A little slice of franchise

My Daddy's Cheesecake Bakery & Cafe is bigger than Cape Girardeau.

Over the years the baking institution outgrew a few kitchens, and it became clear that ownership was not a one-man operation.

Now the South Broadview eatery officially has become a franchise. The owners have sold their first store, and there will be a My Daddy's Cheesecake in Destin, Fla., expected to open in late summer or early fall.

"We always appeared to be a chain, even though we weren't," said Wes Kinsey, who bought the bakery in 1996.

Kinsey said that every once in a while customers from outside the area argue that they've seen a My Daddy's Cheesecake before. "It's the way we branded the logo and the name and the fact that we ship nationwide," he said.

Cape Girardeau's My Daddy's Cheesecake filled up for lunch Thursday. (Kit Doyle)

The company started selling cheesecakes through its Web site in 1998, and has since sold to every state in the country. Kinsey and his business partners ship thousands of cheesecakes every year through UPS in Styrofoam containers kept cool with icepacks.

The cheesecakes also are available at Schnucks in Cape Girardeau and Dierberg's grocery stores in St. Louis, along with Burgers' Smokehouse, a catalog company based out of California, Mo.

According to Kevin Stanfield, who joined the team in 2004, there are groups of people in six states interested in becoming franchisees. Kevin Stanfield's father, Bill, the third owner of My Daddy's Cheesecake, said it's likely that another store will be built in Tampa, Fla. He's presently working out the logistics.

Kevin Stanfield and his wife, Susan, and Bill Stanfield and his wife, Peggy, owned the Blimpie restaurants in Cape Girardeau for more than a decade. In March 2004, Kinsey made a statement in an article in the Southeast Missourian saying that he was going to shut down My Daddy's Cheesecake. The Stanfield's read Kinsey's plea and decided to invest in the business.

"It had gotten to the point where I couldn't keep up," Kinsey said. "It was either time to take in a partner or go to a different way of life."

Wes Kinsey added an ogre-ish green icing to birthday cookies Thursday at My Daddy's Cheesecake. Kinsey, one of the owners, is one of several decorators for My Daddy's Cheesecake. The new franchise location in Destin, Fla., will prepare all daily perishables.

The business operation was too much for a single person to maintain successfully.

Good enough to sell

Kinsey's predecessor had a similar dilemma in 1996. My Daddy's Cheesecake founder Tom Harte, a retired professor from Southeast Missouri State University, started the business in his kitchen.

Twenty years ago Harte and Joe Low, a colleague, were part of an unofficial supper club. They would get together once a week, along with their wives, and exchange cooking ideas. One day they chose cheesecakes as the theme, and Harte created a dessert that caused Joe Low's wife, Lauchette, to say: "This is good enough to be sold."

Lauchette Low pitched the idea around town and soon Jeremiah's Restaurant on Water Street began purchasing four cheesecakes a week.

That summer, Harte's daughter, Jill Gaither, was home from college and began working at the restaurant. When she waited tables, she would always ask, "Do you want to try a piece of my daddy's cheesecake?" She made more sales and tips than the other waitresses, so everyone at the restaurant started delivering the sales pitch.

The name stuck.

Gaither also is responsible for creating the My Daddy's Cheesecake logo, which is a sketch of Harte.

"We have an emotional investment in the company," Harte said. He added that it was tough to start a small business but having full-time jobs helped.

"We just did it because we thought it would be fun," he said. "I never expected to make a lot of money out of it. It's gratifying to see it become a prosperous business."

The cheesecakes became so popular that Harte and his wife, Jane, along with the Lows rented out a facility at the Plaza Galleria. Soon that became too small, so they moved to Main Street. Harte eventually sold the business to Kinsey because he didn't have the time to keep up with production.

Kinsey incorporated breakfast and sandwiches into the menu plus a pick-up window, then relocated the restaurant to Route W.

My Daddy's Cheesecake has a bakery big enough to accommodate up to 10 franchises. Kevin Stanfield said the cheesecakes for the Destin location will be baked in Cape Girardeau and shipped to other stores in order to retain the recipes and the consistency of the products.

Today, about 40 employees run one shift at the baking institution. If the franchise continues to flourish, a second shift and maybe a third will be added. If the company gets bigger than that, a factory in Southeast Missouri will be built and more employees will be hired, Kevin Stanfield said.

tkrakowiak@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137