Popular Auckland bakery welcomes a new 'Boujee' boss

The founder of Just Jess Boujee Bakery in Huapai has handed the business over to a passionate new owner, seven years after she opened it.

The bakery’s founder, Jess Owen, says it was important to sell the business to somebody who has the same love for baking as she does.

“I’m glad the business has been sold to Dee, someone who's so passionate and [will] put love into it like I have,” she says.

Owen says deciding to sell the shop was difficult and something she only considered after giving birth in August 2024.

“If you told me a year ago, even when I was pregnant, that I would have sold my business, I would have been like you're joking,” she says.

She finalised her decision to sell last November, listed the bakery in January and settled on the new owner, Dee Scott, in February.

The handover of the bakery finished at the end of March.

Scott, a registered nurse, has always had a passion for baking and calls herself the "dessert queen”.

When she saw that Just Jess Boujee Bakery was up for sale, she jumped at the opportunity to be the new owner.

“I’ve been looking for a bakery for a while now, and when this came up, I thought I’m going in,” she says.

Scott is adamant that the bakery will remain the same and keep the signature donuts and cakes. She intends to add her own pastries and cakes to the menu in the future.

Scott also hopes to maintain the strong presence Just Jess Boujee Bakery has on its Instagram account which has over 67,000 followers.

“I’ll keep up the social media side of it and Jess is going to kind of guide me with that process,” she says.

LISTEN: Scott shares how she will maintain the social media following.

The name of the bakery will stay Just Jess Boujee Bakery while Scott settles in, however, she plans to make a slight modification in the coming months.

“I’ll just change it to The Boujee Bakery, keep the Boujee bit,” she says.

Even though Scott has been the bakery owner for only a month, she says she already feels supported and grateful for the opportunity that has been given.

“I’m just walking around with a smile on my face. It felt right, it's fallen into place and I had that gut feeling that it was the right thing to do."