Arielle Page always knew she wanted to be a pastry chef and start her own business. But she was hesitant about the timing of starting a bakery.
“This was still during the pandemic,” said Page. “I was still kind of nervous about starting another business at the time.”
As it did for plenty of people last year, COVID-19 led to circumstances that brought out the entrepreneur in her. Arie’s Confectioneries is a specialty online dessert shop that specializes in personally sized, as well as bite-sized, artisan cheesecakes.
The shop’s menu offers everything from cookies and cream, key lime and strawberry cheesecakes, to specialty seasonal items like eggnog and snickerdoodle.
After graduating from Georgia Southern University and then earning her baking and patisserie degree from Le Cordon Bleu, Page spent several years working as a chef in the Atlanta area, from a small cupcake bakery to four-star hotels such as the Omni and the Four Seasons.
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Page returned to the Augusta area to live with her parents amid the height of the pandemic. While looking for work elsewhere, her culinary instincts kicked in.
“There wasn’t a bakery that was fully dedicated to cheesecake,” said Page. “I had already perfected my own recipe.”
Using that recipe, Page started experimenting with her own enterprise by selling personal-sized cheesecakes to family and friends. The final catalyst for Page’s decision to open her own business was seeing a news story in which a bakery was enjoying wild success selling key lime pies, with customers lined up around the corner, in the middle of the pandemic.
“I thought if they could do it, I could do it, too,” she said.
Page completed the proper paperwork and protocols, and Arie’s Confectioneries, LLC was launched in August of 2020. The business still operated primarily via sales to friends and colleagues, working banquets and occasional partnerships with restaurants. Page launched the website and online shop in August of this year. The shop is based in Grovetown, taking orders for both the Augusta and Atlanta areas.
“People are very receptive of it,” said Page. “They love the idea of you know, having different flavors. I know a lot of people don’t necessarily like committing to the giant cake. They like to be able to sample everything.”
Page notes that, this being the South, red velvet and banana pudding flavors have proven particularly fashionable. Page grew up as a military brat and lived in Germany when she was very young. She also studied abroad, and so her time in Europe has impacted her perspective on, and approach to, preparing her desserts.
“There’s lots of sugar here in the states. Everything is sugar, sugar, sugar,” said Page. “The desserts here are more simple. In Europe, everything is more detail-oriented.”
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She hopes to find a brick-and-mortar location for her bakery soon. In the meantime, the holidays have given her business plenty of traction, with pop-up shops and appearances at the Augusta Market.
Page is meticulous about the ingredients, using one preferred brand of cream cheese, making her own vanilla extract and only using eggs from local farmers. With her training and enthusiasm for culinary crafts, that attention to detail she associates with European desserts is deployed creatively when designing her own pastries.
“You eat first with your eyes,” said Page. “So you want to make sure that it’s beautiful, eye catching, bright, colorful, but then when you actually eat it there’s a lasting impression.
For more information on Arie’s Confectioneries, visit its website at https://www.ariesconfectionaries.com/.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering Columbia County with The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
