Dani’s Cheesecake is an Alabama business producing jars full of love and flavor
Danielle Moore is the owner of Dani's Cheesecake, an Alabama company putting gourmet cheesecake flavors in a jar. (Michael Tomberlin / Alabama News Center)
When Danielle Moore’s oldest son was heading off to college in 2020, she knew she needed a way to make some extra money.
“I’ve always been praised about my dessert baking skills and we really didn’t have a place to get a great cheesecake,” Moore said.
After testing some recipes and settling on a no-bake option she liked, Moore began packaging them in ice-cream cups and selling them. Things took off quickly.
“It went from a side hustle of me making some money to me leaving my job at the end of 2021 going with it full time,” she said.
That full-time business is Dani’s Cheesecake, a gourmet, no-bake cheesecake that now comes in jars and more than 40 flavors.
The company now has four employees and is continuing to see growth.
Moore said she decided to put the cheesecakes in jars for both convenience and safety. During the pandemic, the thought of multiple people hovering over a whole cheesecake wasn’t ideal, so by putting the cheesecakes in individual jars, it solved that problem and made it convenient to transport and sell in different settings, to include her food truck. It also made them easier to ship.
Making the leap from making good cheesecake to having a successful business didn’t come easy for Moore, who said she is inherently shy. She decided to join the Opelika Chamber of Commerce and began attending every meeting and function she could.
“I literally started going to everything they had – with nothing to do with cheesecakes or dessert period,” she said.
She would introduce herself to other business owners and let them know she was available to cater corporate events.
Opelika started Food Truck Fridays in 2022, giving Moore a new outlet to sell her products. She took 40 cheesecakes to the first one and sold out in 15 minutes.
“Now I show up with about 300,” she said.
You can keep track of her food truck on Facebook.
Moore is constantly toying with new flavors for both seasonal release and to add to the regular rotation.
“Cheesecake is such a blank canvas that you can just really do pretty much anything with it. So I love trying new flavors,” she said.
Moore is working on getting her products in stores. Her big goal is to have her cheesecakes sold in Target, Whole Foods and specialty boutique stores.
Her top sellers are Strawberry Crunch and Red Velvet Cookies and Cream; the latter was not meant to be a regular flavor.
“It was originally supposed to be seasonal, but if I show up to a Food Truck Friday without it, these people are going to riot. So, it stays all year long,” Moore said.
In a typical week, Moore said she produces about 1,500 cheesecakes to sell at various events, through her food truck and via online sales. She’s working to get a large commercial freezer so she can try to work ahead and store extra inventory.
Additionally, Moore wants to add some commercial stand mixers.
Dani’s Cheesecake was chosen as one of five concept stage finalists for the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama’s Alabama Launchpad competition earlier this year. While she wasn’t one of the winners of the $75,000 in funding, Moore said just being a finalist was a benefit to her business.
“I entered it not knowing what all it entailed,” she said. “Let me tell you, it definitely helped me grow as a businesswoman. It made me know my business inside and out.”
Winning the money would have been nice, but Moore said the greatest reward is seeing people enjoy her products.
“My love language is to serve and feed people,” she said. “Knowing that people are really loving it and really enjoying it and knowing that I really have something here is amazing.”
