PEARLAND, Texas – After closing for several days to allow the owner and staff to recover from a dramatic uptick in business after the highly positive review given by food critic Keith Lee, The Puddery in Pearland has reopened.
Owner Janel Prator estimated the line at the business was about two hours long Saturday as the community came out to order the delicious desserts that impressed Keith Lee.
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“I’m feeling grateful, I’m feeling happy, I’m also feeling tired, but I am grateful,” Prator said.
Earlier this week, Prator said she started experiencing chest pains, thinking she may have pulled something in her chest. On Wednesday, she streamed herself on Instagram to discuss the temporary closure while she sat in her vehicle outside an urgent care. Since then, she says she feels much better and explained what happened.
“I had a muscle strain in my arm, mixing too much pudding,” she said.
Now, the staff is back and wearing new “Keith Lee approved” shirts. Prator said the community response has been amazing.
“The response has been great, everyone loves the items, they love the banana pudding, the Keith Lee Croffle, they love them, so I am just excited that people are embracing what we have to offer because they didn’t know about us before, but once Keith Lee reviewed us, now the community knows about us,” she said.
Prator said they are already taking orders for Sunday because they are sold out of a lot of things.
“We sold out of the banana pudding within about two hours and typically we would maybe make about 30 puddings a day, now we make close to about 500 puddings,” she said.
On top of that, she said they have limited the menu to items reviewed by Keith Lee at this time.
“We had to limit our menu just so we could handle the influx of customers, so the only items on our menu are the items that Keith Lee reviewed, we will gradually start adding more items back to the menu once things kind of calm down, but for now everyone wants what Keith Lee reviewed so that’s what we have on the menu,” she said.
Prator said they are usually closed on Mondays, but may have to close on Mondays and Tuesdays and be open five days a week.
“That way we can restock our inventory, we can hire because we are definitely hiring, and then the staff can get some rest,” she said.
The Puddery, is located at 5517 Broadway St. in Pearland.