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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.