Parfe Diem
“I always knew I wanted to create something of my own, but I did not know if I could take the leap. Then life pushed me, and suddenly it was now or never.” Parfé Diem - two words that carry a meaning far beyond dessert - is about seizing the moment the way Parker Barbee finally did after decades of hustling, grinding, imagining, and doubting. And it is also about the person who stood beside him as he leapt: Marcus Martin - the steady, grounded, practical partner, the one who gave up a secure career so Parker could pursue his dream.
Parker grew up in Springfield, Illinois, in what he calls “just middle Midwest,” a family with Sunday dinners and a grandmother who ruled the kitchen. “She was allergic to bananas,” he said, laughing, “so we did not eat banana pudding often, but whenever I did find it, I indulged. That stuck with me.” He loved art, sweets, and feeding people - roots that would eventually anchor Parfé Diem, though he had no sense of that then.
After high school, Parker joined the Air Force in 1999 and served as a personnelist, a human resource specialist, in Spokane. When he returned home, he worked at a call center, at Radio Shack, in retail, and then began college at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He majored in radio and television with an emphasis in video production. As soon as he graduated in 2007, he moved straight to Los Angeles to try to make it in entertainment.
“I hustled in LA for years,” he said. “Retail, paparazzi for TMZ, waiting tables, working for a private investigator, being cast in shows, doing commercials, print ads - everything.” People often told Parker he belonged in front of the camera, but casting ultimately became the work he enjoyed most. For more than a decade, he built a career in unscripted television, developing an instinct for people and storytelling that would later shape the brand he created.
Life shifted again in 2016 when he met Marcus in Palm Springs. They discovered they lived only a few blocks from each other in West Hollywood. They fell in love, married in 2020, and two years later packed up their lives for Utah - though Parker admitted, “He dragged me here. It was not my idea.”
Marcus grew up in Blackfoot, Idaho, in a Mormon household that embraced him fully. He went to BYU, worked in finance at Morgan Stanley in Salt Lake, then transferred to their Century City branch in Los Angeles. “My career was pretty consistent,” he said. “Numbers, portfolios, private wealth management - that is where I lived.” Later, he moved to Northwestern Mutual, and then into a restoration company when the couple returned to Utah. They bought and remodeled a duplex. “Parker is not handy,” Marcus said. Parker laughed. “But I appreciate things that are well made,” Parker said. Practical and even-tempered, he is the one who steadied the ship.
“I was on the couch sulking,” Parker said, recalling the day he lost his remote talent-sourcing job. “And he sat down next to me and said, ‘So…I was looking at food trucks today.’ I have never felt more supported in my life.” It was the spark, the sign, the green light. “That moment is where Parfé Diem truly began,” Parker said. “Because it was Marcus saying, ‘I believe in you.’”
Parker and Marcus started in a ghost kitchen in South Salt Lake in August 2023, doing nothing but pickups and delivery orders. They worked nonstop making pudding, packaging, building the business from scratch. Within a year, they were signing a lease on a bright pink shop on 900 East in Sugar House.
Their landlord, Roger Nelson, an eighty-one-year-old who continues to work six to seven days a week, ran an antique engine shop in back and previously rented this space to Penguin Brothers ice cream. “He is an incredible person,” they said. “He supports entrepreneurs. He believes in small business.” The building, with its pastel exterior, colorful benches, concrete floors, and DIY interior, became their own - hand-painted, built by Marcus, designed by Parker.
Inside those pink doors sits the heart of Parfé Diem - the puddings. “I am a self-taught baker,” Parker said. “I do not have a culinary degree. But I know what tastes good.”
Banana pudding was always his favorite. He used to order it constantly in Los Angeles. One day he thought, I bet I can make this myself. From there, years of experimentation began: researching stabilizers, testing emulsifiers, studying texture, learning technique. “It was… take a step forward, walk away for a bit, and then come back, repeat. Over and over,” he said.
Then Parker expanded beyond bananas - lemon blueberry, strawberry cheesecake, chocolate. The chocolate flavor forced him to teach himself how to make homemade chocolate wafers because stores did not carry them. Once he mastered those, vanilla wafers followed. “I have never gone back. Store bought Nilla wafers are just not good,” he said. “Our homemade ones absorb the pudding, turn cakey, and the texture becomes incredible.” The originality of their puddings - light, whipped, layered, and distinctively textured - quickly set them apart. “We are one of the most exceptional dessert spaces in Salt Lake City,” Parker said. “Google Maps tells us that.”
Their menu rotates through nearly twenty flavors, including OG Banana - winner of Best Comfort Food - Strawberry Cheesecake, Brigadeiro, a chocolate flavor inspired by a Brazilian baker they met in their commissary kitchen, Cadillac OG with candied walnuts and dulce de leche, Pistachio Envy, Purple Days made with ube and white-chocolate salted–pretzel brittle, Pumpkin Pie with spiced cranberry–orange sauce, and Nog, a seasonal eggnog pudding layered with butter-rum wafers and cinnamon apples. They now craft bars as well, including the OMG Gold Bar - gooey butter cake with frozen pudding inside. “People take a bite and say, ‘Oh my gosh,’ thus, that is the name.”
The business has grown steadily. Online orders remain strong - one customer recently passed one hundred orders. “I fangirl over customers when I finally meet them,” Parker said. “They are spending their money on something I created. That means everything to me.”
The men have also earned significant recognition: a $25,000 grant from Damon John’s Black Entrepreneurs Day, a $15,000 pitch competition award from Mountain West, two Best of Utah awards, and a place on Yelp’s Top 100 Local Businesses of 2025. Early on, they partnered with nearby Hopkins Brewery. Although they are not yet ready for additional wholesale partnerships, growth is inevitable. The kitchen is small. “We can barely fit two people,” Marcus said. Their goal is to open a larger production facility and eventually turn the Sugar House shop into a gluten-free kitchen.
Parker and Marcus continue to emphasize that Parfé Diem is not an ordinary dessert shop. “It is not your grandma’s pudding,” Parker said. The two are committed to building a long-term, sustainable business. “There is no going back,” Parker said. “My grandma told me I needed to work for myself because I never liked anyone telling me what to do. She was right. I love being my own boss.”
As they look ahead, they speak less about trendiness or nostalgia and more about standards - quality, consistency, technique, and a level of care they believe customers can taste. It is the foundation they hope will carry Parfé Diem well beyond its early accolades. "If people approach Parfé Diem with an open mind, they understand immediately what makes us different. What we make here - you can taste the joy and the love in every cup.”
