Tennessee Cheesecake marks three decades

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Tennessee Cheesecake marks three decades

4:24 PM, Jul. 12, 2011

Valerie Wilson started Tennessee Cheesecake 30 years ago in her kitchen. Her son, Will, was 1 at the time. He now works with her at the bakery. / Photos by Larry McCormack / The Tennessean

Tara and Andy Gower put cherries on cheesecakes. The company makes 24 different kinds of cheesecake. While wholesale sales dominate, the company also sells to consumers.

Each cheesecake is sliced, wrapped, packaged and frozen. Tennessee Cheesecake makes its desserts in a 10,000-square-foot bakery in Mt. Juliet.

Mt. Juliet might be known as the city between the lakes and the home of Charlie Daniels, but among its lesser-known exports is the Tennessee Cheesecake.

Creamier than the New York-style cheesecake, the Tennessee Cheesecake is distinguished by its thick, honey graham cracker and pecan crust.

Tennessee Cheesecake president Valerie Wilson perfected the recipe through trial and error.

Everything she touches is amazing, said Will Wilson, executive vice president. Shes a Swiss Army Knife of cooking.

The mother-and-son operated Tennessee Cheesecake company relocated to Mt. Juliet last year.

It distributes its desserts to area restaurants, and sells directly to customers online and at its Industrial Drive headquarters.

Now in its 30th year, Valerie got the idea for a cheesecake company after hearing about another cheesecake maker on a Phil Donahue segment on female entrepreneurs.

She didnt want to put Will, then 1, in daycare, so she began working on her recipe out of the familys kitchen.

Nationally, graham cracker crusts unlike the traditional shortbread were becoming popular, right as Wilson was ready to start selling cheesecakes.

I dont think they copied little ol me, but everything fell into place, she said.

Wilson got her first break when the Fifth Quarter Steakhouse in Nashville added her cheesecakes to the menu.

That brought some credibility and more restaurant customers to buy her cheesecakes. Soon enough, local chefs were asking food distributors to add the desserts to lists of available food.

By then, she was out of the family kitchen and cooking in the basement, which had been converted to the commercial kitchen. The company quickly outgrew a Charlotte Pike facility and moved to a 10,000-square-foot bakery in Mt. Juliet.

Will Wilson joined the business in 2002 after studying music in college. It started as a part-time job, but he found ways the business could improve, and now mother and son are partners in business.

He modernized the companys inventory system, and the efficiency allowed for more sales.

He pushed his mother to try new recipes, increasing their offerings from three to 24 cheesecakes and adding pecan, chess and fudge pies.

Wholesalers are still 98 percent of the business, but now, customers anywhere in the United States can order a Tennessee Cheesecake at www.tennesseecheesecake.com.