Queen City Pastry - Our Story
Baking has been a passion of mine ever since I was a little girl living in the Midwest. I loved helping my mother in the kitchen, baking desserts for my dad and three older brothers.
I went to college, became a Registered Nurse, and worked all over the country before landing in North Carolina. Just about every week I would bake a dessert to take to work for everyone to enjoy. Doctors and nurses started requesting desserts for birthdays and other special occasions.
In 1996, Dean and Deluca opened their first store in Charlotte and I started frequenting the store to purchase supplies and baking ingredients. A store clerk befriended me and asked what I did with all of the items she saw me purchasing every week. I explained my passion for baking and making desserts for my friends and family. She suggested that I talk with their bread baker who was looking for someone to fill their pastry case with desserts. I landed a tasting with him and his general manager. The tasting went well but I seriously didn’t know whether I would hear back from him or not, but a few days later he called and placed a huge order. I worked for three days and nights straight to complete it. Upon delivery, they inspected and loved everything stating they wanted the same order for the next day... I almost fell over!
I rolled up my sleeves and went to work out of my tiny home kitchen with what I refer to as our Easy-Bake®️️️️ oven and one 5 quart Kitchen Aid®️️️️ mixer. In the beginning I made a lot of mistakes which our friends and neighbors enjoyed, but also created a vast amount of great desserts. I also became a pastry information junkie, craving and seeking knowledge from books, seminars, other pastry chefs and food channels on television to further my baking repertoire.
A restaurant chain approached Dean and Deluca inquiring who made their desserts. They contacted me to compete in a statewide tasting and after the second call was chosen to supply them. I knew at that moment that I had something special and went to work growing the business one account at a time. I discovered two things in common with all of our accounts, everyone was disappointed with the current industry’s supply of desserts, and more interested in quality over cost. They knew that if they offered their clientele a quality product that they would pay for it, even demand it, and repeat sales soared. People were stating that our dessert presentation was fantastic but that the taste was even better, and could not get enough of them to which I was and continue to be very thankful.
Finally, in 2008, we moved to our current location. Queen City Pastry products can be found in grocery and gourmet food markets, restaurants, coffee houses, country clubs, hotels, convention centers, and distribution warehouses throughout the United States and Caribbean.
We work hard to find talented pastry team members, looking for a combination of passion and quality with an eye for detail. We recognize that our pastries are only as good as our employees and we only hire the best. To date we still make every cake, cheesecake, torte, tart, and brownie from scratch using only the finest ingredients available.