Page 45 - Spring 2021

s| APPETITES
Teen runs his own bakery
By Julia Fechter
There’s never a boring day for Jack Leach, a 17-year-old boy who founded his own bakery business.
With help from his father, Brent, Jack’s Cheesecake has become a staple of the Bell’s and Market Center shopping centers, where they often hold pop-up sales.
“During Thanksgiving and Christmas, Jack and I were cooking about every day,” Brent said.
Jack has been able to go above and beyond as an entrepreneurial teen diagnosed with a non-verbal form of autism. Jack’s passion for desserts began after his Oconee County Middle School special education teacher, Audrey Norman, sold cheesecakes on her coffee cart last winter to raise funds for her class. A couple months later, Jack won the first-place dessert award at Taste of Oconee and subsequently appeared on WSB- TV. Since then, Jack’s friends, teachers and community members
have been clamoring for cheesecake.
Now, Jack’s Cheesecakes is also selling “Lil’ Jacks.”
“We were getting people asking for a sampler cake,” said Brent, “We saw mini cheesecakes on the internet and thought, ‘What would be a better name than Lil’ Jacks’... that way, we can make six flavors at a time in our muffin packs. It gives people a way to sample without committing to buying one cheesecake.”
Main flavors include the signature plain New York style and cookies & cream, while holiday packs include pumpkin, caramel apple pecan, red velvet, s’mores and white chocolate peppermint.
Brent added that they also created a gluten-free, low-carb “Lil’ Jacks” pack with three crustless New York mini cakes and three crustless key lime mini cakes. Jack has even catered dessert at a few weddings.
A couple months ago, Jack made a white chocolate cheesecake for a bride and a chocolate one for the groom. All 200 guests also had their own New York Lil’ Jacks.
Jack Leach, left, and his father, Brent, right, sell cakes in front of Bell’s Food Store.
sJulia Fechter is a news reporter for The Oconee Enterprise newspaper in Watkinsville, Ga.
SPRING 2021 | OCONEE THE MAGAZINE | PAGE 43
Julia Fechter