By: Ebony L. Morman 

Before Wheatberry Cakes and the South End storefront, Haley Woodard was the kind of kid who spent her lunch breaks watching Ace of Cakes and Good Eats, less interested in eating food than understanding it. 

Homeschooling meant midday TV was part of the routine, and while other kids might have tuned out, she leaned in, absorbing how ingredients worked and why certain techniques mattered.

“I really enjoyed science growing up,” Woodward says. “Seeing food explained in that way made something click in my brain.” 

Back then, baking was already part of her world — her mom and aunt were bakers who also made birthday cakes and cheesecakes for the holidays. So by 13, she was already thinking about opening her own cupcake shop.

Today, Wheatberry Bakeshop is more than cupcakes. The South End brick-and-mortar opened in February 2025 after four years of building Wheatberry Cakes through pop-ups and farmers markets. It was built on that same early instinct: understand the foundation, then push it further, a mindset that shapes her belief that baking isn’t about spectacle, but about payoff.

“I don’t like when you try something that is kind of over the top and doesn’t deliver flavor-wise,” she says. 

At Wheatberry, the focus is clear: make it “familiar and fun and just delicious.” A chocolate croissant should taste like chocolate. A cookie should feel balanced enough to finish, not overwhelming after a few bites. Once she understands how a recipe works, Woodward adds to it, layering in flavor, adjusting texture, and creating something that feels both nostalgic and new.

Staple items like morning buns and croissants anchor the shop, while seasonal pastries rotate monthly, shaped by what’s fresh and available. Limited-run items come and go quickly, like an Earl Grey croissant and an olive and manchego croissant that were on the menu in March but will change in April. Additionally, weekend specials occasionally make an appearance.

Some items take on a life of their own, like the everything bagel Danish, a savory pastry filled with scallion cream cheese and topped with a house-made everything bagel seasoning, which began as a special and quickly became a permanent fixture. 

Together, those offerings reflect both consistency and flexibility, something that closely represents where she’s baking. In Charlotte, proximity to farms, coastlines, and neighboring states opened up possibilities: fresh citrus from just across the South Carolina border, apples from the mountains, berries from nearby farms. Availability made it easier to experiment, to follow seasons, and to stay curious in a way that felt immediate and tangible. 

Her growing awareness of ingredients and place started to shape something bigger than the menu, and travel sharpened it. Visits to bakeries in places like San Francisco and London revealed something she hadn’t grown up with: neighborhood spaces where people could stop in for a loaf of bread, a croissant, or a cake, sometimes all in the same visit. In London, especially, bakery culture felt blended seamlessly into daily life, with seasonal displays and window-lined pastries marking the moment. Back in Charlotte, she saw an opportunity to build something similar.

Opening the storefront made that vision tangible. 

“I think hospitality is such a big part of why I love the food industry,” Woodward says. 

A permanent space allowed her to offer more than pastries, creating room for warmth, familiarity, and a place where customers feel recognized and welcomed. It also made it possible to fully deliver an experience, something that had been harder to capture in a pickup or market setting.

“I feel like it’s very often that you walk into a place that feels cold, and I don’t want that to ever be anyone’s experience walking into our store,” she says. 

Inside the shop, intention shows up in both the food and the experience. The chocolate chunk cookie, made with rye flour and dark chocolate, has become a defining item. Seasonal ingredients continue to guide new additions, especially during brief windows like pawpaw season, a short but anticipated stretch each year. Though native to the Southeast region, pawpaws taste almost tropical. They’re part of the same family as soursop and lean into a banana-like flavor. Woodward works them into items like pawpaw pudding or bread, and she leans into their fragrance and the challenge of using them. 

Moments like that shape more than just the menu. They reflect the kind of experience Woodward’s trying to create. 

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