Emily's path to a new kitchen space called Sweet Violets

Friends of the Parkers, as most all of you know our daughter Emily is an amazing chef. She won North Carolina Pastry Chef of the Year in 2023. If you've ever eaten food she has prepared you've also experienced the "where can I get more of this?" factor. Her ability to turn up the volume on flavor is more than amazing, it's extraordinary. Emily is fearless and bold when it comes to creating new taste experiences. She's always asking herself "what can't I do to make this better?" She and a business partner started Cornflower Bakehouse in 2023 but due to circumstances out of her control it was only open four months. Since then she's been cooking in borrowed kitchen space making breads, biscuits, desserts and filling catering orders on a very small scale. She has been very limited in what she can accomplish due to not having her own space.

She just recently was offered a small kitchen space in a local shop here in Greenville that focuses on small and conscious local foods and goods. This will greatly increase her capacity for making more food for more restaurants and people. Which also increases her capacity to have a more consistent income for her and Miles and ability to plan for the future.

This new bake house will be called Sweet Violets, a name inspired by our dear friend, Deborah Kidwell. It will be a place where people can come by for a hot pimento cheese biscuit and a cup of locally roasted coffee and take home some of her famous sourdoughs or a slice of cake, or pie, or one of her renowned chocolate tortes. She'll also incorporate offering things for people who are gluten sensitive and/or prefer vegan ingredients.

As you might imagine, starting up a kitchen is no small endeavor on any level. She has created a list of commercial kitchen necessities to get running on a basic level. She is only looking to buy used items coming from professional sources. At this point the estimate just to get started is $12,000 for the dough mixer, proofing oven, freezer/cooler combination, speed racks, installation, utensils, bowls, printer, and business signs.

Dan and I wish we could take care of this amount to show our support for her but that just isn't our reality. We help her in other smaller ways. We need your financial help. She needs your encouragement. Any donation of any amount will help her move forward with Sweet Violets. Any amount she receives, whether or not it reaches the goal will help her to move forward. She will use all the funds for purchasing whatever equipment and installation she can.