Meet April Harris, founder and owner of Keeping You Sweet. April joined Garden State Kitchen when she suddenly lost access to the commercial kitchen where she was making her vegan and gluten-free desserts. Losing production space is never great, but when you wholesale to Whole Foods Market, you need an immediate solution.
We hear this story a lot at Garden State Kitchen and are proud to provide clean, reliable space for makers right when they need it. Since our rental requirements are industry standard, it’s easy for established food businesses to move in and quickly get started. Our flexible hourly rates mean there’s no need to rush into a lease or mortgage and the operational costs that come with it. No stranger to hustle, it took April less than a week to visit Garden State Kitchen, sign up, stock her cold, dry, and frozen storage shelves, and begin working in our large production baking kitchen.
As a former pop sensation—April was part of the platinum-selling freestyle dance trio Seduction and toured with other marquee acts—creativity and drive were already part of her repertoire. She got serious about baking after her mother, a successful caterer, passed away in 2011. She started reworking family recipes, her mother’s handwriting inspiring her as she removed gluten and refined sugars. She says it felt like they were cooking together in the kitchen.
These days, she runs Keeping You Sweet at Garden State Kitchen while she builds out a production space of her own and Whole Foods places her treats in more stores. It’s a big step toward scale, stability, and much well-deserved success. We think her mother would be very, very proud.
It’s easy to get started at Garden State Kitchen. Here’s how: