Rising Stars: Meet Autumn Schleusener of Farmers Markets in Wake County

Today we’d like to introduce you to Autumn Schleusener.

Hi Autumn, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Almost 9 years ago I married my Australian husband, and we settled in America. I knew he had given up a lot to come here, friends, family, culture, food, etc. but I didn’t realize how much he missed his Australian cuisine until he said he wanted to go to the closest cafe to us, all the way in Georgia. I was mildly offended, after all, I love cooking cuisines from all sorts of places, and had managed to make Beef Wellington recently. So I told him I would make his meat pies and sausage rolls. After about 10 attempts he said “this is just like Beefys (a pie chain store in Australia)” I realized there was a need to be filled in Australia cuisine. North Carolina has some of the most diverse foods I’ve had in the states, and I figured if any place had a chance of getting this off the ground, it would be here. I created a private Facebook page and invited all Australians of N.C. (they have their own Facebook page) to sample my pies to see if I had the right stuff. I had a lot of positive reviews, and I was found by the Fuquay Farmers Market manager and they invited me to my first farmers market. After that I grew to covering a few other markets, mostly Holly Springs and Cary.
A year later I had saved up enough money for my food truck, and found my place at the Geek and Grub Market, the Festival of Legends, the International Festival, and other events
All of this has been done while being a stay at home mom during the week, with the hope in the future this becomes a cafe store front with true Australian coffee, and a shared business with my husband. My mission is to bring back a little bit of home for those that miss it, and bring awareness of what true Australian cuisine looks like to the rest

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Honestly the biggest challenges have been of my own creation. I had tremendous doubt, anxiety, and fear when it came to purchasing the food truck, as it is a big investment. I worried my food wasn’t good, that I wouldn’t make good sales, and when it came to getting the food truck, I worried if I failed I would be hurting the family financially. It was only my husbands support, my faith, and the continuous support of my customers/ followers that has gotten me past these fears.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I make homemade savory meat pies from scratch. I’m especially proud of our process.We make the crust, do a special method to make it extra flaky when we roll it out. Every gravy batch is tested to check for quality and taste.
We are the only Australian food vendor in the state, and one of the handful in the United States.
I love doing fun fusions and specials, just recently we did a pork and apple pie with a sage and onion gravy. It was fantastic, and tasted just like what encompasses fall.
My customers rave about my pies. I can truly tell they enjoy it because many have turned in their rewards card (buy 15 pies get one free). I also get told from Australians that my pie is the best they have had since coming to America, or that it reminds them of home. Many Americans will come to my food truck, try a pie, and bring 5 friends back with them.
I think food is its own type of magic, it can speak of history, culture, memories, adventure, love, etc. so when I hear all of these compliments I’m just overjoyed.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I would be described differently by a few people. My grandma said I knew my mind, my step mom says I spoiled her with how well mannered I was, I remember my cousin telling me how she overheard our parents bragging about how well we were doing in school (I was an A student). But what everyone would agree is that I was steadfast in my beliefs, or maybe stubborn. Once I made up my mind about something, that was it. And to this day I’m the same way. I think things through of course, but there is no wait or hesitation once I come up with my answer. This has been tremendous in my business journey. I’ve learned my love of cooking from my mom and step mom. I have found memories making “mommy’s and autumns secret surprise” dish
And I have memories of making Christmas cookies with my step mom every year.
I have always been an introvert ,most of my time was spent reading books or playing video games (I still do)
I was never one for following the crowd. I wore boys pokemon clothes because at the time there wasn’t many clothes for girls, I chose Fencing as my hobbie, I pretended to be a knight with my brother. Most of these things still hold true, but now girls have pokemon clothes,and instead of playing pretend knight, I’m going to Renaissance fairs

Pricing:

• Meat pies $10
• Sausage rolls $6
• Desserts $4-6

Contact Info:

• Website: Sheilasaussiebakery.com
• Instagram: Sheilas_aussie_bakery
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086068413719&mibextid=LQQJ4d