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168 S. Main St
Waynesville, NC 28786
(828) 246-9138
info@mountainkolache.com
We serve Tex-Czech style kolaches and related baked goods. Kolaches have become very Americanized and we have customers traveling from hours away to tell us about growing up in other states like Nebraska, Utah, and others, eating kolaches at Christmas, making them in the kitchen with their grandmothers . . . We love these stories. And, we love that we're able to provide some nostalgia to those customers while providing a new comfort food to others! We even have some European customers who've told us that our dough reminds them of home.
Kolaches have different names in different countries, but the root of the word comes from a Slavic word for circle. Most kolaches are round or have some round feature about them. In some countries they take other forms. For example, in Poland a kolache might be a big cake, in Hungary it may be a loaf, or in other places it may be a short bread cookie. Varieties of kolache can even be found in Russia and Iran.
We also have klobasniky (plural for klobasnik or klobasnek) which are filled with savory fillings like sausage or ham and cheese. Our favorite is the Texan variety: sausage, cheese, and jalapeno.
Our dinner rolls are made with the same fluffy scratch yeast dough and may be different sizes or shapes depending on when we remove the dough from our kolache making process.
We've recently added muffins because Jeremy is a big muffin fan.
Meet the jensens
Jeremy was born and raised in Texas. He is a veteran of the United States Air Force. Jeremy previously worked as a project manager in industrial construction. He received a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management and a Master of Business Administration from University of Houston.
Erika was born in Texas to a dad from Texas and a mom from Haywood County. She grew up in Texas and North Carolina and attended Waynesville Middle School and Tuscola High School. She owns a small independent financial advisory practice. Erika received a Bachelor of Public Administration from Texas State University and a Master of Arts in International Relations from the University of Oklahoma.
Liam was born in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, England. He attends Tuscola High School. He enjoys working outside on the property on Fines Creek, riding the 4-wheeler, playing video games, and school sports.
why kolaches?
20 years ago, when Erika was back in Texas, some of her friends from Haywood County (shout out to Kaleb, Jonathan, Josh, and Daniel) took a road trip to Texas to stay with Erika and see Emmylou Harris and Alison Krauss at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Erika's dad bought breakfast for the guys: boxes of kolaches. Jeremy and Erika had just started dating a couple of weeks before, and when he saw the guys from NC that evening they were excited to tell Jeremy about breakfast. They couldn't remember what they were called, but they described them and Jeremy said "kolaches?"
In parts of Texas, kolaches are at least as common as donuts. People eat them for breakfast, special occasions, business meetings, or road trip snacks.
In October 2020, while visiting her mom, Erika explained that she'd been really homesick and wanted to return to North Carolina. Erika and Jeremy decided to make it happen, but Jeremy didn't know what he'd do for a living since there isn't a lot of demand for industrial project managers in Haywood County. Then, they remembered when the guys from NC visited 20 years before. Waynesville needed kolaches. They got the ball rolling and started recipe testing, finding everyone's Czech grandma recipes and trying them until they found the perfect fluffy kolache dough.
Being small business owners in Haywood County made sense. Haywood County is very small business friendly, and Erika's family has owned businesses in Haywood County for generations. Her mom and stepdad own a local car wash and used to own a real estate office in Maggie Valley; and, her Papaw, Earl Ledford, owned Teague's Superette in Maggie Valley while her Mamaw, Eva Ledford, owned the Water Wheel Gallery in Maggie Valley. Today, Teague's belongs to one of Erika's cousins.
You'll find Jeremy in the bakery every day, even on the days it's closed. Erika can be found behind the register some week day mornings before 9:30 am, a couple of late evenings during the week, and on weekends.
They're excited to bring a delicious new comfort food to Downtown Waynesville and have been pleasantly surprised by the quick success!