We recently connected with Anne Dargent-Wallace and have shared our conversation below.

Anne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

When I changed careers (I used to be a French professor) it was with the idea of opening my own business. After an intensive culinary training and a 1-year work experience as Pasta & Bread Chef at a well-known local restaurant I decided it was time for me to open my own business. My idea was to have a business which would allow me to feed my community, but also permit me to be present and flexible for my family. I knew I wanted to bake sourdough bread but I wanted to do this from my home, and I did not know how to offer my home-baked goods without having a brick and mortar bakery. After talking with several people (other bakers, small business owners, foodies, etc.) I got the idea of offering a bread-subscription program (in essence a bread CSA, or CSB-Community Supported Bread?😀), where customers would subscribe and pick up their baked goods from my home on a specific day. It was not a new idea, but I only found two other bakers in Minneapolis/St Paul who were doing this. It also turned out that there was a developing community of cottage bakers on Instagram from all over the United States and the world, willing to share information and tips. In France, there is a bakery in every neighborhood, practically at every corner. After baking for my neighbors and friends for a few months I felt like my community was in need of a neighborhood baker around their corner. I felt like I was on to something, as I did not need to do any marketing for my new micro-bakery and bread subscription and soon had a wait-list. All my customers had heard of me from other neighbors, friends, family, etc. And now I get to feed my community with delicious and nutritious baked goods, while doing what I love from my home and being present for my family: for the past 4 years this has been my job, and I haven’t stopped loving what I do.

Anne, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi! My name is Anne Dargent-Wallace, and I am the owner and baker of D’argent Bakery, a home-based micro-bakery specializing in naturally-leavened (sourdough) bread and French pastries. I started my business in 2018, after an intensive culinary training at the Institut Paul Bocuse (Lyon, France) and a 1-year work experience at Spoon & Stable restaurant (Minneapolis, MN) where I made fresh pasta and bread. Baking is a second career for me. After getting my PhD in Second Language Acquisition from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and working as a French instructor for several years, I decided to follow my other passion: baking. The only way I wanted to do this was to have my own small business, as I wanted to be in charge of decision-making and be able to be flexible with my schedule. I fell in love with sourdough bread-making as soon as I made my first loaf. There is something about listening to the dough, taking the time it needs, maintaining a live starter, and of course the miracle of dough transforming into bread, so flavorful and nutritious, that warms everyone’s home and belly. Making bread was the easy part; building a business from scratch was a different story. With the help of friends, family, other bakers, foodies, Instagram and the internet, I managed to define a business model that fits my lifestyle and philosophy, build a website, buy necessary equipment, find wholesale suppliers, and ultimately turn a room in my basement into a micro-bakery where I can bake a large quantity of baked goods. I am extremely proud of what I have accomplished, and particularly being able to bake quality baked goods for my wonderful customers while being present for my family. Another aspect of this journey that I am most proud about is the evolution of my philosophy when it comes to the local supply chain. Thanks to my encounters with other wonderful bakers, millers, farmers who care deeply about soil health, sustainability, and our footprint on this planet, I realized that making bread was much more than just mixing flour and water together. I now strive to use the freshest flour, grown and milled by local farmers and millers, and to develop relationships with these farmers and millers in a meaningful way. We are all connected. Owning my business has brought me so much more than I expected. I now feel part of a community where we all care for one another and our planet, and I hope that my business is taking a small step in the right direction.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Before opening my business, I completely changed careers. This career change was very important and challenging for me, but definitely one of the best decisions I have ever made. I had spent over a decade teaching French as a Foreign Language and working on my Master’s and Doctoral degrees. After having my second child, I decided to take some time off to find a line of work that would fulfill me and allow me to make an impact I would be proud of, even if small. After taking a cooking class (offered by my husband on my birthday) at a local culinary and supply store it came to me that being an expert in cooking and being able to teach classes might be just what I was looking for all along. It had to be on my own terms, with my own business, as I no longer saw myself working for someone else. I decided to start from scratch and with what I knew best how to do: studying and training. After an intensive culinary training at the Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon (France) and a 1-year work experience at Chef Gavin Kaysen’s restaurant Spoon & Stable, making fresh pasta and bread, I felt ready to take the plunge and start working on developing my own business: a micro-bakery specialized in naturally-leavened bread and French pastries, with a subscription-based model, to provide my community with delicious and nutritious baked goods. I now also teach bread-making classes at my local Alliance Française (a non-profit organization that promotes French language and culture), and this opportunity fulfills me completely as it encompasses all of my passions and interests: baking, teaching, French language and culture.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

When I was researching which business model would best fit my philosophy and lifestyle, I decided to go with a subscription-based model to provide fresh baked goods to my customers. I started with monthly subscriptions with automatic renewals if desired, to give my customers the freedom to keep their spot or stop. Over the first few months I realized that my customers were loyal and renewed every month. I also quickly maxed out production and had to open a wait-list. I also decided to switch from a monthly to a 3-month subscription program to make administrative work easier on me (this way I only send subscription emails once every 3 months instead of every month). If my customers stop their subscription they know they will not be able to subscribe again right away as I have a wait-list. This model encourages them to keep their spot, although in general I have a very loyal customer base. I believe this is the case for a number of reasons: they appreciate my baked goods, they want to support a small local and woman-led business, they like a subscription-based model that provides frequent, scheduled baked goods.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dargentbakery.com
• Instagram: dargentbakery
• Other: dargentbakery@gmail.com

Image Credits
All images are mine.