Our Founder: Susan Axelrod

Final Founders Headshot 1-2-2014Susan Axelrod

Chairwoman and Founder of Love and Quiches Gourmet

Susan Axelrod founded Love & Quiches Gourmet, quite by accident, in her home in the seventies. With no formal training or preparation for business ownership; her only credential was her passion for food. Everything Susan learned was in the line of fire, just by doing it.

Over a span of four decades, Susan has taken the company from its first quiche to a global brand of gourmet baked goods, establishing herself as a well-known and respected entrepreneur within the foodservice industry. Today, the company is a leading manufacturer of  bakery products, with a vast variety of offerings catering to the foodservice, institutional and retail trades worldwide.

Susan is a respected industry leader and has been honored with many awards, including the Roundtable for Women in Foodservice’s Pacesetter Award in Manufacturing  and  NAWBO’s (National Association of Women Business Owners) Woman of the Year Award. A three-time honoree in Long Island Business News’ L.I. Top Fifty Most Influential Women in Business, she was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2009. Most recent honors include NAWBO’s Businesswoman of Excellence (2011) and a special Citation from the Nassau County (NY) Department of Economic Development as part of their Made in Nassau County celebration of Women’s History Month (May 2011).

Susan ventured into the realm of social media with her blog, Susan’s Sweet Talk (www.SusansSweetTalk.com), debuting to rave reviews. Within her blog, she details her journey from housewife to entrepreneur with more than a teaspoon of humor and peppered with sage advice.  As Susan’s blog following grew she was convinced to publish her story and her business advice in her new book, With Love & Quiches: A Long Island Housewife’s Surprising Journey from Kitchen to Boardroom, which has been published by Greenleaf Book Group and is due to be released in May 2014. Created with putting Quiche of the map as an alternative to the hamburger in the early days of her career, it is her wish that the book may serve as an inspiration and offer valuable guidance to other aspiring entrepreneurs.