The Rock Hill dining landscape just got a lot sweeter, thanks to a wildly popular local cheesecake brand.
Van Hoesen House of Cheesecakes, a two-year-old business known for its elevated cheesecakes, is set to softly open its first brick-and-mortar location at 9226 Manchester this Friday, August 14. The storefront will feature a small seating area and grab-and-go cheesecakes and cookies, in addition to serving as a space for custom cake tastings and consultations.
According to owners Gregory Henry and Tyrone Van Hoesen, the shop represents the next evolution in Van Hoesen House of Cheesecakes, which began as a labor of love and has grown in popularity since its founding two years ago.
“This was a huge leap of faith,” Henry says. “But we’ve built our customer base and feel like they will support us. It’s the right thing for us to do to grow the business.”
Inaugural hours are 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, as well as 4-8 p.m. Thursday.
Here’s what to know before you go.
The Concept
Although Tyler “Ty” Van Hoesen has always loved cooking as a hobby, he never considered himself a baker, let alone a cheesecake enthusiast.
“My family loved cheesecakes and always wanted them, but I was never a big cheesecake person,” Van Hoesen says. “I thought they were good, but they were always missing something. For me, it was the crust. I felt that graham cracker crusts were flimsy and that they needed something nice and sturdy.”
Determined to make the perfect cheesecake, Van Hoesen began experimenting in his free time from his corporate banking job and finally got to the point where he had something—a hazelnut version—that he was proud to share with his family. They were blown away, which encouraged him to keep going, ultimately leading to a career pivot and the launch of Van Hoesen House of Cheesecakes with his friend and business partner, Gregg Henry, in 2022.
Initially conceived of as an online and special order business, Van Hoesen House of Cheesecakes began to gain a following locally through word of mouth and nationally from people searching online for some of the specialty varieties, such as creamsicle and cinnamon roll. The more popular the business grew, the more requests there were for a storefront, which led them to finally put down roots in Rock Hill.
Drawing upon his background in interior design, Henry has turned the one-room shop into a striking space that feels both modern and warm. The color scheme is black and white, featuring white marble floors, a white semi-circular counter outlined in black trim, a handful of black and white tables with white boucle fabric chairs, and a black accent wall adorned with four decorative panels featuring bold colors and geometric shapes. Fresh flowers adorn the room, adding an elevated touch that coincides with their overall ethos.
The Menu
Henry and Van Hoesen are uncompromising in their approach to cheesecake. “Before this, I went into nutrition and personal training, thinking that I was going to focus on food as nutrition,” Van Hoesen says. “It may sound funny going into cheesecakes from there, but ours have real ingredients that your body can use. We keep the sugar as minimal as we can and use no preservatives, colorings, or additives. We’ve actually been told by people that they don’t feel heavy—and actually feel refreshed—after eating our cheesecakes.”
Henry and Van Hoesen pride themselves in the fact that they do not take any shortcuts when it comes to their products. Everything is made in house; they cook and purée their own fruits and vegetables and even bake from scratch the cookies and crackers used to make their crust.
Their blueberry lemon cheesecake, for instance, features fresh puréed blueberries and fresh lemon juice and zest folded into the cheesecake mixture—not simply placed as a glaze on top of a plain cheesecake. A butter cookie crust provides a delicious base for the dessert. Other varieties, such as strawberry, key lime, and seasonal peach, are also prepared in this style, resulting in fruit flavors that are natural tasting and infused into every bite. Even in something simple, such as the classic vanilla bean version, you can see flecks of high-quality vanilla beans.
Van Hoesen House of Cheesecake offers several specialty flavors, in addition to its core varieties. These include an orange creamsicle, made with vanilla bean, fresh-squeezed orange juice, orange zest, and an orange zest and vanilla bean sour cream glaze. The cinnamon roll, one of the most popular specialty offerings, starts with Henry’s signature cookie crust infused with cinnamon and brown sugar. The cheesecake itself is made from vanilla cream cheese filling swirled with cinnamon and brown sugar and is topped with a vanilla glaze. Other popular offerings include the cappuccino and caramel macchiato (part of Van Hoesen’s Coffee Collection), key lime, strawberry kiwi,and bourbon vanilla pecan.
In addition to sweet offerings, Van Hoesen is known for its savory cheesecakes, which can be described as a creamier quiche. Current flavors include a garden vegetable, which features 11 types of sautéed vegetables and a cheddar cracker crust. The second savory offering, rotisserie chicken salad, infuses Van Hoesen’s house-made champagne mustard chicken salad into a cream cheese base, and pairs it with an herbed onion cracker crust.
“We love to taste people on them at events, because they are hesitant at first,” Henry says. “Then, once they try it, they say, ‘Oh, I get it now!’”
Cheesecakes are not the only sweet treat on offer at the new Van Hoesen storefront. The pair is currently selling Henry’s cookies in three varieties: chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia, and espresso and chocolate shortbread. Henry hopes to expand into more items such as scones and bread, and he and Van Hoesen plan on doing coffee service, including their own coffee label, once the shop is up and running.
“We’re evolving our products to see what we can offer,” Van Hoesen says. “We are both artists and creative people, so this is an opportunity for us to use that creativity as culinary artists.”
The Backstory
Neither Henry nor Van Hoesen set out to be professional bakers. They had each established themselves in their respective careers prior to starting Van Hoesen House of Cheesecakes in 2024. Van Hoesen spent many years in corporate banking and IT; just before the pandemic, he decided that he was ready for a change and wanted to follow his dreams of making cheesecakes. His vision was to sell his wares wholesale to restaurants, but the pandemic stymied those plans and he went back to his day job. About two years later, after getting laid off, Van Hoesen realized that he was at a crossroads and decided to pursue his dream once again, founding Van Hoesen House of Cheesecakes as an online and special order and events brand.
Around roughly the same time, Henry was dealing with his own life transitions. About four years ago, he left a job as a set designer in Pennsylvania to return to St. Louis, so he could be with his aging parents. In 2022 and 2023, he had two serious health crises that left him hospitalized and immobilized for eight months. One of the incidents, sepsis that got into his spine, required intense rehabilitation, so he could relearn to walk. During his recovery, he was laid off from work and thought about going into universal design before reconnecting with his friend, Van Hoesen, and deciding to take the leap into the cheesecake world with him.
Now, two years and innumerable happy clients later, they are excited to begin this new chapter.
“There’s such a satisfaction in creating something of your own, watching it grow, and seeing that people love it,” Van Hoesen says. “We are putting our best into this.”
Van Hoesen House of Cheesecakes
📍9226 Manchester, Rock Hill
📞314-249-3416
⏰10 a.m.–6 p.m. Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat; 4-8 p.m. Thu
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