What started as a high schooler’s simple cheesecake recipe in small-town Mississippi has blossomed into a business producing hundreds of thousands of cheesecakes each year.

Shaun Davis first perfected Cotton Blues’ now-famous cheesecake recipe at age 15. Years later, as an accredited pastry chef, Davis partnered with restaurant owner Chris Ortego. Together, they began selling the cheesecakes at Cotton Blues restaurant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in 2012.

The desserts were an instant success. Customers quickly began requesting whole cheesecakes to share with loved ones, and glowing online reviews hailed them as the “best ever” and “better than New York!” This inspired the cheesecake’s tagline: “Mississippi Made—New York Approved!”

Nearly a year after introducing the cheesecakes at Cotton Blues, a local grocery store chain owner asked to stock them in the frozen section—a perfect match, as freezing is part of the recipe! The cheesecakes soon spread to more grocery stores, and the small company rapidly outgrew its restaurant location.

Today, Cotton Blues Cheesecakes operates out of a 20,000-square-foot Cheesecake Kitchen in Waynesboro, Mississippi. Each cheesecake is handcrafted in small batches, lovingly packaged, and distributed to grocery stores nationwide.

Cotton Blues Cheesecakes are also available for nationwide shipping through Goldbelly.com.