For Black History Month, we'd be remiss if we didn't honor one of Columbia’s most successful women. Annie Fisher, born in 1867 to two formerly enslaved parents, built a business empire with her recipe for beaten biscuits. The ingredients were simple—flour, lard, butter, sweetened water, and a dash of salt—and their popularity spread across the country. Even President William Taft enjoyed her biscuits at the 1911 Missouri State Fair.
But the true secret was her skill as a caterer and business owner. Fisher shipped her biscuits across the U.S. and parlayed her success into a full catering enterprise and later a restaurant. She used the profits to build herself a 16-room mansion, purchase rental properties for Black families, and send her daughter to college.
Annie Fisher’s final resting place is Calvary Cemetery, once the segregated cemetery on Highway 40 and now a part of Memorial Park Cemetery.
The baking bay of our CoMo Cooks Shared Kitchen is named in her honor. Our wish is that all our up-and-coming cooks heed her advice: “You won’t have any luck unless you put in plenty of elbow-grease.”
