Who is Mae?

Growing up I was always interested in becoming a chef and my family would always gather every weekend and at every holiday for a home-cooked meal by my grandmother. She made the best meals and she made plenty of baked goods. Some of my best memories are working in the kitchen with her.

My grandma, Peggy, was just one of many influential women in my family. I’ve been fortunate enough to collect a number of family recipes from these women, like my Grandma’s Sour Cream Pound Cake, my Nana’s Banana Cookies, and even hundred-year-old candy recipes from my great grandmother. I’m a very sentimental person and the value that these recipes hold goes way beyond the ingredients that go into them. These recipes are my family, my memories. Sadly all these women have passed away in recent years. For me, this bakery is a way to share my family’s recipes with the world and to honor their memories.

So why the name “Mae”? I wanted to find a way to pay tribute to each of these important women in my family: my mother, grandmother, nana, great grandmother, aunts, and great aunts. But how could I do that with just one name? Mae is a family name. It’s my mother’s middle name, as well as both of my great grandmother’s middle names. My sister and I have always said that if either of us had a daughter that her middle name would be Mae, so we could carry on the tradition of it skipping a generation. This bakery is my child, so it seemed perfectly fitting for me to name her Mae and carry on the legacy of these great women.

It brings me great joy and comfort to share the stories of these women with our customers. Thank you for your patronage and keeping their memories alive. It means the world to me.

Chef Jeremy