Sweet & Salty Queens

Writing by Gia Miller

Photography by Jonathan Baskin

Pastry chef Terri Driesbach has spent 25 years honing their craft. When they got sober 20 years ago, they, ironically, switched from bakeries to restaurants, even though, as they admit, it wasn’t a healthy environment for them. When they met their now-business and life partner Leah Guarino in 2019, the two began talking about their shared dream of opening a business. Guarino worked every front-of-house job at a restaurant (bartender, server, hostess, etc.) during college. As Driesbach explains, she’s “wonderful with the customers,” while Driesbach handles the baking for their Peekskill-based business.

Why did you decide to start Sweet & Salty Queens?

Driesbach: I left the restaurant industry before the pandemic hit, and I was trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. But the pandemic kind of held me still, like it did everybody. I really had no choice but to pivot, which was a blessing in such a dark time. I had nothing else to do, and I wanted to do something completely different than what I had done before. 

So I started trying to make vegan and gluten-free pastries, which I had never done before. It was a long, hard process, and I thought, ‘What am I doing?’ It was new, and I really didn’t know if it would work. Then I had an idea. When I was in the restaurant industry, I loved baking cakes, and I thought, ‘Oh, maybe I should do a cake doughnut.’ And it kind of worked, especially for markets, because we needed something simple. And that ended up being the hook for Sweet & Salty Queens.

How did you come up with your name for your business?

Guarino: We were looking for something kind of fun and different. We wanted a name we could take with us anywhere we went. We did start our business in an apartment in Queens, but that word also feeds into our identity as a queer business. Sweet and salty is about flavor, but it’s also about our personalities. 

Driesbach: Right, depending on the day, anyone can be sweet or salty. 

What makes your business different?

Driesbach: We’re completely gluten free and mostly dairy free. We weren’t originally gluten free; we were making a myriad of vegan and gluten free options, and then we pivoted to gluten free. We’re making things that allow people with celiac and other allergies to enjoy things they wouldn’t normally be able to enjoy.

Are either of you gluten free?

Driesbach: No, but we are older, and we love sweets. We like to eat healthier sweets than we used to because we feel better when we’re eating something that’s lower in sugar and has no gluten. Also, for us, it’s not just about making something sweet and selling it. It’s about helping the community. It’s about providing a product that you can’t normally get. Although there are a lot more gluten-free products these days, there’s still a huge, huge need for it. We’re able to do something for folks who don’t always have the opportunity to find these sorts of treats in regular bakeries. 

We get a lot of requests from people who have different allergies, so I’ll take the time to redo a recipe so they can actually have a nice treat. 

And if you ask anybody who has tried our products, they don’t taste gluten free, and we actually have a lot of folks who are not gluten free and don’t have any allergies who love our products.

How has your community supported you?

Guarino: The vendor community and our customers have been amazingly supportive. I don’t think we would be where we are without the support of fellow vendors, because we all support one another with just about everything. 

And we have really amazing repeat customers who have been coming to us since we started at the Peekskill market. They don’t just come to buy; we have really good conversations with our customers. They have taken the time to get to know us, and some of them have become our friends.

Who else has supported you?

Driesbach: We were originally based in Astoria, but when we decided we wanted a change, we got certified to stay in the Peekskill Art Lofts, so we landed there. We were there for two years, and during that time we met Sunny Cover at Peekskill Coffee, who is amazing. She opened RYZE COLLECTIVE, which has a commercial kitchen. 

So, we were a home processor, but then we kind of hopped over into her kitchen, and we’re still there. She’s been very supportive.

What’s one mistake you’ve made? 

Driesbach: Honestly, there have been a lot. I think if you ask anybody, they’d be lying if they said, ‘I haven’t made any mistakes.’ But one big one was thinking we should do wholesale. It was a mistake financially, because you really need your own kitchen, and you need a product that’s going to last longer than ours. Our donuts, which are about 50 percent of our products, need to be eaten the same day. Our cookies and other products can last about a week or go in the freezer. But it just wasn’t working for us financially, and that was a hard lesson. 

Once we stopped doing wholesale, besides Peekskill Coffee, it opened up space for us to do more markets, events, catering, etc. 

How long did it take you to figure out that wasn’t the right path?

Driesbach: About a year. We wanted to give it a chance. It started to grow, but I was the only one in the kitchen, and it took all of my time. That meant the markets were suffering, and we weren’t able to come up with new items, etc. But we really needed to go through the entire year to have that answer. 

It’s all relative, though. We went through that process, and we learned quite a bit from it. 

Guarino: We started this business because of our love of food, especially pastry. And when we started to feel like we were not loving it so much, then that’s when we said, ‘Wait a minute, why did we start doing this again?’ 

Driesbach: We had to pick it apart and decide what we were doing that we loved. And we loved being at markets; we loved doing events; we loved doing special orders for customers. So we stopped doing wholesale, and we were able to expand on the menu and not be so burnt out. 

What did you learn from that experience?

Driesbach: It’s okay to change. It’s okay to admit you can’t do something, and you don’t have to keep limping on. 

Every one of our accounts understood. Coffee Labs was one of our accounts, and they invited us to do pop-ups once a month in both of their stores instead of selling to them wholesale. Sunny was the same—very, very supportive.

Speaking of which, where can people purchase your products?

Driesbach: Every Friday, we deliver to Peekskill Coffee. It’s a limited menu, but you can find some of our products there. 

We also have a pop-up at Coffee Labs once a month; we go to the Tarrytown location on a Friday morning, and on that same weekend, we’re at their Eastchester location on Sunday. They post on Instagram when we’ll be there. 

You can also find us at the Beacon Farmers Market and the TaSH Farmers Market in Tarrytown all year, and the Peekskill Farmers Market during the spring, summer and fall. 

Guarino: In 2025, we will start shipping our chocolate chip cookies anywhere in the U.S.

What tips/advice would you give to someone who wants to start a food business?

Driesbach: Don’t give up. It’s really hard. I don’t think most people understand how hard it is. But if you’re passionate about it, you’re going to have moments where you’re going to want to pull your hair out and want to quit. 

And there are a lot of moments where you have to pivot and be willing to think outside the box and change your direction a little bit. But there’s always an answer, and there’s always a way; you just have to be willing to see it. So don’t give up. 

It’s also helpful to have a supportive partner. 

Guarino: And sometimes, you have to slow down to move forward. Don’t be afraid of that.

What is your dream?

Driesbach: I mean, I do want world peace. I really, really do. I also want people to be themselves, to be free to be who they fully are, without being bullied, without any consequences. 

At 55 years old, I came out as non-binary. It was scary, and it’s been this long, long journey for me. People ask, ‘Well, what took you so long?’ But it wasn’t for anybody. It doesn’t matter when you come out, right? There was a lot of fear there, like it is for everybody. 

I just wish this was a world where you could walk around and not fear whoever you are. 

Guarino (who did not hear Driesbach’s answer before giving her own): The world to be a safe space for everyone. I want people to be allowed to be who they are, and for that to be okay. 

I think people are more than what you see in front of you, and I wish that people could look past what is in front of them and see a bit more. People, in general, have stories. And I think that getting to know people beyond just seeing them is important. People’s stories are what make humans beautiful. So I wish everyone would just give themselves the opportunity to get to know other people. And I wish everyone had the freedom to just walk down the street and be comfortable. 

It would just be nice if people could be a little more gentle.

This article was published in the November/December 2024 edition of Connect to Northern Westchester.