JANUARY 2020 29
SINCE EVERYONE ALWAYS ASKS, Cheryl Day
jokes about selling T-shirts that say, “Yes,
Cheryl is in the back!” at her beloved Back
in the Day Bakery in Savannah, Georgia. She
runs the 17-year-old bakery with her husband,
Griffith Day, and the two have also written
best-selling cookbooks together. I spoke with
Cheryl about what drives her and what mea-
sures she’s put in place to ensure longevity. We
can all learn a lot from someone who shows
us day in, day out that biscuits matter just as
much as boundaries, and heritage just as much
as legacy. —INTERVIEW WITH JULIA TURSHEN,
FOUNDER OF EQUITY AT THE TABLE (EATT) AND
AUTHOR OF NOW & AGAIN
Day Dreaming
Cheryl Day on
longevity and setting
healthy boundaries.
THE INTERVIEW JT: What’s your focus,
17 years in?
CD: Getting back to our
roots and the reasons we
got into this in the first
place. I recently found
out that my great-great-
grandmother was a slave,
and she was a baker. She
was known for pies and
for making biscuits—all
the same things that I’m
doing. It’s made what I
do feel more important
somehow.
JT: And you’re doing it on
your own terms.
CD: I cannot imagine not
creating my own destiny
every single day. There’s
stress that comes with
that, but we still love it.
We started this on our
own. No investors. Still no
investors.
JT: How have you gone
about setting boundaries
for yourself?
CD: If we want to change
something, we can
do that on a dime. We
changed our hours about
a year ago. We’re open
Thursday to Sunday. We
had to think about what
was going to be sustain-
able. We were so busy
we had a line down the
street, people coming
at us from all different
directions, wanting more,
more, more. We were
struggling to keep up with
demand. I was starting
to see a toll on my team.
Like, can we never do
enough? We don’t want
to feed all of Savannah.
We want to be personal.
I’ve always said we want
to be one person baking
for one other person.
JT: How’s business
going?
CD: The crazy thing is
we’re making the same
money. We’re actually
doing better than we
were doing last year.
And now we have more
ideas and the time to
think about them. We
used to just be constantly
working.
JT: Now on days when
you’re not in the bakery,
what are you doing?
CD: I’m writing or I’m
practicing self-care.
Sometimes I get a facial
in the middle of the day. I
started a garden growing
roses and herbs. I had to
get a little broken before
I learned I needed to fix
these things.
JT: Do you and Griffith
have any parameters
around your work life and
your personal life?
CD: When we get home,
if we have to ride around
the block a couple of
times, we will. We try
not to talk about work at
home.
JT: How do you feel every
morning when you put
your key in the door?
CD: This is the cutest
bakery. Every single thing
in here, Griff and I did. It’s
just us. It feels like us.
This interview has been
edited and condensed for
clarity.
CHERYL DAY FILLS
IN THE BLANKS
The most recent thing I
cooked was tacos with
all the fixins.
I put The Great British
Bake Off on my screen
of choice when I need to
escape for an hour.
Lizzo’s music makes me
energized.
I think of my late sister
Natalie when I need some
inspiration.
My fridge always has
cheese waiting for me.
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PHOTOGRAPHY: AMY DICKERSON
