OUR STORY
Welcome to Suite 106.
Rooted in family and built with intention, Suite 106 is more than a bakery, it’s a story of coming full circle. A legacy shaped by resilience, passion, and a lifelong love of baking, crafted to be shared.
Suite 106 specializes in elevated cookies, brownies, and layered cupcake cakes, all baked by hand in small batches. We use thoughtfully sourced, real ingredients, real butter, sugar, eggs, and unbleached flour, locally sourced whenever possible. Our vanilla and vanilla beans are imported from Madagascar, and our chocolate is sourced from Belgium, France, and Italy, creating baked goods you can truly taste the difference in.
Meet the Founder
Hey there, I'm Christiana (“Christy”), the owner of Suite 106, a baking company I created in 2007.
Suite 106 began as a small passion project inspired by my upbringing in Country Club Hills, Illinois, a small town just outside of Chicago. Growing up in the Midwest, I watched my mother cook and bake everything from scratch every single day. That daily ritual, real ingredients, homemade meals, and care in every detail sparked a lifelong love for baking that would eventually become a business.
Years later, my family and I relocated to Southern California and while working in a fast paced, high volume finance company owned by my family, baking became my creative outlet and stress relief. I began preparing refreshments for our company seminars and before long, people were asking to place orders for birthdays, weddings, and special events.
What started as a side project quickly gained momentum. I began blogging my baking journey the wins, the failures, the mistakes and everything in between and named the brand Suite 106, inspired by my office suite number where it all began. The name was personal, playful, and unforgettable.
In 2010, everything changed. After discovering my blog, Food Network invited me to audition for a new series called Cupcake Wars. With no formal culinary training and baking entirely out of my home kitchen, I asked my sister, Rebecca, to join me as my partner so I could focus on doing all the baking on the show, executing my recipes behind the scenes and ensuring everything ran smoothly. We went head to head with some of the industry’s top professionals and to our surprise, we won.
That win launched Suite 106 into the national spotlight.
Over the next several years, we expanded to three brick and mortar bakeries and Southern California’s first cupcake mobile food truck. The business remained deeply family operated: my parents, affectionately known as Papa Harry and Mama Lee, operated the truck, while my daughter and I managed the storefronts. My sister Rebecca and I led production behind the scenes.
Community was always at the heart of the brand. I employed single mothers and single fathers, we also partnered with Le Cordon Bleu and The Art Institute to offer paid apprenticeships providing pastry students with hands on experience while earning their certifications.
In 2012, Food Network invited us back for a Cupcake Wars Championship, which we won again catapulting the business to the next level. That year I also won entrepreneur of the year in the largest county in the United States.
Behind the scenes, however, the pace became unsustainable. As the sole business owner of Suite 106 and a single mother managing nearly everything on my own all the pressure fell only on me, I experienced severe burnout that ultimately impacted my health. At the end of 2018, I made the difficult decision to close Suite 106 and prioritize healing.
That pause led to growth, reinvention, and clarity but the call to return to baking never left.
For years, customers continued to say, “I wish I could visit your shop again,” or “I moved out of state and miss your treats.” Those messages inspired a new vision for Suite 106, one without physical boundaries.
In January 2025, Suite 106 was reimagined, and later that year relaunched as a nationwide e-commerce bake shop, allowing customers across the country to experience the brand from anywhere at anytime.
The company is an expression of my real life. It's beautiful, rewarding, and I get to do it with my family. I have many dreams still to accomplish and love sharing the journey with all of you.
With Love,
Christy
