhood were exposed to and experienced in the art of making good things to eat.  I remember the day Mrs. Milton and my aunt rented the “step down” ground floor of an old residence on the southwest corner of Grace and Pine Streets (701 West Grace).  I remember how they had ovens, sinks, worktables, and chairs installed in the spacious area of the “back” and how my aunt established herself there.  I remember the small catty-cornered room at the “front” in which Mrs. Milton presided over the retail sales and took wholesale orders from local bakeries, restaurants, neighborhood grocery stores, and drugstores. continue