Running a dessert bakery as a full-time college student is no small feat. For WSU junior Katelyn Doffing, creating the business was step one. Making a gluten-free dessert menu to support herself and others with celiac disease was her next step.

Enter XO Desserts: a celiac-friendly bakery owned and operated by Doffing and her stepdad, Jack Feist.

During the pandemic, Feist was craving a cheesecake but, due to the COVID-19 lockdown, was unable to go out and get one. He and Doffing decided to try their hand at baking one together, making it gluten-free for Doffing, who had never had a cheesecake before.

“We started at our house; it was an at-home thing,” Doffing said. “We made it up ourselves, and then we told our friends to try and our family members, and everyone was like, ‘Oh, this is, like, really good.’ And so from there, it kind of turned into a business.”

In the early days of the business, Doffing and Feist sold their cheesecakes through their website, as well as to many restaurants in the area, with Doffing balancing delivery and baking, and Feist handling more of the business side of their venture. After Feist got sick with COVID-19, Doffing took over many of his responsibilities — including baking, deliveries, packaging, inventory and cold calling new restaurants to sell their desserts.

“(Before) he was more of the, ‘I’m gonna handle the business side of things,’” Doffing said. “And then after he got sick with COVID … he had a long rehabilitation process. And so during that period, everything came to me … I took on more of that business role.”

Despite the struggle, the business continued to grow, both in special online orders and bulk orders from restaurants in Wichita.

To keep up with the order demands, Doffing did most of the baking out of the kitchen at Roxy’s Downtown, a theater in Wichita. As the business grew in size and demand, though, the need to have their own space became evident.

“(Roxy’s) let us borrow their kitchen, and we were needing it so much so it became less of a favor and more full-time. And so that’s kind of what pushed us to be like, ‘We need our own space,’” Doffing said.

The shop opened about a month ago and is at 548 S. Oliver Ave. It is open from Tuesday to Sunday on afternoons and evenings.

“It’s only 10 minutes away from (campus), which is super convenient for me to be able to travel back and forth. It’s like my two homes right now,” Doffing said.

As the business shifted into an in-person storefront, so did their customer dynamic.

“It’s cool seeing all these families come in and having kids try ice cream and wanting to stay and hang out,” Doffing said. “That’s, I think, the biggest benefit of transitioning from the online model, is getting to actually have more of that engagement.” 

In addition to running a business, Doffing is studying secondary English education. She hopes to pursue a career in teaching while maintaining her business.

While XO Desserts has had a successful opening, the workload for both Feist and Doffing has raised some concerns.

“I run the shop in the evenings,” Feist said. “We’re only open in the evenings because I have a day job … and I work at night running the shop. Katelyn bakes during the day and sometimes at night during the week and sometimes on the weekend, so it’s a full-time job for both of us.” 

Feist hopes to move into production cycles to help produce the desserts faster.

“So Katelyn’s not spending so much time doing it, and she can focus on her education,” Feist said.

Doffing said she has leaned on friends and family during the busiest seasons to help balance school, work and everything else. 

“Katelyn has always been an incredibly hard worker,” said Mallory Do, a close friend of Doffing. “Even though it’s very hard work with long hours, she gets it all done. She’s a very dedicated worker … she loves that she’s doing it for her family.”

As Doffing and Feist continue their business adventure, Doffing hopes to meet the needs of the Wichita community through the shop and through her baking. 

“My hope is to expand the menu to be more inclusive of the celiac and the gluten-free community,” Doffing said. “But also just, you know, excel really well at whatever it is we do here in Wichita.”