Erin Williamson: Sweetness With a Purpose

Beyond The Story With Andrea

Written by Andrea Benitez

Sometimes a person enters your life through someone you love, and what begins as a simple introduction becomes a meaningful connection.

I met Erin Williamson through my fiancé, Jared. And it did not take long for me to understand that there was something special about the woman behind Gran’s Kitchen. There is a warmth about Erin that seems to find its way into the food she prepares, the space she has created, and the way she welcomes people.

And then I tasted her carrot cake.

Erin puts her own twist on it with coconut flakes, and with that first taste, something unexpected happened. For a moment, I was transported back to my childhood in the Dominican Republic. There are flavors that carry memories within them, memories of family, home, kitchens filled with familiar aromas, and pieces of ourselves we sometimes forget are still there.

That slice of cake reminded me that food can be so much more than something we eat. Sometimes, food is memory. Food is family. Food is home.

But the more I learned about Erin, the more I realized that the true sweetness of Gran’s Kitchen is not found only in what comes out of the oven. It is found in the woman behind it.

Erin’s life has been shaped by family, faith, motherhood, courage, and the willingness to begin again. At only 21, she became a single mother and had to move through the fear, shame, and judgment she felt at the beginning of that journey. With the support of her family, she completed her degree and eventually used what she had learned to encourage other young single mothers to believe that their futures could still be beautiful.

Years later, baking would take her life in another unexpected direction. What began as a hobby while she was teaching eventually became paid orders, a home business, and ultimately the courage to leave the classroom and pursue something entirely different.

Today, Gran’s Kitchen is more than a restaurant. It is a reflection of the things Erin holds closest to her heart: family, hospitality, community, faith, and making people feel that they belong.

In Erin’s Own Words

1. Before Gran’s Kitchen, who was the little girl named Erin?

Erin remembers a childhood centered around family. Her family lived in Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan, and some of her favorite memories include road trips to visit relatives and friends, family reunions and holidays, silly car games, Sunday evenings watching Disney together, and playing board games at home. She and her three siblings remain close today, something she credits largely to parents who taught their children to invest in family relationships.

2. Who had one of the greatest influences on your life and faith?

Beyond her parents, Erin remembers her Grandpa Gerber as an important influence. He was a hardworking farmer who laughed loudly and often, loved having family and friends around him, was generous with others, and always made room for joy despite how hard he worked. Most importantly to Erin, he “loved Jesus with his whole heart.”

3. How did becoming a single mother at 21 shape the woman you became?

The beginning was one of Erin’s greatest challenges. She had to learn to move away from fear, shame, and judgment and instead throw herself wholeheartedly into becoming the best mother she knew how to be.

Her parents helped care for her daughter while Erin finished her degree, something she still considers an extraordinary gift. Looking back, she feels that in some ways she and her daughter grew up together.

That experience also gave Erin compassion for young single mothers who did not have the support system she had. Over the years, she mentored several young mothers and tried to help them understand something she had learned herself: their future could still be beautiful.

4. How has your husband, Gary, influenced your life and the creation of Gran’s Kitchen?

Hospitality has long been part of Erin and Gary’s marriage. Their home was often filled with friends, church groups, and their children’s friends.

Erin describes Gary as the dreamer in their relationship. When they were preparing to move to Winchester, he was the first to suggest looking for a location where she could open a bakery.

Gary’s stability also allowed Erin to stay home while their children were young and later gave her room to transform her baking hobby into a home business—and eventually into Gran’s Kitchen.

5. When did you realize baking could become more than a hobby?

While Erin was teaching, she began baking for fun. Before long, she was making far more than her own family could possibly eat, so she started bringing treats to school.

Her coworkers began asking her to bake for special events, and in October 2013 she received her first paid order.

As the side business grew, Erin realized she was stretched too thin to give both teaching and baking what they deserved. Eventually, she made the difficult decision to leave teaching and find out whether the home business she had created could truly work.

6. What do you want people to feel when they walk through the doors of Gran’s Kitchen?

Above everything, Erin wants people to feel welcomed and valued.

Gran’s Kitchen is not designed around rushing people through their meals so another customer can take the table. Erin actually loves seeing guests linger.

Some of her favorite days are when friends come for lunch, become lost in laughter and conversation, and suddenly realize that hours have passed.

She wants people to feel the love that went into creating the space and the integrity she and Gary try to instill in everyone who works there.

7. How do you define success today?

For Erin, success has become deeply personal.

It is moving closer to some of her children and grandchildren. It is having a job she created for herself and loving the space she and Gary built. It is being able to leave work to attend her grandson’s school music program.

And sometimes success is as simple as looking around Gran’s Kitchen and seeing the smiles on her customers’ faces as they enjoy lunch together.

8. What would you tell a woman who dreams of starting a business but is afraid to take that first step?

Erin’s message is powerful because it comes from experience: start anyway.

You may never feel as though you know enough, have enough, or are enough to begin. Mistakes will happen. You will learn things along the way that no book or business plan could have taught you.

She encourages women to surround themselves with other business owners who can encourage and mentor them, make a plan, and then move forward.

And there is one message she especially wants women to remember:

“BUT YOU ARE ENOUGH!”

9. If you could sit down with your younger self today, what would you tell her?

Erin would tell her something many women need to hear:

Don’t wait until your 50s to start living your dream.

She knows now that beginning can be frightening, but allowing fear to win can leave a dream permanently sitting on the sidelines. She would tell her younger self that she did not have to know everything before taking the first step.

Sometimes you simply have to jump and trust yourself to figure things out along the way.

10. What do you hope your children and grandchildren remember about the legacy you are creating?

Erin hopes they remember the love and passion she poured into Gran’s Kitchen and, perhaps most importantly, how much joy creating it brought her.

She hopes her grandchildren remember coming to Gran’s Kitchen on Friday afternoons for treats.

And someday, even after she has retired and Gran’s Kitchen belongs to someone else, Erin hopes they can drive past that building or walk through its doors, smile, and think:

“My Gran created that place!”

Andrea’s Reflection

There is something about Erin’s story that speaks directly to the heart of Beyond The Story With Andrea.

Behind the restaurant is a woman who once found herself becoming a single mother at 21.

Behind the business owner is a teacher who discovered another calling.

Behind the grandmother is a woman who understands that success is not simply measured by how much we accomplish, but by whether we are present for the people we love.

And behind Gran’s Kitchen is a woman who reached her fifties and discovered that it was not too late to pursue a dream.

Perhaps that is why I will always remember that carrot cake.

Yes, it was delicious. But those coconut flakes gave me something Erin could never have known when she made it. For just a moment, they carried me across the miles and the years and brought me back to the Dominican Republic, to childhood, to familiar flavors, and to a piece of home.

That is what people like Erin create when they put their hearts into what they do.

They don't simply feed people.

They create places where memories can find us again.

And perhaps that is the real story of Erin Williamson and Gran’s Kitchen: a reminder that it is never too late to begin, never too late to believe in yourself, and never too late to create something your children and grandchildren can someday look at with pride and say:

She created that. 🌹