Exploring Life & Business with Shelby Smith of Whisk & Rye

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shelby Smith.

Hi Shelby, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
Whisk and Rye was a Wholesale Bakery and is now a Mobile Coffee Trailer serving the residents of Durham NC & Hillsborough NC. Shelby and Andy began their business in the Spring of 2018 setting up a small popup event and using borrowed kitchen space after hours. We worked ourselves to death to reach our goal of transitioning from a side project to making this our full-time job. Throughout 2018 and 2019 we slowly expand to serving seven cafes in the Durham-Chapel Hill area while also working full-time jobs. We loved each one of our partnerships and began to expand our baked goods to include Vegan counterparts. Our goal has always been to own a shop of our own with an inviting atmosphere where all people are welcome, knowledge is spread, friendships are made and conversations are encouraged.

But first, we had to build a great base, our menu. We want to include individuals of all dietary restrictions and have slowly been expanding to include gluten-free options. For the past couple of years, we have greatly focused on crafting vegan counterparts of all our offerings. We offered these creations to our wholesale partners and were met with praise! Summer of 2019 we began planning a new venture to sell to our customers directly to get us one step closer to one day owning a shop of our own. COFFEE TRAILER! This has proven to be a great choice, but horrible timing. We took ownership of our trailer in February 2020 and were up and operational by April 2020 (Beginning of Gov’t Shutdown). The shutdown drastically affected us as we lost all but one of our wholesales accounts as a result of business closures and having to downsize shared kitchens to save money. In the first three months of operation, we barely survived and drained our savings while trying to operate our trailer. As restrictions eased up we gained more notoriety as people ventured out a bit more. We discovered lovely communities to serve and in return, they supported us and helped us survive.

…Today we are skimming by making enough to maintain our business and pay our bills. We are still limited by our access to equipment and space, but our communities have been supportive nonetheless, so much so that we are unable to keep up with current demands.

As of January 20th, 2021 we have signed a lease on a storefront here in Durham NC, and have begun the process of renovating and building it out. Unfortunately, our lease at the shared kitchen we were using was terminated despite our request to go Month to Month as other Tenants have done. We were required to be out by March 31st, 2021, we are urgently trying to turn the storefront around in time as to not hinder our operations and serve all of our wonderful customers.

Once operational we will be able to expand to our full baking menu, offering all our signature baked goods and their Vegan counterparts daily. As many our of regulars know we have been offering Bread Loafs on the weekends. This is due to limited space and access to ovens. Our goal is to offer Bread loaves baked daily, to expand on the handful of Sourdough bread loaves we already offer, and to practice and improve on our Gluten-Free Bread Loaves and Pastries. We want to include as many people as we can in our creations, that is why we practice and improve on as many creations as we do. The sooner we are able to be up and running the sooner we will be able to offer our baked goods and crafted coffees to the lovely residents and visitors of Durham NC.

In all honesty is does not matter how much money or energy we invest into this business, if we aren’t able to make you or our future employees feel welcomed, respected, and appreciated just like you all have done for us then we have not succeeded in our business. We both have a passion for baking and crafting coffee and would love to share that with our community.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We wish we could say it has been an easy road getting to where we are today. I believe we share the struggles that many other new businesses, as well as established businesses throughout the recent years, have experienced. Some of our greatest hurdles have been finding a way to make a name for ourselves, to grow and expand while also gaining the notoriety need to sustain such growth. Unfortunately, notoriety attracts much attention from all members of the community, both good and bad. One of the experiences we wish no person should ever have to ever experience would be the negativity and oppression we both have experienced (Shelby as a Woman in the food industry and Andy as a Minority in the business world) from competing businesses.

We do our best to not let this get to us and have maintained our focus on the Finish Line, a storefront of our own. The current struggles we are experiencing are minimal compared to the before-mentioned experiences. Currently, we are attempting to maintain income, raise more capital for startup cost, coordinate the many individuals involved in the renovation of our storefront, trying to stay within a set timeline and always going overdue to setbacks that are out of our control, all the while trying to due this before our first-month rent is due. Unfortunately, it seems that we will not reach our deadline and will have to begin paying rent before we are able to open our doors to the wonderful people who have supported us.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Whisk & Rye?
Whisk & Rye was conceived through our owner Shelby’s dream of one day owning an inclusive bakery, where people of all backgrounds are welcomed to enjoy traditional French pastries catered to a wide array of taste buds. We enjoy creating traditional pastries with both classic and modern flavor profiles that everyone can enjoy. For almost every traditional pastry we bake, we go out of our way to create a vegan counterpart so that everyone can enjoy baked goods as much as we do. Also, we enjoy the challenge of creating a vegan item that is very similar to its non-vegan counterpart.

For years I’ve been working on a sourdough bread recipe that would work well with my schedule but also provide a soft but crusty bread for my customers. I wanted to make a sourdough bread that was easily consumed by the whole family – something that was rich in flavor but also soft in texture enough for kids and the entire family.

This past year I was finally able to add sourdough bread to the menu and our customers have given us much praise and support since – especially for our Oatmeal Sourdough with the Sweet Potato Sourdough being close in second. Our oatmeal loaf is an all naturally leavened sourdough loaf with the addition of oats soaked overnight in agave syrup. This makes the bread nutty, slightly sweet, but very soft and fluffy in texture. It’s a good family loaf that can be shared throughout the week – you can make breakfast toast, savory sandwiches, or even a good PB & J with it. It’s fantastic!

For all of our baked goods we use locally grown and milled flour from Lindley Mills, our dairy comes from Maple View Farms, and the bulk of our produce comes from local farmers’ markets. Our Coffee comes from Cafe Femenino which is a wonderful non-profit organization that gives back to the women in the coffee industry.

As for coffee, I am most proud of our Infused Cold Brew selections. As we began our coffee venture at the beginning of the pandemic we noticed many shops selling botted lattes and cold brew concentrates. Many of which advertising ways on how to craft drinks with syrups and flavor additives. I wanted to find a way to put my own spin on coffee and set ourselves apart from what was being offered in the community. Our best seller has been our Orange Cold Brew, but personally, my favorite has been my Banana Cold Brew, to which no additives are used other than fresh fruit and spices. On the latte side, I wanted to continue this trend in offering flavors that have not yet been done, at the same time I wanted to create drinks that everyone can enjoy. This is how our line of Agave-infused options came to be (vegan friendly) with our Rosemary Agave being our best seller.

We pride ourselves in the creativity of all our creations and take inspiration from our culture and the changing seasons.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
We would claim our success derives from our creativity in our offerings. Given Shelby’s culinary training and access to seasonal fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, it has been a sandbox of creativity to play around and experiment with the many flavors North Carolina has to offer. We love the freedom of baking on the fly rather than maintaining a repetitive menu. The same can be said for our coffee offerings.

After years of working in the Food Industry Shelby’s personal experience with baking the same menu, same seasonal offerings year-round can lead to becoming a great hindrance to one’s personal creativity while also missing out on the opportunity to fully utilize seasonal produce. This is the main reason why we pride ourselves on never having the same menu day to day or week to week.

Pricing:

• Sourdough Bread Range $4.50-$6.50
• Coffee Beverages $2.25-$5
• Pastries $3-$5

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: whiskandryenc.com
• Instagram: @whiskandryenc
• Facebook: @WhiskandRyeNC