Meet Paige Melancon | Home-Baker & Small Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Paige Melancon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paige, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I grew up in a relatively small town outside of Beaumont, Texas. My parent’s house is across the pasture from my mom’s parents and about a 5 minute drive from my dad’s parents, so I had a very close relationship with my grandmothers and was always in the kitchen helping them cook and bake. Between my grandmothers and mom baking was just in my blood. My Granny, my mom’s mom, was a wonderful candy and jelly maker and would have me in the kitchen helping her make homemade muscadine jelly, fudge, divinity, and her infamous teacake cookies all of the time. My Grandmaw, my dad’s mom, was a fabulous cook and baker- she was good at literally everything; including painting and drawing, decorating, crafting and building, honestly everything. I think most of my artistic abilities come from my Grandmaw and she made sure to teach me everything she knew. I don’t think there was a birthday that didn’t include one of her cakes. If I came up with an idea, she would make it happen. We watched just about every show on Food Network and would run into the kitchen to try out a new recipe or new baking technique we learned. Not only were they incredible inside of the kitchen, but outside as well- both were amazing, kind-hearted women that instilled the importance of being good people to all of their children and grandchildren which is something I strive for in my business. Not only do I want my cookies to look and taste good, but I want my customer service to reflect my values as a person. Both of my grandmothers have since passed away and baking is my way to stay connected to them. I know they were both so proud of this little business I started several years ago and would be so ecstatic to see how it’s grown today.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Pastries by Paige is a home-based bakery and I specialize in decorated cookies. My cookies are not just cookies, they’re works of edible art sprinkled with a lot of love and a little Jesus. Whether it be for a wedding, baby shower, birthday party, or ‘just because’ each cookie is carefully baked and decorated using all the special event’s details as inspiration. I think what sets my work apart is my attention to detail and overall the taste! I have customers tell me all the time that the cookies are too pretty to eat, but yet they cannot stop eating them. I strive to make sure my customer are not only happy with what they order from me, but so ecstatic that they tell everyone they know where the cookies at their event came from. A very valuable business lesson I learned at a young age from my Dad and Grandmother who both owned their own businesses is you can’t just be good at your craft because there is always going to be someone out there that can be good at it to, good customer service is a key component of good business and I love building relationships with my customers so that they receive the best customer service as well as tasty cookies!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I absolutely love planning trips and staycations and have had to do this quite often since I have a lot of friends that live out of state. A definite must-have on my itinerary would be BBQ; Pinkerton’s is a favorite in my household, The Pit Room, & The Brisket House are top of the list as well. If my friends are visiting during baseball season we definitely would catch a baseball game- if it’s football season, then we would make the quick trip to College Station to watch my Aggies play (class of 2011! Whoop!). My friends and I love to find good places to just hang out, grab a drink, maybe play some games as well so taking them to The Heights would be on the list as well, there are so many fun & cute places to grab a drink and play a game of giant jenga or cornhole. It wouldn’t be a trip to Texas without making sure they grab some tex-mex- my favorite place, El Tiempo, would for sure be on the list as well as Guadalajara. There’s always a fun pop-up exhibit happening and I love to follow local influencers & bloggers to see what fun things are happening in Houston, so making sure we have one of those fun exhibits on the list would be a must – my boyfriend and I went to The Infinite back in February and loved it! Live music is always happening around town as well and having my friend catch a good ol Texas country singer or band would definitely be on the itinerary as well.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Thank you to my incredibly supportive family, boyfriend, and friends. You all push me to pursue this dream of owning my own baking business and I would not be successful without your unconditional love and support.

Website: pastriesbypaige.com

Instagram: pastriesbypaigehtx

Image Credits
All photos were taken by me, Paige Melancon