Arielle Page is one of those lucky people who knew what she wanted as a child and made it happen.
Today, the 33-year-old is the owner of her own successful bakery, Arie’s Artisan Cheesecake in Evans, and has plans to expand.
“I knew I wanted to bake since I was 7,” she said. She was the little girl with the Easy Bake Oven who actually used it.
“My first sale was to my sixth-grade teacher; pumpkin bread,” she said.
Arie’s Artisan Cheesecake’s owner and pastry chef Arielle Page makes cookie butter cheesecakes at Arie’s Artisan Cheesecake.
But when she watched a baking competition show on Food Network she knew she found her calling.
“I saw people from around the world making a living doing this,” she said. “I wanted to know how did these chefs became ‘these’ chefs.”
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Page grew up in a military-family and lived in Augusta during high school. Her parents still live here and help her with the business.
After high school she wanted to go to culinary school, but her parents insisted their daughter get a more practical degree, she said. So, it was off to Georgia Southern University where she majored in public relations with a minor in small business management with an eye toward culinary school.
While in school, Page worked in a cupcake shop, where she was quickly promoted to manager. Balancing a job and school was tough, she said. “You have to be self-motivated. It took a lot of commitment and sacrifice, but the reward is great.”
Mini cheesecakes sit in the display case at Arie’s Artisan Cheesecake.
After graduating, Page headed to Atlanta to the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Atlanta. Along the way she worked with many outstanding pastry chefs and landed a job at the Omni in Atlanta.
“I wanted to gather all the information I could to become a pastry chef,” she said. She made small desserts and became the pastry supervisor.
Eventually she landed a job at the five-star Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta, which she said was very challenging because of the extremely high expectations and upscale, often famous and powerful clientele.
“I made cookies for Celine Dion,” said said.
As it was for so many people, the pandemic altered her plans. Page came back to Augusta and took some time off. That gave her time to look around. She saw the thriving, growing community that the Augusta-area was becoming. The idea of opening shop here became more appealing, she said.
The time off also gave her the opportunity to perfect her cheesecake recipe, she said. She developed gluten-free and vegan cheesecakes, and uses natural sweeteners to avoid sugar in some recipes.
Owner Arielle Page makes cookie butter cheesecakes at Arie’s Artisan Cheesecake in Evans.
On Saturdays, she would take mini-cheesecake samples to the Augusta Market on the River.
“People started coming back. Then they started ordering cheesecakes,” she said. “I knew I needed my own space.”
She found a location at 1202 Town Park Lane in Evans that had been a restaurant, so some of the infrastructure was there. So in September 2022, Page opened her bakery and now is planning to add a food truck and maybe eventually another location. She recently expanded into an adjoining suite and is offering cake-decorating classes.
She sells a variety of sizes and flavors of cheesecakes, and said she is always experimenting with different flavors. By offering mini-cheesecakes in many flavors, customers can easily taste-test to see what they like.
The entrance to Arie’s Artisan Cheesecakes at 1202 Town Park Lane, in Evans.
She also has seasonal flavors. For spring she has a honeycomb flavor with edible flowers and for Father’s Day she’s planning something like a maple bourbon cheesecake. Seasonal fruits and flavors, like strawberries in spring and Georgia Peach in the summer are popular, she said. Fall flavors might be pumpkin and sweet potato.
And she’s still at the Augusta Market on the River on Saturdays when it’s open.
For more information about Arie’s Artisan Cheesecake, visit www.ariesartisancheesecake.com or on Facebook search Arie’s Artisan Cheesecake.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Augusta Eats: Chef creates beautiful cheesecakes in her Evans bakery
