Bright neon lights, pink-striped walls and gleaming white counters set the tone inside RJ’s Burgers & Ice Cream Co., where a vibrant interior mirrors Robert and Yvette Wilkie’s journey toward building something joyful in the wake of an unimaginable loss.
In 2011, the couple’s son, RJ, died just days after he was born. The immense grief led them to start baking sweet treats as a type of therapy, which resulted in the opening of RJ’s Heavenly Delights in Jackson three years later. Then on Dec. 9, 2025, their son’s birthday, the Wilkies’ expanded their business and opened RJ’s Burgers & Ice Cream Co. in East Lansing’s Brookfield Plaza.
“My wife and I started going to counseling, and a vision came to her,” Robert Wilkie said. “We started out doing pastries and wedding cakes, and one thing led to another. She always called it ‘from pain to sweet purpose,’ and here we are today with our second location in East Lansing.”
A home-based bakery expanded into a storefront and eventually to a downtown Jackson building. Buzz around the business has grown over the years, and now many Lansing, Haslett and Grand Ledge residents make day trips to the RJ’s location in Jackson…