Meg Ray started Miette in the fall of 2001. As a lifelong home baker, Meg was confident her repertoire of cakes would fill a missing niche at the Farmers' Markets: stylish, well-executed desserts made with the best local and organic ingredients. Meg gathered her collection of vintage cake stands and set them up under a pink tent at the Berkeley Farmer's Market. After a few months, she expanded to the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market where, on her first Tuesday, Caitlin was doing her weekly shopping and exclaimed to Meg "you have my dream job!" Caitlin, an art school graduate with an obsession with Wayne Thiebaud, had been looking for a way to create her own art out of cakes. She started as an intern in the tiny Miette kitchen, where the two worked for hours upon hours, months upon months, finding their taste, their style and a cohesive line of products. For two years Meg tended to the Ferry Plaza while Caitlin minded the Berkeley Farmer's market. When offered a space in the Ferry Building Marketplace, the two formed a formal partnership and (with the help of Meg's husband) started construction work on their tiny space in a remarkable old building.

Neither Meg nor Caitlin were professionally trained, so their techniques and recipes were gleaned from many books and with the help of the experienced bakers who worked with them. They weren't interested in re-inventing the wheel; both found a more exciting challenge in adapting existing recipes for organic ingredients. Many hours were spent learning the peculiarities of ingredients like raw sugar, high-butterfat organic butter, non-alkalized cocoa powder, and organic flour. Some of their most popular products have been adapted from recipes by Claudia Fleming, Pierre Herme, Sherry Yard, Betty Crocker, Rose Levy Beranbaum, Irma Rombauer and Martha Stewart. With a base of amazing recipes, Meg and Caitlin created both traditional and unique desserts that were fresh and pretty, and assembled a product line that reflected the style of both girls. From the Tomboy to the Debutante to the Bumblebee, they had fun choosing names for their cakes that speak to the modern and cheerful style they have applied to their pastries.