Front Porch Baking Co. is growing!

This is quite the long read but I hope you'll enjoy it...
 
I have some BIG NEWS to share with you all. To put it simply, Front Porch Baking Co. is growing! I’ve been going back and forth on how best to explain our growth because I feel that I have a sharp vision of our path forward, but it can be scary to share big news with so many people and hope you all understand. First off, I want to share that we are most definitely staying in Millersville and we have no intention of ever leaving our store in Millersville. But let's back up and look at the full picture. 

When I found the space in Millersville back in January of 2021, I had some idea of what I believed we could build here but had no idea it would flourish into what we have called our bakery home for over two years now. The community we have built and the memories we have all shared are so special to me and the team. That space has become a home to us, and we hope you always feel welcome when you come into our bakery. It has been such a special opportunity to build relationships with our customers and feel connected to many of you on a level beyond your wanting to purchase our breads and pastries. As I have been reflecting over the last few months on all we have accomplished in this space, I find myself feeling extremely proud and grateful. We really do all we can to produce enough products each week for retail and wholesale and our team has slowly had the chance to grow bit by bit as our production has increased. Yet I find myself feeling a constant lack of efficiency that I am used to having in kitchen environments as well as having maxed out our baking capacity and refrigeration space. It has often left me feeling like I begin a marathon week after week, running the same race, yet different roadblocks appear in different areas each time. Small setbacks that become large interferences due to our small nature. So, as it has become apparent that it is stunting our growth potential, I have spent the last six months trying to figure out a healthy way forward. It has always been especially important to me to make educated decisions as well as trust my intuition and make sure that is the center of my decision making. Early spring an opportunity presented itself to me where we could go from treading water every day to being able to go for a swim. (By this point you are probably like, Kristen can you just get on with it?! Sorry for the delay, it all makes me quite emotional as I care so deeply for you all.)

The big news is that we have found a large commercial kitchen space in downtown Lancaster that contains important pieces of kitchen equipment we really needed to acquire to move FPBco. forward. I signed the lease in June and purchased the existing equipment along with moving in plenty of our own. (Like our new dough SHEETER! Cannot wait to use it! More laminated pastries coming your way!) All the pieces of the puzzle that I knew we would need were able to come together under this secondary roof that I hope can become a new home in it’s own right. I wasn’t entirely sure how we could make such a jump, as this is the largest jump I have taken in my business thus far, I also realized it is the most reasonable and sound decision for our operation to take steps of growth. Immediately when I saw the space I had a vision for it and for Millersville. Yet I was still concerned about putting it all on the line. The most crucial factor was being able to include this expansion without disrupting what we have already built. When I was able to feel secure about that, I realized the bonus factor is our plan to expand what we already offer in Millersville. (More details will be shared on that later as we iron them out.)

Over the course of June, my most recent steps of action have been purchasing equipment, getting the downtown kitchen up to spec to operate there, and growing the team. We have every intention to keep Millersville our point of retail. Our downtown space will allow us to increase our production capabilities and grow our wholesale business. Along with some other fun surprises and projects along the way! (Charity bake sales, baking classes, etc.!)

I think it’s best if I leave it at that for now. We still have work ahead of us to get the space operational, but we will be happy to do our best to answer questions you may have when you come into the bakery. I've appreciated the privacy of this so far but I’d like you to feel informed moving forward because honestly without your support and decision to include us in your lives, none of this would be possible. I do not take that lightly. A lot of my nerves have calmed a bit over the past month, I finally feel excited about this addition, and I am ready to see all the future holds for Front Porch. I’m so appreciative of Brenton, Dabney, Abbie, Nikki, Bev, family and friends, and of course all of you. Owning a business is no journey to be on alone. While there are a lot of areas I must shoulder as the owner, having such a wonderful team has taught me many lessons and has shown me how special this opportunity of business ownership really is. To anyone who has been a part of our journey thus far, it means so much.