We were lucky to catch up with Mary Jayne Wilson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mary Jayne, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

We are a food business that is centered around local food. All of our meat, dairy, eggs and most of our produce comes from local NC and SC farms. We primarily sell at farmer’s markets in and around Charlotte and this gives us the opportunity to connect with the folks growing, raising and making the ingredients that we use to create our food. It is a way to support and protect our local food system.

Mary Jayne, 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?

I am a chef and business owner, mom and wife. My personal background is that I was born and raised in the Piedmont of NC. I grew up always loving food and loved learning to make food. I went to college at Johnson and Wales University with an AS in Baking and Pastry and BA in Food Service Management, with the first class of the Charlotte campus. I began working in the Charlotte food scene in 2005. My work background includes fine dining, catering, casual dining and French pastry in independently owned Charlotte food businesses.

When I started my business in 2021, I knew I wanted a non-traditional food business that was centered around local food. I started with chicken pot pies, sold frozen to be baked at home, at local farmers markets. We were in the middle of the pandemic and comfort food seemed like the best first step.

We quickly grew and expanded into more farmers markets, vending at five different markets on Saturdays. We expanded the menu and began selling quiche and seasonal desserts, along with creating different pot pies. We have vegan and gluten free offerings that are delicious and have become very popular.

I want people to know that we are committed to making delicious food with the integrity of most of our ingredients coming from local farms. My goal is to create an innovative, sustainable food business with this focus. We want to be a positive part of, while positively contributing to, the local food system. NC has so much wonderful food to offer and we want to do our part to ensure this continues through direct support of the farms and farmers.

We have an exciting next step that we can’t wait to share. We will be using new technology to distribute our made-from-scratch comfort food. Stay tuned for the announcement in March 2024.

Any advice for managing a team?

One of the things I’ve learned being in the food industry for many years is that the people are what make the business go on. As the owner, my job is to serve them and to do everything I can to make sure they are getting what they need to do the job well. I think we all saw during the pandemic, especially in the food and hospitality industry, that the employee is not always valued or appreciated as they should be.

Listening to your team, simply being kind and striving to lead with compassion are all things I keep top of mind. Collaboration is also an important value. Acknowledge and appreciate that they are sharing their talents. Simple things like calling out hard work and saying thank you can go a long way.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The reason I started my business is because I lost my job of 9 years during the pandemic. I was shocked and devastated by this when it happened. But I was able to shift the negativity and use that energy to invest in myself. I was able to use what I learned at my previous job-what I wanted to do, as well as what I knew I didn’t want to do-to hit the ground running and do what I loved, but do it for myself. My whole business represents my resilience. The fact that I am still going after three years in business is something I feel proud of.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thoughtfulbakingco.com
• Instagram: @thoughtful_baking_co
• Facebook: Thoughtful Baking Co

Image Credits
Joshua Vasko Photography