SPENCER — Food, family and fostering community are three important things to Quinta Ellis, and all three can be found at the Fleming Street Bakery and Southern Cuisine in Spencer.

Ellis, who owns the restaurant/bakery, grew up in nearby Woodleaf where most of her family is, before moving to Maryland to teach, which she did for 14 years, and something she still loves, she noted.

Back in North Carolina, she is doing something she has always wanted to do and that is to own a restaurant. Ever since she was a child, she shared, she has wanted to do two things, one, own a restaurant and the other, she said with a smile, was to become the first female NFL coach.

“The coaching thing is not going to work out,” she said, “but this did.”

It was at the beginning of COVID while Ellis was still living in Maryland, that she came back home for the summer and a bakery that had been open in Spencer closed down. She and two of her aunts decided to buy it; however, it was at this same time that “the world shut down,” she noted.

Ellis said that it was during COVID and while back in Maryland, teaching from home, that she had extra time on her hands and therefore took this opportunity to begin baking.

“I had always said, I can’t bake, I can cook, but I can’t bake.”

But she baked a cake for one of her family members who said they liked it and encouraged her, suggesting she make smaller individual size servings, which she did.

That summer, she noted, she sold a few thousand dollars worth of cakes and chocolate chip cookies, shipping them from Maryland across the country to Texas, New York and more and to friends back home as well.

“It took off out of nowhere,” she shared.

Fast forward to 2021, she noted that her journey of having that restaurant she dreamed of began when they saw a for lease sign in the South Salisbury Avenue location after the current owners purchased the building.

The building was more than 50 years old, she was told by someone, and places had closed down and didn’t return. So in 2021, the current owners purchased the building and the spot where she is located was originally nothing and has to be redone. 

“It’s been a very long journey,” Ellis noted of the two and a half years of getting to this point and envisioned opening in time for Winterfest, which unfortunately didn’t happen, noting things that still needed to be worked on.

They did have a soft opening in December and officially opened Jan. 11 with this Saturday, Feb. 10 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. being the grand opening for Fleming Street Bakery and Southern Cuisine. A special ribbon cutting ceremony will kick-off the event at 10:45 a.m. outside the shop with lots of baked goods and a full menu and possibly several specials available inside the business.

“We just want to welcome everybody in and just want them to officially meet Fleming Street and see what we are about and that type of thing,” Ellis shared.

Food has always been a part of her culture and of special times together with family, as she shared family dinners, trips and trying out restaurants and all the grandchildren dropping by grandma’s house where fresh biscuits were typically available and were a desired snack.

“So I just saw her and I saw how food made people feel” and the impact it has on people, she noted.

With emotion in her voice and tears, she told of how just three years ago, she lost her grandmother to COVID and how it hit the family hard. She told how just right before her grandmother went to the hospital, Ellis spent the day cooking a soul food dinner for her grandparents and dropped it off to them.

This was, she said, “in hindsight, my last act of love for her, with this big meal I don’t normally do that she would have normally done.”

Therefore, Ellis said, this restaurant is “to honor her legacy and everything that she did for our family and is still doing.”

The name of the business is also a way to honor her grandparents as Fleming Road is the name of where her grandparents’ home is, and the shop’s logo of a knife, fork and spoon represents their house number, she shared.

“She is infused in here, my grandpa is infused in here. It’s her spirit, her guiding me through all of this,” she continued. “It’s another way to honor them in how they impacted our family, taking care of us.”

And Ellis noted that she feels the community has received them well, and “the word’s getting out so. So it’s time to get going.”

For now, they will be open Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. She noted that only for this Saturday’s grand opening, would they be open until 5 p.m.

However, she is already looking ahead and, hopefully in March, she noted, wants to offer brunch on the weekends and have brunch hours a little earlier and possibly even expand those hours.

Also in March, she wants to offer what she calls a community hour from 9-11 a.m., before they officially open for the day, offering a cup of coffee and a limited breakfast menu. This will be a time to relax, have a meeting or whatever is needed.

“Fostering community is really important for me and for Fleming Street. We’re here, we’re part of the community, and we want you to be involved as well,” Ellis shared.

This sense of community is what Fleming Street focuses on, she added because of her grandparents.

“They never met a stranger. My grandpa loves to talk, she said. But community is really important for me as well,” as she told of her graduate degrees in theology with a focus on nonprofit and social justice.

This is why we have a community table, she pointed out.

“It’s to encourage people to sit, just sit. You don’t have to know them, just sit and have a conversation.”

When asked what specialties they have on their menu, she told of several that are quite popular including their grilled cheese sandwich made with gouda cheese on sourdough with collard greens, grilled onions and bacon jam or their deviled eggs topped with the bacon jam or their special white barbecue sauce. And she also mentioned several of the baked goods including her cinnamon rolls which have been a sell out each weekend they have been available, along with a glazed pound cake which serves as another reminder of her grandmother as it tastes just like her grandmother’s stickies, a treat Ellis requested to be made quite often growing up.

So with the products they offer and their community atmosphere where people can relax, she encourages people to drop in to “enjoy a great meal, and you might run into some friends and you might make new friends,” she said.

That’s what this special place is all about for her, she noted, supporting the community and making sure that whatever comes out of the kitchen has been cooked right and plated right.

“I just want you to know that we have a level of excellence that we’re striving to get to every single day,” Ellis said. “I’m really hard on myself to make sure food tastes great and looks great because I want people to feel good and when they eat my food, I want them to feel good. It is my way to honor my grandmother.”