DALLAS — It's a decision Valery "Val" Jean-Bart does not take lightly, but one he knows his mother approves.
After 12 years in the kitchens of Val's Cheesecakes, Val is saying goodbye to what he calls his "cheesecakery."
Since the news was made public, customers have been phoning Val’s Cheesecakes excessively.
“They call wondering what they are going to do for Thanksgiving,” Val said.
Thankfully, there is still time to make dessert purchases... While Val will gradually begin to limit what is on the menu, Val's Cheesecakes will not completely close until December 2024. Val calls it the start of a new chapter; a time to "focus on the affairs of the heart."
Val said he has often sacrificed his own wants and needs to make sure the business thrived, and it is now time to close his doors on his own terms so he can make time for himself. Running the business on his own has come at the expense of visiting family, friendships, and a love life.
For more than a decade, his hustle has been fueled by community, and grief.
"I know it, she would be like, 'Val, this is no life for you. You've got to have a life,'" Val said.
Val's mother, Marie, died in 2012 after a four-year battle with breast cancer.
"The doctor told me it was terminal," Val said. "But I made the decision then, I told the doctor, 'when we go back into the room, can we tell my mother something else? I don't want her to hear that it's terminal.'"
Marie learned of her cancer then, but Val believed his mother hearing the word "terminal" would worry her, and give them less time together.
"The doctor gave her six months," Val said. "She gave me four years."
For those four years, Val cared for his mom and kept her spirits high. The two of them baked their way through her treatments, experimenting with cheesecake flavors. By 2012, they'd created more than 270 recipes.
Val began selling cheesecakes after Marie's passing. Val took his business from a pop-up to a brick-and-mortar concept in Lower Greenville and on Akard Street as a way to channel his grief and keep his mother's memory close.
In the Lower Greenville location, the hibiscus flowers on the wall represent his mother's home country of Haiti. The blue of the drapes on the building is her favorite color. The painted Val's Cheesecake sign inside the store is the color of Marie's skin.
Now it's time to say goodbye.
"A part of it has been, 'I'm gonna hold on to my mom, she's not here anymore but I'm gonna keep tight,'" Val said. "I realized I needed to let her go a little bit."
Val is now in the process of securing a trademark license, which would allow him to hand Val’s Cheesecakes over to a new owner. Next comes a new endeavor he’s calling Val’s Blue Label — a small-scale, gourmet cheesecake business that he’ll run out of the Val’s Cheesecakes space on Akard Street near downtown.
"It's going to be next level," Val said.
Val's Blue Label will be a luxury, high-quality, gourmet cheesecake experience that will only be open to customers one, maybe two, days a week.
Val said it's possible some of the recipes he and his mother created that are now menu staples at Val's Cheesecakes will be featured at Val's Blue Label... But, if so, it will be elevated.
He's ready for other aspects of his life to elevate, too.
"I don't have any family in Dallas. I have siblings and my best friends in Florida," Val said. "I know my mom would want me to reconnect with them. And I want to go on a date or two! At 46 [years-old]? Absolutely!"
Scaling back will give Val the ability to focus on himself, he said. And while he’s relieved by that, walking away from the business he built to keep his mother’s memory close is hard.
"There is grief, there is relief..." Val said. "But also excitement for what's to come. It's time for a new chapter."
For updates directly from Val, click here.
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