Southern Flavors Meet Pastry Technique at The Gaykery

Brandon Tullos has always cooked and baked. “That’s just something we do as Southerners,” he said. But when the Mississippi-bred home cook’s job as a buyer took him to Colorado, he upped his credentials by enrolling in the baking and pastry arts continuing education program at Johnson & Wales. He graduated from the program, left his job as a buyer, and worked at a local bakery for three years before branching out on his own. He’s now taking the traditional pastry case (and much more) to the Littleton, CO streets with his food truck, The Gaykery.

Since he baked his first pie in his grandmother’s kitchen at age four, Tullos has always loved the feeling of taking something he created out of the oven. He wanted to share that love of baking, but also wanted to put his own spin on the usual dessert truck. After doing some market research, he decided he wanted a full blown pastry case and luckily happened upon a truck with shelving that would suit his purpose perfectly.

Though he was shooting to open for Pride in June, The Gaykery hit the streets in July 2021 after completing truck renovations. The name stands in the face of the other local bakery that refused to make a gay couple a wedding cake. Tullos wants everyone to know, “I love what I do and I love to do it for anyone that can appreciate it and pay me for doing it. If I can make a living, I don’t care if you take the cake home and sit in it after I make it. I got to do what I wanted to do in life and I got paid for it.”

The fully lit pastry case and the Southern food, which Tullos serves off the back of the truck, are now staples at some of the hundreds of breweries in the area. It’s a win-win relationship for both food trucks and breweries. “We kind of made a name for ourselves. Now we have breweries that call us instead of me having to track them down every week,” Tullos said.

So what’s on the menu? Starting with the hot food, Tullos is making Southern classics including shrimp and grits, biscuits and gravy, a “MIssissippi-style” burrito and, of course, fried chicken. Moving over to the sweets, he’s serving a sourdough brioche danish, crème brûleé and red velvet cookies, and mini pound cakes that fly off the shelves whenever they’re available. The commissary kitchen Tullos uses to prep for the truck, as well as the weather, limits the types of goods available – but not for long!

That’s because Tullos is about to expand to a brick and mortar storefront in Littleton, CO. This will allow him to add laborious pastries like laminated croissants and temperature-dependent truffles, along with his elaborate sugarwork. The menu will be as wide an array as his education at JWU and include southern flavor profiles mixed with classic techniques.

Tullos also has plans to start a non-profit down the road. The Gaykery has already participated in charitable events at which it donated a portion of the proceeds to the event’s beneficiary. The mission is to leave a positive mark on the world through baking. “We want it to be enjoyable,” Tullos explained, “The bakery is the place that no one should go begrudgingly.”