Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristina Conger.
Hi Kristina, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I started learning how to back when I was young from my mom, aunts, and grandmothers. I think the turn from just having fun baking with family members to learning how baking works was when I was about 12 or 13. My Aunt passed away, and I always made these super delicious M&M cookies. I was bound and determined to recreate her recipe since we did not have it. I started with a toll house recipe and kept changing ingredients little by little to try and figure out her recipe. Every change I made I would keep track of. Looking back now, I realize I was doing baking science, and creating her recipe was my experiment. I continued this project through high school. Once I started college, I was making cakes, cookies, chocolate-covered strawberries, cupcakes and more to help pay for school. At that time, I was going to school for criminal justice. On my last year, my boyfriend pointed out to me I should change careers since I loved baking so much. I finished my criminal justice degree and then transferred to School Craft for the culinary program. At the time, Michigan only had baking and Pastry certificates. About half a semester in at school craft, I realized I was just interested in baking and pastry and not the whole culinary program. I then found schools with pastry programs. That is what led me to Johnson and Whales University in Charlotte, North Carolina. There, I excelled in their program and became a teaching assistant. I also applied for the internship in France that they offered. I was excepted and studied at école national de patisserie in yssîngeaux France. I studied there for about 3 months, learning classical French pastries, breads, and viennoiseries. While at Johnson and Whales, I worked very closely with my mentor, Chef Harry Peemoeller. He entered myself and Cory O’Conner in a bread competition in Munich, Germany. We competed for the USA in the IBA Cup. I was one of two females competing out of 24 chef. We ended up placing 4th out of 12 countries. We were also the second youngest team there. Also, while at school, I worked alongside many world-renowned chefs. While in school, I worked for Chiobani as a traveling chef. Once I graduated, I went to work at Zebra, a four-diamond French restaurant, as their pastry chef. I worked there for a little over a year, then went to Dukes’ Bread as a baker. While there, I created a brioche bun and pretzel recipe for the company. Once we moved back to Michigan, I started working at Crispellis off of Woodward. I only worked there for a few months when I was offered an opportunity by James Rigato to help open a restaurant and create a pastry and bread program. It’s was a gamble that I took, and that restaurant was Mabel Gray. I worked as Mabel Grays pastry chef for 5 1/2 years. During that time, we won Best Restaurant of the Year by Detroit Free Press and nominated by James Beard every year. I also opens Doug’s delight with James Rigato as well. In the beginning of 2020, I had health complications. During COVID, I was working on getting my health better, but the long hours and stress of working in a kitchen was still taking a toll. In October of 2020 I decided to step down as the pastry chef at Mabel Gray to focus on my health. In the fall of 2022, I started Death by Pastry at the Birmingham farmer’s market. We make cookies, brownies, cakes, sourdough, challah, and many or things. We wanted to do farmers’ markets so we could bring the pastry chef experience to you. One of my favorite this to do is make seasonal offerings using produce from the farmers at the market. In 2023, we started working at multiple farmers’ markets and pop-up locations. We are excited for the new year and the growth of our small business.
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?
Oh, man! It has definitely been a learning experience, from going to a large commercial kitchen to baking out of the house. Staggering bake times for bread and figuring out storage for everything. The back and forth for our logo, which we love. Jason Salinaz is an amazing artist and put a lot of work and effort into our final logo. Always figuring out logistics for each market and what we need. Keeping up with content on social media. Right now, it is just myself and my partner Jeremy Salinaz. I make everything, and he sells and posts everything. We are both definitely learning as we go.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business.
We make all sorts of baked goods and breads. Our sourdough that we offer all use our 17 yr. old sourdough starter. Also, part of our bread program is our six-strand braided challah. We make a multitude of different cookies, but one of you staples/ best seller is the chocolate chip sea salt cookie. I like to have fun with our cake jars and create seasonal offering for those. We make an apple cinnamon sour cream coffee cake. The coffee cake we make in three different sizes for our cliental now. We make pies that change seasonally. I also make specialty cakes upon request.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
We live being able to see all the seasons. With that being said, that is also one of our difficulties due to our business being weather-based. We might not have as many people come to the market when it rains or when it’s cold, but we are there rain or shine
Pricing:
- Three-piece cookie pack $5
- Breads start at $6 and go up from there
- Pies start at $35 and go up from there
- Cake jars are $20
- Specialty cakes prices varied
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @deathbypastryllc
- Facebook: Death By Pastry
