Russell Ping is the owner & chef of Russell’s Cafe (Fenton & South City) and Lola Jean’s Pizza. In fourth grade, Russell began his entrepreneurial journey selling cookies in his local neighborhood, even getting the nickname ‘The Cookie Chef’.
At 22, Russell opened his flagship cafe in Fenton with his mom. In 2006, Russell’s Cafe was elevating the baking game by selling delicious hand-crafted sweets. Ping mentioned that he wanted Russell’s Sweets to be at the center of everything you celebrate in life.
Living in the South Hampton neighborhood, Russell was shortly led to opening up a second location on Macklind. With this larger location, they were able to expand their cafe into a hot-spot for brunch and dinner hours. In 2023, Russell and Em Ping came out hot by re-opening a pizza pickup concept called Lola Jeans, which is open 3 days a week for pre-order only.
Russell’s also has an extensive line of wholesale sweets & gooey butter cake that is sold at local grocery stores and also available to ship nationwide for those missing the St. Louis staples. In this episode we chat with Russell about his childhood, entrepreneurship, being in business with the family, and more.