Our Story

Whisk & Rye came to be when owner Shelby Smith, having worked in the food industry for several years, became exhausted with the repetition and static creations of desserts offered by restaurants. The desserts, though beautiful and creative, were themselves draining to create and would come full circle in a matter of months. With the change of the seasons, the desserts would change, and next thing you know brownie season or pumpkin spice season would soon approach again. There was a lack of creativity when governed by establishments set in their ways that proved to profit.

Reminiscing on her days fresh out of training from Le Cordon Blue and working for a newly opened bakery, Shelby had the urge to go back to basics, to create baked goods that soothed the mind and introduced new flavors and pastries by the fruitful season. Owning a business has always been a dream of hers and after moving to the Triangle, she soon realized that there was much opportunity here. With some help every now and then, Shelby first created her Instagram page to share her creations. Here she would share what she loved to create.

After a lot of deliberation Whisk & Rye Bakehouse finally took its first steps in May of 2018. With a lot of support from our family, we planned our first pop-up sale which went great. Things became a little rocky from then as we began to expand our business to include local coffee shops. A lot of sleep was lost, and so much time was devoted to creating and maintaining products we saw suitable for sale to the people of the Triangle. As we soon found out, it is hard to make a name for yourself in a city that has so much food to offer.

For a while we didn’t seem to be going anywhere, and in a bit of a stand still we were asked if we had any vegan options.  This was an unfamiliar area for us as we ourselves are not vegan. We began to attempt vegan counter parts of what we already offered and after several alterations to our recipes, we finally had a vegan line up we were proud to sell. If felt great to share our creations to a larger population. We have grown a bit more since including a vegan line to our partners, but we feel now it’s time that we grow a little more and take our business to you directly.