Craving to career: Pastries made fresh at new Macon bakery, Krème Cheesecake Co.

Something sweet came out of the COVID-19 pandemic for a Macon baker who’s opening his own business.

Brandon Brown, a native Maconite, baked a cheesecake for the first time to fulfill a craving while working from home in 2020.

Now he owns a cheesecake-focused shop in Macon, called Krème Cheesecake Co. at 4590 Billy Williamson Drive Suite 101 off of Log Cabin Drive.

“What’s crazy is my whole life I never knew what I wanted to be,” Brown said. “I always knew I wanted my own business, but I never imagined it would be a bakery.”

It sits just a few stores down from the Verizon store he said he quit from to take a risk and chase his dream.

“My previous store manager used to always tell me, ‘burn the boats,’” Brown said. “He meant, put yourself in a position where you’re out at sea. There’s no lifeboat. You got to learn how to swim.”

After that first cake, Brown spent months perfecting the recipes. His aunt, who was the only avid baker in the family until now, taste-tested the cheesecake and gave him some tips.

“She told me I should add a little bit more extract to make that flavor come out,” the 36-year-old said. “She told me I shouldn’t be using salted butter in basically anything. Once we made those tweaks, it was good again.”

He spent months perfecting recipes using casual home bakeware in his apartment. Then, he advertised himself by giving away free cheesecake to people on social media.

Things got out of hand when Brown started charging customers.

The married father of two had to buy a mini fridge because his standard apartment refrigerator wasn’t enough to hold all the cheesecake orders.

“I had to actually set limits on the amount of orders I could take because we didn’t have room for groceries anymore,” Brown said. “We started eating out a lot because we didn’t have room to store different ingredients and things for our own meals at home.”

The Albany State and Mercer University alum tried to brand his baked goods as if it were a big brand, not a small business.

“That’s why I didn’t come out and name myself like Brandon’s Cheesecake, because that’s a small business idea,” he said. “I was ordering packaging and labels, and designing the logo.”

He adjusted to using industrial-sized bakeware just days before Krème Cheesecake Co. opened on March 21. He sells out almost every day and bakes all items in-house nightly. A drive-thru is coming soon.

The menu boasts cheesecake with strawberry, blueberry and peach compotes. Other pastries include banana pudding with chessmen on top, macaroons, cookies and pound cake.

Whole cheesecakes cost $42, slices cost $7.50 and a pack of bite-sized pieces cost $16.

“To go from a literal craving for some cheesecake, to now having my own space and serving the community is like mind blowing for me,” Brown told The Telegraph.

This story was originally published April 9, 2025 at 9:29 AM.