HOW IT ALL STARTED
I began baking whole grain breads, muffins and cookies out of my home in 1995. Back than, whole grain bread was the new “big rave” in the bakery business. I enjoyed baking, was good at it, didn’t have a job at the time, and decided to start a little business out of it just for the fun of it.
Flea and farmers markets in the area were a popular selling place for baked goods, so I’d spend an entire Friday in my home kitchen baking up a storm, and very early Saturday morning, packed everything up and drove to the flea market and set up shop. Very quickly my product would sell and the next week I’d be baking more than the previous week and do it all over again.
I soon realized the space limitations and the licensing concerns of not baking in a commercial kitchen, so I decided to convert the laundry room in the back of the house into a real production area. Complete with various equipment from auctions, restaurant supply houses, and, with my husband’s mechanical abilities, I had a complete licensed commercial kitchen to bake to my hearts content.
DECIDING TO OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
By now I had decided that all this packing up of product was quite unproductive. There wasn’t a bakery in our town, so with a permit from the City of Portage, I opened up the front door and had people come right into the house to buy baked goods. My older brick home, on a busy street through town, made it a convenient and cozy place to come to get bakery for the local community. The first day I opened I served five people. Word of mouth spread quickly around town and things got busy. I did all the baking, selling, dishes, marketing, refining products, and coming up with new recipes.
NEEDING HELP
Within six months, I couldn’t keep up with the demand alone, so I enlisted a willing candidate to help – my husband, Dale.
HOURS:
Monday thru Saturday
6:00 am to 4:00 pm
Sunday
8:00 am to 2:00 pm
321 W. Conant St.
Portage, WI
608.742.0500
608.742.7279 fax
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