Business Profile: G&K Sweet Foods LLC, Peekskill

Peekskill resident Kecia Palmer-Cousins and New Rochelle resident Gay Wheeler-Smith said they created the Peekskill-based G&K Sweet Foods LLC, in part, to pass along the legacy of the southern baking which they grew up with.

But the eight-year-old business has resulted in much more than continuing their families’ baking traditions. Their Momma’s Legacy Licious Sweet Potato Pies were served at the 2014 Super Bowl VIP Tailgate Party at Met Life Stadium and through their company they have met a variety of celebrities, including First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Oz.

The co-owners were interviewed last week at the Peekskill offices of the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce. They are both Chamber members.

The sweet potato pie recipe was created by Wheeler-Smith’s late great-grandmother, whom she affectionately called Mama.

The co-owners and longtime friends did not start their careers in the food industry. Wheeler-Smith was a nurse who continues to work in the medical field as a quality manager, and Palmer-Cousins was an IT project manager for Verizon before retiring.

“In 2007 we attended a Women’s Enterprise Development Center Entrepreneur’s Breakfast (in White Plains),” Palmer-Cousins recalled. “In the parking lot right after the breakfast Gay asked me if I would partner with her to help can her great-grandmother’s pie filling. So I said yes because I have entrepreneurship in my blood. I have parents who are entrepreneurs.”

“It was a desire that I’ve had since I was about 16-years-old,” Wheeler-Smith said. “I always wanted to can the filling of my great-grandmother’s recipe. The sweet potato pie was really my favorite dessert. We made many desserts.”

Wheeler-Smith said she often baked a variety of desserts with her great-grandmother since the age of six. Her great-grandmother died when she was 16.

Like Palmer-Cousins, Wheeler-Smith said she was raised in a family of entrepreneurs who have inspired her. She also wanted to start the business to pay homage to work of her family, Wheeler-Smith said.

“After I got married and after I had my daughter (Joh’Vonni) you start thinking about what it is that you want to pass down in terms of legacy,” Wheeler-Smith said. “We’ve been able to market this project and really bring a dream to life.”

Palmer-Cousins, who has sons Kendall and Kyle, said her family is from South Carolina and Wheeler-Smith’s family is from North Carolina. Her family’s favorite dessert was sweet potato pies. Her grandmother, Loretta Palmer, who died earlier year, baked and sold sweet potato pies on the weekends at New York Hospital where she worked as a cleaning lady, Palmer-Cousins said.

The co-owners want to pass the business to their children after they stop working. The duo decided to expand its original concept to sell baked goods, such as sweet potato pies and cookies and recently introduced frozen sweet potato pie filling.

The duo outsources much of the baking. Palmer-Cousins said she is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the business and Wheeler-Smith said she works in the business after work and on weekends.

Some of the company’s regular customers include the Peekskill Farmers Market and the Hudson Valley Hospital Center Farmers Market in Cortlandt. The products are also available in Mamaroneck at the Chocolations store and through the G&K Web site.

The company was chosen to serve its sweet potato pies at the 2014 Super Bowl VIP Official Tailgate Party at Met Life Stadium. Shortly after the 2012 Super Bowl, the NFL Host Committee sent out an e-mail to certified businesses owned by women and minorities in New York and New Jersey and the duo met regularly with the committee before being chosen.

G&K served at the pre-game party football players including Lynn Swann, coaches and their wives, as well as such other celebrities as Michelle Williams from Destiny’s Child and Dr. Oz. “It was very exciting,” Palmer-Cousins and Wheeler-Smith said. Thousands of pies were baked for the event.

The duo also met Obama at a luncheon about five years ago in Manhattan and they were interviewed on the “Today Show.”

Palmer-Cousins said she and Wheeler-Smith have enjoyed running their company. “We’ve been able to grow. We’ve been able to expand our product line,” Palmer-Cousins said. “We’ve been able to meet a lot of fabulous people.”

Wheeler-Smith stressed all of the G&K employees are vital to the success of the company. “You have to have a team,” she said. “In order to move forward you have to have team players.”

For more information about G&K Sweet Foods LLC, call Gay Wheeler-Smith at 914-649-8889 or Kecia Palmer-Cousins at 914512-4373. The company Web site is gksweetfoods.com.