Outlook Magazine - Fall 2020

PRETTY GREAT CHEESECAKE Even though Kurt Anderson’s family and friends have been crazy about his homemade cheesecake going back to his college days at UW-Stout, he resisted suggestions that he sell them. “I knew the likelihood of a bakery or restaurant failing,” he said. course shy of a UW-Stout master’s in food science and technology, kept making them, however. After leaving his consulting job as a food staging specialist for Dairy Queen corporate, he and his wife, Carrie, decided it was time. In 2018 Pretty Great Cheesecake joined the Twin Cities food truck scene, and in 2019 after a year of going to festivals and events they realized they had a winner. “I believe in our product, but when you see somebody else appreciate it, it’s pretty cool,” Anderson said. The 2006 hospitality graduate, who is one

Twin Cities suburb. They’ve done even better. On Mother’s Day, for example, they sold 520 individual cheesecakes — 4-inch rounds, $10 apiece, choice of five flavors — in 3½ hours to people who lined the sidewalk. They also fill special orders for pickup. “It’s a little piece of happiness during these uncertain times,” Kurt said. Kurt and Carrie, who are chiseled bodybuilders, bonded over their love for food. He had a UW-Stout internship at Taste of Home magazine, has been on the Hallmark channel and won a Minnesota State Fair blue ribbon for his honey cheesecake. She has dozens of county fair blue ribbons for her baking. What makes Pretty Great Cheesecake so great? Kurt infuses the flavors, makes special crusts and uses his food styling skills, such as toasted marshmallows atop the s’mores cheesecake. “People eat with their eyes. The way our cheesecakes look sets them apart. I want them to be perfect.”

This year, because of pandemic event

cancellations, they decided to open on Saturdays from their driveway in Chaska, a

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