Billy & Jessica Pearse: Owners

Hello, friends! We're Billy and Jessica. We're a husband-and-wife team (and expecting mom &  dad!) living happily in Maple Grove, Minnesota. When we're not at our day jobs, we’re baking up British treats that bring us back to memories with Nana during our travels to England. 

(And loving up our Labradoodle, Pearl, of course—she's our adorable mascot.)

The main idea for our business began with spotting what we found to be a void in the culinary market, after enjoying a local pastry together one Saturday morning. We asked the question: Why aren’t there proper British scones in the Twin Cities? 

Whenever we’d visit England, we’d have the most delicious ones in rural village tearooms, filled with various dried fruits and regionally loved flavors. They had three distinct features much different from their American counterparts: (1) they were round, (2) only slightly sweet, and (3) often without icing—if there was icing, it was to enhance the scone, not mask it. 

We knew then that we wanted to do much more than change the way people see (and taste) a scone—we wanted to show the community just how special British baked goods are, with the spirit and soul of Nana at the forefront of our mission.

xoxo, Jessica & Billy 

Her name was Blanche Mary Wade, but we knew her only as Nana. She was the sort of nana—the British term for grandmother—every family dreams of.

Nana was a truly remarkable lady whose optimism, class, and ceaseless dedication to family will always be cherished dearly by all who loved and knew her. She loved playing cards with our family and placing bets on each game—she even had old jam and peanut butter jars for each of us to put our betting coins in, and she brought them out whenever we’d travel to England. She loved staying up late each night to watch all sorts of sports. She loved wearing pearls and watching birds in her back garden. She was happily married for 56 years. She was an absolute good to this world.

And inside her cozy bungalow in Colchester, her kitchen cabinets were always filled to the brim with food—but there was this one big tin that she'd always stock with our favorite British biscuits whenever we'd visit, which we remember fondly. Though 4,000 miles away, Nana's was a second home—a retreat from the everyday, a warm gathering place filled only with love and unforgettable memories.

We are always brought back to those memories whenever we think of her. We know she’ll be with us in our business—and we hope that her legacy will live on through all that we pursue, as bakers and as businessowners. 

With our passion for all that we bake, we hope to connect a bridge from across the pond by baking up British delights filled with the same warmth and love that Nana had—that love that is so familiar to all of us and our grandmothers. We hope that through our treats, you are reminded about the wonderful memories at your own nana's house growing up and the special moments you shared together.

Our recipes for Nana's Bake Shoppe are inspired by classic British cookbooks passed along lovingly from family as well as new twists on those classics. We believe there are few things that can connect people in the way that food does. Serving others through food leads to real connections and community—simply put, it is what we are hungry for.

We’re here to serve you by baking memories, one British treat at a time.