Web exclusive photography Click here to view an online photo gallery detailing Galaxy Desserts’ operation.

Click here to view an online photo gallery detailing Galaxy Desserts’ operation.

“We've always been focused on individual-size desserts-each one its own piece of art,” says Heather Sears, director, marketing and sales. Although more conventional in Europe, individual-size desserts weren't even on the radar in the United States 10 years ago.

“A lot of very small bakeries can do what we do in very small volume. And, there are a lot of big bakeries that can do standard, basic cakes at very high volume,” says Paul Levitan, co-founder, C.E.O. and president. “The niche that we think makes us really unique is to take what's done in very small quantities at high-quality local bakeries, produce those at volume and sell those to national customers.”

Galaxy Desserts began in a production facility in San Rafael, Calif. in 1998. “That's how it all got started,” Sears says. “We're now in Richmond, which is right across the Bay, in a much larger and much nicer production facility. We've grown like crazy over the past 10 years. We started out as being primarily a Northern California business, and we've literally gone from there with exponential growth every year. We keep hiring more people, expanding with new products and new customers and new geography.”

Developing a unique concept

Paul Levitan, co-founder, C.E.O and president

Jean-Yves Charon, co-founder and master pastry chef

In its 10 short years of existence, Galaxy Desserts, Richmond, Calif., has recognized that it occupies a unique niche within the baking industry with its focus on creating French-inspired, high-quality, individual-size desserts. Jean-Yves Charon, Galaxy's co-founder and master pastry chef, dictated that direction. As a pastry chef who learned his art in France, Charon emphasizes quality more than quantity.

Levitan and Charon each had their own bakeries when they decided to merge their interests into one. Charon had served as the executive pastry chef at Harris Restaurant in San Francisco for several years, before founding Paris Delights. After graduating from Stanford Graduate School of Business with his MBA, Levitan purchased a small specialty bakery called The Cheesecake Lady. Levitan and Charon met through baking industry events and eventually cultivated a relationship. Galaxy Desserts was born out of the realization that each partner's product lines paired well together, thus money could be saved by merging the two businesses into a single entity.

One of Charon's particular specialties, the croissant, also has become one of the company's core products. The butter croissant is a 144-layer pastry made with 32 percent butter versus the typical American standard croissant containing 18 percent butter. Mini butter, chocolate and almond croissants, sticky buns and Danishes also are part of Galaxy's morning pastry line.

Other products in Galaxy's portfolio include individual tarts; crèmes and mousse cakes; classic cakes and cheesecakes; classic Parisian macarons; cannelés, a French pastry from the Bordeaux region with a fluted, caramelized exterior and vanilla-bourbon-rum custard center; and mousse duos, the pairing of two mousse flavors in individual plastic shot glasses.

Achieving growth through diversity

“We introduced mousse duo shots about two years ago. Still, to this day, we are one of the few out there doing them with actual packaging, which cuts down on labor,” Sears says. “You'll see a lot of shot glasses filled with desserts, but in most of those applications, the bakery is filling up their own shot glasses with a pipeable bag.”

Sears credits the restaurant Seasons 52 for raising the profile on the bite-size dessert trend. “Typically, desserts are a small percentage of revenue at a restaurant. When Seasons 52 introduced its mini-dessert line for $1.99, its dessert revenue quadrupled,” Sears says. “They realized it's hard to say no to dessert when it's reasonably priced and comes in small portions.”

Much of the company's growth can be attributed to product and process improvements made by Charon, who continually applies his pastry art skills and his knowledge of food science toward new innovations.

Galaxy Desserts has received recognition for its rapid growth, as well as its quality. The company has been listed among Inc.'s list of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in America for the past two years. Its French butter croissant has been featured as one of Oprah's favorite things on three separate occasions. Its chocolate ribbon, triple mousse and grand sequoia cakes received silver medals, and the chocolate truffle marquise cake a gold from the National Association of Specialty Food Trade's Sofi Awards.

While these accolades certainly contributed to the company's growth, its presence throughout multiple business channels also has increased its brand awareness. Galaxy sells its products in four business channels: specialty mail-order catalog; bulk packed for foodservice, including restaurants, hotels, in-store and retail bakeries, most of which is sold unbranded; private label packing for various retail establishments; and branded consumer packaged goods.