Ann Arbor resident Rachel Liu Martindale is opening Q Bakehouse & Market at 1608 Jackson Ave on February 14th, featuring a creative variety of foods. “[We make] milk bread buns, chiffon style whipped cream cakes, savory scones, and different types of French style pastries with an Asian twist,” Liu Martindale explains. “We’re also going to [have] Chinese food like dumplings, pantry items, and…food that you can take home, heat up and cook.”
With few Asian bakeries in Ann Arbor, Q Bakehouse & Market’s product offering will be a unique addition to the city’s cuisine. “Especially nowadays, I think people are more open to trying different cool flavors and things they’re not familiar with,” says Liu Martindale. “The savory side…[of the] market will be different as well.”
Pursuing baking as a career wasn’t always an option for Liu Martindale. “As someone who grew up in an Asian immigrant household, it’s easy to go down a very specific path that my parents had set up for me,” she says. “I didn’t really even entertain the idea of anything [else].”
Liu Martindale had worked in engineering after graduating from the University of Michigan, but months of demanding work left her burnt out and unhappy. Soon after, she quit her job. “I realized I didn’t enjoy it and couldn’t see myself having a whole career in engineering,” she says.
In her free time, Liu Martindale turned to another activity: baking. It began as a hobby in middle school, but she discovered her love for the activity during college. “I really enjoyed learning, reading recipe blogs, watching YouTube videos, and looking at food science articles,” she says. “I kind of just taught myself over the years.”
In 2017, she decided to take it a step further by opening an online bakery, Milk + Honey. She rebranded it as Q Bakehouse & Market in 2023 as a way to reflect her Chinese-Taiwanese heritage. “Q is actually a culinary term in Taiwanese that means the bouncy, chewy texture of mochi or boba,” says Liu Martindale.
The new physical location is set to open on Wednesday, February 14. “[I’m] scared about how it’s going to go, but also excited because this is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” says Liu Martindale.
Unfortunately, creating her own business from scratch has also come with many challenges. “The rent is really expensive in Ann Arbor,” she says. “Because I didn’t go to business school or anything like that, there’s just all of the logistics…like licensing, administrative stuff, and taxes that a lot of people don’t really know.”
Despite these obstacles, Liu Martindale makes it her mission to give back to the community through Q Bakehouse & Market. “[I] donate 15% of profits to two local nonprofits in the area: Ozone House and the Hope Clinic.…With the new space opening, I’ve dropped it down to 10%, but just because I wanted to make sure the business [is] sustainable enough to continue reinvesting in itself. But I still want to give back…and I will continue doing that going forward.”
To any students who might feel uncertain about what to pursue in life, Liu Martindale encourages them not to lose hope. “Just be open to exploring and trying new things! Be okay with figuring out you like something that might be different from what you originally started [with], and be okay with changing.”
