Say Cheese!

By Kimberly Hunter

Can you picture it? You know… your own smile? The way you tilt your head, brighten your eyes and then squint real tight. How you purse your lips and then burst into a full-grown glow of pearly whites? Your cheeks are high, your heart is full and you are filled with reckless joy.

Don’t you just love to? I do. I love it when food unexpectedly chimes
into my “cheese factor.” When my chagrin becomes a full grin and I’m
wide open to the next delectable bite. Rachel Vickers of Rachel’s
Delectables specializes in just that kind of cheese.

Rachel
creates sweet spoonfuls of tear-jerker cheesecake developed for people
who love and need to smile. Although each cheesecake includes common
baking ingredients, there is one additional ingredient that
metamorphoses as eaten…that ingredient is pure J – O – Y. I don’t know
the scientific process – I guess it just happens.

Rachel recalls
the impact of one of her classmates bringing a handmade blueberry
cheesecake to school, a treat that began to tie in symmetry, color, and
all the nuances of things that inspire her to bring joyful “cheese” to
each and every creation.

“I was in sixth grade and a classmate
brought in a cheesecake covered in a fresh blueberry topping. It was so
beautifully handcrafted. I remember how it looked much more than how it
tasted and didn’t realize at the time that it would be the memory that
would shape my passion for cheesecake,” says Rachel.

Great taste and hand craftsmanship are the two most important “cheese” factors to Rachel.

“One
of our primary goals is to ensure our cheesecakes will remain
handcrafted. The joy of a home-made cheesecake cannot be duplicated with
machine production. Part of our commitment to quality and consistency
is ensuring that each batch is and will always be constructed by hand,”
states Rachel.

Okay. All of this is important information, but as
an aside, I would like to point out a few interesting FAQs about Rachel
and her “cheesy,” all-smiles, delectable morsels. By a show of hands
(virtual, maybe) how many of you are aware that:

• Rachel was adopted when she was a baby

•
Rachel got started because an acquaintance in Greenville asked if she
knew how to make cheesecake; Rachel said yes, made one for him, and the
rest is history

• Rachel thought her company would begin with a focus on pound cake.

• Rachel is inspired by books (not just cook books, but every topic under the sun)

• Rachel spends her (very) spare time as a volunteer to school-age children

Rachel
sees her business as a tool to reach people from every walk of life.
She continues to use the resources at Mountain BizWorks to refine her
business model as her company continues to expand its distribution and
product line. Her approach to business should give every new
entrepreneur hope: the kind of hope it takes to think outside of
ingredients, packaging, and price points; the hope to bring more than a
sugar-rush to the next sweet tooth. You know what I am talking about!
Gorgeous, goofy, simple – smile; a.k.a. cheesecake!