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What started with a challenge has morphed into a cheesecake bakery with three locations in Greenville County.
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That’s the story behind Mak & Cheesecakes, owned by Lisa and Curtis Forbes, who both came from the tech industry.
The story goes that they were visiting New York City where Curtis grew up and he took her to his family’s favorite restaurant where she tried cheesecake for the first time.
“I think I can make this,” she told him.
He was a bit skeptical.
Lo and behold, two years of trial and error has made them entrepreneurs.
Here’s a common reaction: “Lawd have mercy, I need to be able to teleport that, y’all excuse the drooling,” a woman said on Facebook.
It started with a tricycle cart for pop up events in 2021, moved to a physical location in Simpsonville two years later, then Augusta Street in Greenville and last weekend they opened on Airport Road near the Greenville Downtown Airport.
Facebook followers are loving the cheesecakes so much they are asking the Forbes to open in their town.
The bakery is named for their son, Makai called Mak, who was born at 1 pound 8 ounces with a rare dwarfism called Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia.
Lisa Forbes told WYFF doctors said he had a 10% chance of survival at birth.
He spent 201 days in the NICU, had six surgeries, was on a ventilator and had a tracheostomy and gastric feeding tube. He overcame it all.
He’s 13.
He has autism and is still nonverbal.
“He is a joy to anyone who meets him and he is our WHY!” Forbes told WYFF.
If you wonder how a business can operate making cheesecakes just take a look at what they offer.
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Crusts made from cookie dough — chocolate, golden, lemon, and peanut butter. Flagship flavors, strawberry, turtle, and salted caramel.
But get this, you can customize from a rotating list of more than 20 toppings, including Kitkat bars, Snickers, Nilla Wafers and Biscoff cookies.
How about golden crust + creamy cheesecake + salted caramel + apple cider doughnuts coated in brown sugar & cinnamon, finished with apple cider glaze and house-made whip?
They said their No. 1 seller is banana pudding cheesecake. They have a video on Facebook of a man savoring this very cake.
They consider their signature cheesecake the one with pecans, chocolate chips and toffee baked into the batter, topped with chocolate, butterscotch, salty chocolate-covered pretzels & house-made whip.
“Sweet. Salty. Crunchy. And absolutely LOADED,” they said on Facebook.
They also have flights. Yep, like wine. Three squares of your choice of their various cheesecakes.
“What started as a dream has turned into something bigger than we ever imagined,” they said on Facebook. “We seriously cannot thank y’all enough for continuing to show up, tell your friends, share our posts, and eat a whole lot of cheesecake.”
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