My husband Jack and I spent many years working for fine companies like Häagen-Dazs, IBM and Proctor & Gamble.  The benefits of working for major corporations like these are too numerous to mention, but I can say these experiences provided a clear understanding of the complexities of operating any size or type of business successfully.

Jack & I met in graduate school where each of us earned an MBA.  We got married and in recent years thought we could not only work well together, but also have some fun doing something we would both enjoy.  We became entrepreneurs by testing a gourmet cookie gift business.  One thing led to another, including a number of classes in the Culinary Arts Department at Central Piedmont Community College and intensive chocolate training at the Barry Callebaut Chocolate Academy in Montreal, Canada.

We now operate a classic Mom & Pop business (we are parents) where we specialize in producing custom gourmet gifts from our pastry shop, chocolate shop and deli where we prepare from scratch light breakfast and informal lunch programs for corporate clients throughout the greater Charlotte area.  We also welcome individual or retail customers to come into our shop to satisfy their cravings for a delicious lunch, a pastry selection that bursts with fresh fruit flavors or a piece of chocolate filled with a scrumptious soft ganache.

Our shop is a fully licensed and inspected commercial kitchen.  Our most important resource is our staff.  All of our employees are culinary professionals with a degree in Culinary or Pastry Arts.  Our Executive Chef, Meredith Nielsen, and our Pastry Chef, Wendy Angelo, are Johnson & Wales University graduates.  Our Garde Manger Chef, Jared Jurusik, is a graduate of Central Piedmont Community College.  Each of these individuals demonstrates a wide range of technical skills, intriguing creativity, and a genuine commitment to excellence with whatever they do - every day.  We truly respect and appreciate these fine folks for their character and their professionalism.

One other element of our business in which we take a great deal of pride is our partnership with Johnson & Wales University.  We are an Extern site for J&W pastry arts students in their final phase of their formal education.  Select students work full time in our kitchen for the final semester of their pastry arts program.  We offer a chef supervised site for students to obtain some real world experience before graduating.  Each student Extern we have seen has been nothing less than spectacular!  Each has been well trained and is a credit to themselves and Johnson & Wales University.  Colette Peters, Alice Medrich, Jacques Torres and company beware!  The TV cameras and stages are soon to be filled with new faces – and we’ve seen them first hand.

Thank you for taking a minute to learn a little about us.  Please contact us.  We are immensely confident that if we prepare and send a delicious keepsake gift on your behalf, cater light fare, or if you visit our retail shop, pleasure awaits you.  We promise!

Best Wishes,
Dee Hayman