Stefanie Hockett knew she wanted to cook from an early age.
While growing up in San Francisco, she was inspired by watching the PBS cooking show Great Chefs of America. She started baking cakes and cookies for herself, family and classmates throughout middle and high school.
“It was just something that I did, and it was a way that I showed people in my life that I like, cared about them,” Hockett told LINK nky.
After graduating high school, Hockett aspired to become a meteorologist for a television station. Ultimately, she abandoned that calling to follow her true passion: baking. She enrolled in culinary school and learned the ins and outs of running a professional kitchen, something that would prove helpful in her entrepreneurial journey.
Today, her passion manifests itself in F & Goode Desserts, a custom scratch bakery located at 222 W Pike St. in Covington. Hockett is the owner and head baker.
F & Goode is known for its custom cakes, wedding cakes, decorated cookies, specialty desserts, catering, wholesale pastries and holiday desserts. Customers can expect to see a rotating array of freshly baked goods ready for purchase.
“Ultimately, my goal is to give you the feeling of homemade and something that your grandmother or your mom used to make so that you feel at home when you’re here,” she said.
Hockett opened F & Goode in Covington in December. While the bakery is new to Covington, it has existed in some form for over a decade. Founded in southern California, it has traversed the western United States over the years, moving from California to Hawaii and then Oregon.
Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Hockett started to rethink her strategy. In 2020, she relocated to the Greater Cincinnati area. Initially, she ran the business out of her apartment, filling larger wholesale orders for local customers.
Before her move to W. Pike Street, F & Goode operated out of the Incubator Kitchen Collective in Newport, where it received various grants from corporations like Kroger. While at Incubator Kitchen, Hockett said the business primarily operated as a wholesaler.
Eventually, Hockett set her sights on opening a brick-and-mortar bakery. After searching around, she landed on 222 W. Pike St., which was previously home to the now-shuttered Buttercup Cake House.
Hockett said she is in the process of transforming the space into a warm, welcoming space that showcases her personality.
“We want it to be like a clean, open, inviting space where people feel comfortable sitting down and just like watching the world go by, having a chat with a friend and enjoying something to drink and to eat,” she said.
Sherry Mueller, an assistant baker at F & Goode, said that despite the adjustment period, the move was beneficial for the bakery.
“It’s been an adjustment, for sure, but I think it’s been overwhelmingly a positive change,” she said. “Having the space to ourselves and being able to move around as we want has been great.”
So, where did the name F & Goode come from? According to Hockett, the tongue-in-cheek name came from one of her high school friends, with some additional inspiration from her own mother, who would describe her desserts as “f***ing good.”
“I think it shows a bit of my personality,” Hockett said. “Our presentation, our logos, our branding is all very straightforward, homey, clean and classic.”
