MORTON, Ill. (WMBD) — It’s all hands on deck as employees at Four30 Scones prepare for a quickly approaching opening day. For Renee Robison, the shop has been a brewing business goal of hers for quite some time.
“This has been a dream of mine for a long time to have my own space, my own kitchen, a shop where people can come and gather,” she said.
Starting Friday, Four30 Scones will officially open up in Morton offering homemade baked goods and coffee to the community.
“I’ve always had a passion for food and came from a family who loved food and good cooks. And I’ve actually had a catering business the last 15 years and had a background in food,” said Robison.
While the storefront is new, the business itself is not. In 2016, Robison’s husband, Shane encouraged her to put her self-taught scone skills to the test.
“I was making them for friends and family and he’s like, ‘I think you have something there.’”
rENEE ROBISON
Robison said, “I was making them for friends and family and he’s like, ‘I think you have something there.’”
From there, business took off. The Central Illinois husband and wife team initially rented commercial kitchen space in Morton to keep up with orders. Robison said the team can crunch out as many as 1,000 scones a day if they need to.
“We started just with little farmers markets around town,” she said. “We started with the Riverfront Farmers Market and it just grew from there.”
The upgraded operation now sits in the home of a formerly vacant Jiffy Lube. You might even say the investment was destined to happen.
“We actually were having a conversation and said, ‘If this goes up for sale, we’d be interested.’ And the very next day, it went up for sale.”
renee robison
“We actually were having a conversation and said, ‘If this goes up for sale, we’d be interested.’ And the very next day, it went up for sale,” said Robison.
Four30 Scones now includes the design work and handiwork of Shane. He too is a local entrepreneur and owns NHS Designer Builders.
“He had the vision from day one that this could be a business,” said Robison.
And with opening day just around the corner, the Robisons are holding this new legacy and its meaning dear to them in more ways than one.
“Four30 Scones came from my husband and I’s anniversary. We were married April 30. And it’s a passion of both of ours—mixing both food and business and design,” she said.
The couple will be married 20 years this spring.
Robison said, “We hope just to keep doing this well and serving the community well. And if we can grow our business and maybe have another location that would be fabulous.”
Four30 Scones is located at 528 South Main Street in Morton. It will officially open Friday.
