Joanne Canady-Brown: The Gingered Peach, Lawrence Township

“PEOPLE WENT OUT OF THEIR WAY TO WRITE NOTES OR TO SAY, ‘I WISH THIS WAS A LITTLE CRUNCHIER.’ BECAUSE THEY CARED. BECAUSE THEY WANTED US TO MAKE IT.”

“When I started The Gingered Peach, I didn’t have enough money to do it,” says owner and head baker Joanne Canady-Brown. “I was delusional. And I’m still delusional!” She grins. “I thought, ‘I’m just going to go for it, because if I don’t do it now, it’s never going to happen.’”

That delusion proved delicious when she opened The Gingered Peach in 2014, where she serves exquisite treats made with Barry Callebaut chocolate and European-style butter. But Canady-Brown also rolls up her sleeves to serve her community. It’s earned her several accolades—among them, the Liz Erickson Impact Award from NonProfitConnect (a Mercer County organization which encourages board and staff diversity) and a fellowship in the James Beard Foundation’s women’s entrepreneurial leadership program.

Canady-Brown’s landlord opened another door to her—quite literally—when the proprietors of the much-loved ice cream parlor adjacent to The Gingered Peach (and also his property) decided to close. Wanting it to stay an ice cream shop and knowing CanadyBrown’s affinity for the community, he offered the space to her. After she took a deep dive into ice cream making 101, Melba (a play on Peach Melba) opened in late June 2023.

Soon after, the owner of Princeton coffee roasting company Rojo’s Roastery reached out to her. “David Waldman has carried The Gingered Peach’s pastry for eight years,” says Canady-Brown. “He said, ‘I need to retire, and I’m not selling the business; I’m gifting it. I want you to be the person to steward it into the future because I believe you will keep the community focus.’

“Someone gave their business to me to ensure the community would benefit? I must be doing the right thing,” she says.

Canady-Brown took Rojo’s reins in March 2023 and spent most of the year in new-strategy mode: rebranding the company, learning about roasting beans, and working out all of the details it takes to run the storefront in Palmer Square. In October, strategy in place, Rojo’s planned to go “full speed ahead. 2024 will be our year,” she says.

With her “amazing team” handling most bakery operations, Canady-Brown often deploys her energy to support marginalized groups in the area.

“I don’t believe in selling day-old pastries,” says Canady-Brown. “But if it’s a rainy or snowy day, where does all of our stuff go?” Answer: Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK).

“Food insecurity is incredibly real to me,” says Canady-Brown. “I grew up in a food-stamp house and we got out of it. I don’t like that good pastry is sometimes considered a luxury; it should be attainable for everyone. TASK is giving us the opportunity to do our small part to help right what’s wrong.”

Back in Lawrenceville, Canady-Brown has a fondness for the group of women who raise money to beautify Main Street. When the golf cart they used to move supplies between venues broke down, she replaced it.

“Society tends to take people like me and thrust them into the spotlight,” says Canady-Brown. “And while I’m one person who helps add one little thing to this community through baked goods and the work we do, there are also women who make sure that, when Christmas comes, those little spruce things are in my outdoor box.”

Canady-Brown makes her community a priority simply because it would be unthinkable not to.

“The Gingered Peach is only The Gingered Peach because of the community,” she says. “My father is African American and my mother is Italian. On my mother’s side, deference and respect are huge. That’s a core piece of how I was raised. On my father’s side? Black people are the first ones to grab the signs and get in the picket line with you. That all comes from a spirit of uplifting, that we’re in this together. My father used to say, ‘Your job is to add to the community. I don’t care how good you are at anything—you are going to need help one day.’” It is not lost on Canady-Brown that from the beginning, help has come in the form of customers who believed in her product—and in her. “A whole bunch of strangers who didn’t know who I was came in and went, ‘That was a really good cinnamon bun!’” she says. “People went out of their way to write notes or to say, ‘I wish this was a little crunchier.’ Because they cared. Because they wanted us to make it. And it was because of their support that we did—to lengths I never would have imagined. A small town in central New Jersey used their power to uplift a small business.”

Sometimes folks offer more than what Canady-Brown wants—far more. But she handles it with cheery aplomb.

“People have thrown full build-outs at me, the best master bakery I would ever want,” she says. “But I say, ‘No, thank you.’ I’m sure I’d be so much richer … but not really. “I’m not leaving these people. This is where I stay. I can’t forget the people who built me.”

THE GINGERED PEACH
2 Gordon Ave., Lawrence Township
609.896.5848
www.thegingeredpeach.com