We recently connected with Matthew Prater and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Matthew thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

When I was in high school, my junior year, I found a “healthy cheesecake” recipe in a magazine. I took the base of that recipe and created my own recipe for a cheesecake. Once I had it down, as cheesecakes can be a little tricky, I decided to make a little extra money, I would bake cheesecakes for people for the Holidays. The response was wonderful. Looking back, I remember being a little stressed with an overwhelming amount of cheesecake orders! But in reality, it was likely maybe 10 orders for cheesecake. Although it would take 10 years later for the bakery to begin, this was the groundwork, a little cheesecake recipe.

Fast forward to October of 2019, I wanted to do the same thing again from high school, just make a little extra money. So I started a “social media bakery” on Facebook. I remember starting the page, and talking to my mom about it, and her saying “oh wow, you actually did it”. It felt exciting! We received about 110 followers on the page, and we received a few orders through the holidays for Cheesecakes. After the Holidays, 2020 came, and we all remember what soon followed.

I had recently graduated from Winthrop with a masters in nutrition. I was currently working at the Pump House in Rock Hill as a server, determining what the next steps would be. I was looking at internship possibilities in order to become a registered dietitian. But April 2020 came along with Covid lockdowns, and I was laid off. With my personality, I have to be doing something. so my Mom and I created a cookie recipe inspired by Levaines Cookies in NYC. We used our social media paged and announced our first “Cookie Friday” where people can purchase a minimum of 4 cookies, and my wife (then girlfriend) and I would deliver them ourselves. My mom would combine the dry ingredients and portion everything out in the morning, and I would mix and bake it all, and my wife and I would deliver

The response was great, and people posted all about it on social media, and our followers on our page exploded, and so did our volume.

We then decided, what if we did cinnamon rolls? Using a base recipe for yeast bread on an old index card my mom had, we created the cinnamon rolls, and “twirly tuesdays”. Same concept, same delivery rules, and once again, and explosion of followers.

When the restaurant reopened, I went back part time, and worked until Mothers Day of 2021, juggling the bakery and the Pump House job throughout that year. Finally, I went full time with the bakery.

Long story short, we started out of my mom’s house, moved to working out of our house, then rented out “The Craftsman Beverage Company” for an hourly rate (shout out to them for letting us), started supplying another local business, The Country Carrot, a grocery store that only sells NC, SC, and GA products. We supplied them with our cheesecake slices and cookies, and just continued to grow.

We knew we needed more kitchen space and time, so we contacted a man named Essie, a Rock Hill staple who catered so many weddings for Rock Hill-ians through the decade. He was looking to slow things down, and he agreed to rent out his kitchen to us for a monthly rate, still sharing it with him when he wanted to do a catering or two. This occurred in August of 2023. We continued to work out of this kitchen for the next 18 months. We were able to do more pickups, while still doing twirly Tuesdays and Cookie Friday deliveries. Then finally, Dec 4th, 2024, we obtained our very own space. My wife left her full time job to join me, and we are now a Husband and Wife team running a local bakery in Rock Hill, with over 7K followers on Facebook, and tremendous support from the Community. God has guided us through the years to get us to where we are now, and we are so incredibly thankful for that, for Him giving us patience, and opening and closing doors.

Matthew, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Praters Bakery is a 100% scratch made bakery. Our mission is “simple and southern”. We want to supply Rock Hill with simple delicious treats; Pound Cakes, Pralines, Cookies, Cinnamon Rolls, etc.

Our menu is seasonal and changes often to keep up with the season. The produce and ingredients we use are local. We use Local Milk from Nance Farms Creamery in McConnells, about 20 minutes down the street. We use local produce from Bush-n-Vine, and local apples from Windy Hill Orcahard, and local Eggs from SMT Farms, all in York, SC right next door. We also use locally made vanilla from Sweet Southern Farms in Edgemoor Near Lancaster, and We use the Country Carrot for other local produce.

We are proud to use all of these local people

1) It keeps the money in the local economy and supports local people
2) The product is more fresh, more delicious, and makes a better product
3) Seasonal is vital as the product is in it’s prime

We don’t deviate from our menu as it is what we know and what we do well. We treat everyone who comes in through our doors like our long time wonderful neighbor, true southern Hospitality. We often tell everyone, we cannot beat your Mama’s baked goods, nor your grandma’s baked goods, but we can be 3rd best!

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Our first initial investment was about $100 in cheesecake pans. From there we slowly grew the business, using any profits to get to the next step. As I grew the business, my wife was hard at work at a full time job to provide for our family. We continued to what I like to call “stair step” the business, taking it one slow step at a time. We just continued to reinvest in the business. Today, we have a walk in space, fully equipped, with no bank loans. We could not have done this without the help and support from friends and family, and are so thankful to be where we are today.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Slowly and steadily.

When we worked out of the house, and had to market our product, you would never know we were in a house. For a home bakery, people don’t want to see a picture of a product on your home counter, and a fridge in the background with family pics taped to it and “stuff” on top of the fridge. The product is what’s important. Keep it as professional as possible. We used backgrounds for our products like shiplap, and wood cutting boards.

Make sure to post about the product and the business, not selfies, not posts about your personal life, feelings, or frustrations. Keep it positive.

Post daily, but not more than once a day as this would get tiring for people to see. Take breaks from posting too, especially in busy times to manage the growth.

Social media is a wonderful tool. But the business and the product come first. Some post can be made about the people or family behind the scenes, as people love to see local people running the business, but at the end of the day, it’s about the product you sell, not you.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Praters Bakery
• Facebook: Praters Bakery

Image Credits

All of our images our on Facebook or Instagram. Please feel free to screenshot any of those photos and use, as we do not have pictures on our computer