Made in Memphis
The proof is in the banana pudding at Elise Dessert Company, which offers four tasty varieties.
With a smile, Bria Woods recounts the first time she made her boyfriend a batch of banana pudding. “He fell in love with it and told me, ‘You need to sell this,’ ” she said. Thanks to his persistence and that of her mother, Woods launched Elise Dessert Company in April 2020. Elise Dessert Company currently features a line of four banana pudding flavors. The line includes traditional banana pudding, as well as strawberry and caramel flavors of banana pudding. Cookie pudding (banana pudding without fresh bananas added) rounds out the collection now available in grocery stores.
“I wasn’t sure people would buy banana pudding,” she said. To see if a business would work, she made a batch of 10 servings and brought them to work to sell. After that first sold-out day, she increased her numbers to 50, and then 100.
“I realized I couldn’t make them from home anymore,” she said of her decision to rent commercial kitchen space at Otherfoods Kitchen. Now she makes several hundred 8-ounce retail tubs per week.
Her products can be found in numerous grocery stores across Memphis: Cordelia’s Market, Curb Market, two Cash Saver markets (Madison Avenue and Third Street), two Superlo markets (Spottswood and Goodman Road) and High Point Grocery.
The recipe for success
Woods has always loved to cook. She supported herself while in grad school in Nashville by cooking for others.
She always thought her Key Lime Pie would be her claim to fame. But an old family recipe for banana pudding changed her focus.
The strawberry flavor was an idea her mother had. She layers fresh sliced strawberries into her classic banana pudding recipe for a treat with a surprising sweet and fruity twist.
The caramel flavor followed soon thereafter. Like with the strawberries, she adds a layer of caramel sauce in her banana pudding. The caramel adds a depth of flavor to the rich vanilla-based pudding.
The cookie pudding is just like the traditional banana pudding, but without the addition of fresh banana slices. “I love banana pudding with no bananas,” Woods admitted.
As her business expands, the focus will remain on banana pudding for now. But Woods does offer her Key lime pies and homemade quiches for special order online. Large “party-size” pans of her banana puddings are also available for special orders.
Woods said a key ingredient in the business has been her determination and entrepreneurial spirit.
“Everyone in my family is an entrepreneur. I knew I could sell,” she said. “You can do anything with the right attitude.”
Woods decided to name her business after her middle name “Elise.” “Elise means ‘God is an abundance,’” she said, adding she felt that was the perfect name for her new dessert company.
Jennifer Chandler is the Food & Dining reporter at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at jennifer.chandler@commercialappeal.com and you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @cookwjennifer.