Rachel Liu Martindale
Baker
Rachel Liu Martindale is a Chinese-American baker and the owner of Q Bakehouse & Market, an Asian-American bakery in Ann Arbor.
After graduating with a material science engineering degree from the University of Michigan, Rachel left the corporate engineering job she hated to pursue her baking dreams. She ran baking pop-up, Milk+Honey, for years before opening
Q Bakehouse’s storefront in February 2024.
Since then, Q Bakehouse has garnered a range of accolades: from being featured in NPR, Detroit PBS, and Eater Detroit to being named Metro Detroit’s best breakfast sandwich by Detroit sandwich influencer Carlos Parisi.
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With items like chili crisp scones and brown butter miso cookies, Q Bakehouse embodies the Chinese-American experience. The menu showcases seasonal produce and changes every 2 weeks. In an industry with razor-thin margins, Rachel prioritizes running a business that gives back: donating 10% of annual profits to nonprofits and paying her employees a living wage with health benefits.
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This interview has been edited for length and clarity. It took place on March 31, 2025.
Credit: Grace Han Photography
Q: Tell me about your journey to becoming a baker.
RLM: I grew up watching a lot of Food Network and cooking with my mom. In college, I loved baking in my free time but never thought it’d turn into a career.
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In 2015, I graduated from the University of Michigan with a material science engineering degree and got a corporate job as an engineering consultant in Grand Rapids. I was miserable: I’d cry every Sunday because I dreaded going back to work. To cope with the fact I hated my job, I started working part-time at a coffeeshop and baking on weekends, posting what I made on a food blog.
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Eventually, I was like: “I can’t do engineering anymore.” In 2017, I moved back to Ann Arbor and started working at a coffee shop temporarily. That began my period of soul searching. I asked myself: What do I want to do? I don’t know if I want to do coffee full-time but I know I don’t want to do engineering. I did an internship at renowned wedding cake bakery Sweet Heather Anne. Then, a friend commissioned me to make her wedding cake. A few more friends reached out afterward.
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At the time, me and husband were running a homeless breakfast ministry. To pay for the costs, I decided to start a baking business on Instagram called Milk+Honey. I had no idea how big it would get. I was doing pop-ups every week in Ann Arbor. Eventually, it grew organically to the point that I was able to quit the marketing job I was at and do Milk+Honey full-time.
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After weathering the ups and downs of COVID, I wanted to do something different. While Milk+Honey was a pop-up without a physical storefront, I dreamed of a place where I could get baked goods inspired by the Taiwanese food my childhood.
Credit: Grace Han Photography
Q: How did you come up with the concept behind Q Bakehouse & Market?
RLM: The name Q stands for “QQ”: a culinary term for the bouncy, chewy texture of things like mochi that Asian people love.
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Growing up at times being ashamed of my Chinese identity, during COVID and #StopAsianHate I rediscovered my love for Chinese food and started cooking a lot of traditional Taiwanese food. Rebranding Milk+Honey to Q, I wanted a place that combined American baking with the flavors of my childhood: desserts that weren’t too sweet and having savory offerings as well. That’s why we have things like chili crisp scones and milk bread breakfast sandwiches on the menu.
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I wanted Q to be a place you could learn about Chinese culture and heritage through food. So when you step into Q Bakehouse, there’s retail shelves with Taiwanese drinks, ramens, and pantry staples like chili crisp to make Asian cooking more approachable.
Credit: Grace Han Photography
Q: How did you make the decision to quit your corporate job and pursue baking full-time?
RLM: I was terrified at first. But I put a lot of thought into my decision to quit my engineering job. I remember sitting down and asking myself: "If I quit, what’s my new salary going to be? What’s my new budget?" What will I have to give up because I knew I'd be taking a significant pay cut.
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I encourage people who are thinking of quitting their job to not make a spur of the moment decision, but think through the cost it would entail. For me, I realized that while I’d be giving up a high paying salary, benefits, and lifestyle things that are nice to have, it was worth it to have my fulfillment and joy in my day to day back.
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I believe that if you find a lot of joy in your daily work, you can figure it out. That being said, going full-time into baking was a long journey. I’m a very risk averse person so I was doing other jobs and testing my concept of a baking pop-up for years before I took the plunge full-time.
"I realized that while I’d be giving up a high-paying salary, benefits, and lifestyle things that are nice to have, it was worth it to have my fulfillment and joy in my day to day back. I believe that if you find a lot of joy in your daily work, you can figure it out."
Credit: Grace Han Photography
Q: How did your parents react to you becoming a baker?
RLM: When I first told them, it did not go well. My Asian immigrant parents couldn’t understand why I’d leave something so secure and successful for something they considered a step down. Especially being an only child, they had no other kid who would fulfill the dream of being a successful engineer or a typical Asian parent approved career path. That was really hard for me initially: bearing their shame on top of my own disappointment and guilt for leaving a prestigious career.
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Now, they’ve come around to the fact that I’m just going to do my own thing. While they’re not yet super excited, they’re more accepting of what I have chosen to do.
Q: How do you define success?
RLM: My definition of success is being able to do what I love and have a team that really enjoys working for me while providing a high quality product. As long as the business is financially sustainable and we’re providing the community with something they enjoy, that makes me happy.
Q: How do you see your faith and work intersect?
RLM: As a Christian, I don’t want to push my faith on people, but I try to lead by example and run a business that reflects my values. I chose to donate 10% of Q Bakehouse’s annual profits to charities because of my faith. I offer healthcare coverage, higher wages, and PTO to my employees even though that’s not the industry norm because I want them to feel valued and cared for. Personally, I have a weekly church small group in my home and host foster children from time to time.
Q: What's your favorite dish you've made?
RLM: Our pandan calamansi pie is delicious. It’s a graham cracker crust filled with pandan custard topped with calamansi curd and whipped cream. It’s a lot of work to make but the fragrant, coconutty vibes of the pandan blend so well with the bright, limey flavor of calamansi.
[Editor’s note: After eating this pie myself, I can confirm it’s the best pie I’ve ever had.]
"I chose to donate 10% of Q Bakehouse’s annual profits to charities because of my faith. I offer healthcare coverage, higher wages, and PTO to my employees even though that’s not the industry norm because I want them to feel valued and cared for."
Q: Do you have a motto that keeps you going?
RLM: What I keep coming back to is resilience. Q Bakehouse has been open for a year and a lot has happened that I wasn’t expecting: when we just opened, we unexpectedly had to close the storefront for 7 weeks and now, ingredient costs like eggs have been skyrocketing. It’s hard when you’re a small business trying to honor your staff with health benefits and higher wages while still maintaining an affordable price for the community.
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Instead of letting everything get to me and crush me, I’ve changed my mindset to “This is normal. Unexpected things come up. I can deal with it.” It’s the only way I’ve been able to get through.
Q: How do you find and build community in your field?
RLM: When I first started, there weren’t many Asian American chefs or bakers. While you might see super popular celebrities like David Chang or Roy Choi, there wasn't much everyday representation.
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Throughout my baking journey, social media has been very helpful to build community. I have an Asian-American pastry chef friend in San Francisco I exchange recipes with. Q Bakehouse has a Substack where we post recipes for paid subscribers. There’s a huge baking community on Substack and Instagram that’s been great to tap into.
Now that Q has been open for a year, I do try to help up-and-coming Asian-American chefs, whether it’s just sharing advice or letting them come in to the kitchen and learn for a few days.
"When I first started, there weren’t many Asian American chefs or bakers. While you might see super popular celebrities like David Chang or Roy Choi, there wasn't much everyday representation."
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Credit: Grace Han Photography
Q: What's your advice for aspiring bakers?
RLM: You don’t have to take the plunge right into a brand new career. I quit my job and chose something I liked a little better — not the exact fit, but it felt better than my engineering job. Initially, I only did Milk+Honey on the side (evenings and weekends) until it grew to full-time. A lot of people pursuing more creative endeavors can totally do it part-time on evenings and weekends.