How We Started
Royal Cheesecake & Varieties started in 2013. Chef Kenneth J asked Baker Tamara Williams if she wanted to start a business with him. She told him no.
​
She thought about it. She prayed on it. She changed her mind. Royal Cheesecake & Varieties is what came out of that decision.
Two Ways to Bake
Ken and Tamara have been baking for more than 15 years, and they didn't learn it the same way.
​
Ken went the formal route. He's culinary certified and ServSafe certified. Before any of that, he was a kid picking pears and apples off the trees in his backyard, making pies with his mom.
​
Tamara learned differently. She's ServSafe certified too, but her real training came from her grandmother, who was born and raised in Mississippi. Tamara calls herself "grandma certified," and she means it. That kitchen is where she learned to bake.
​
One of them trained for it. The other grew up in it. Put those two ways of baking in the same kitchen, and that's Royal Cheesecake & Varieties.
Community
Royal Cheesecake & Varieties gives back through teaching, giving, and working alongside other people and businesses in Raleigh. Building the community isn't a side project here. It's part of running the business.
What We Believe
Chef Kenneth J and Baker Tamara Williams are Christians. The verse they build the business on is Proverbs 3:5-6: trust God with everything, and don't lean on your own understanding.
​
That's not separate from how they run Royal Cheesecake & Varieties. It's the reason the business exists at all.
Why Raleigh
Ken and Tamara moved to North Carolina to sell desserts here, and they did it without a southern accent between them. They built the business from the ground up in a place that wasn't originally home, on faith that it would work.
