Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Abbott & Dorian Crow & Kohl. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Abbott & Dorian, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Abbott: Our idea first came up when Dorian was going to move in with me. He had moved from an entirely different state and we were discussing possible job options for him when I (Abbott) suggested the farmer’s market in town. We often joke that I tricked him into opening a bakery because I had already researched everything needed to get involved in the market that summer (cottage food licensing, vendor tents, fees, etc.). Dorian had been a baker all his life and also enjoyed doing different crafts so we thought it would be fun for him to run a vendor stall for the summer.

Dorian: Originally, Abbott was only supposed to be the driver. The plan was for him to drop me off, set up the tent, and head off to his seasonal summer job. It turned out that they didn’t need a seasonal worker that summer, though, so he ended up joining me at the farmer’s market.

Abbott: When we first started, I thought I would be joining with my garden produce, but it was so fun to watch Dorian bake that I decided I wanted to try it. I hadn’t baked anything but a box mix for the most part before, so I started researching, found a bread recipe calculator, got some books on bread baking, and started trying to make my own recipes.

Dorian: So the general vendor stall idea became “What if we started a home bakery?” And that’s evolved into “What if we opened our own bakery?” So now, that’s the goal. One day we hope to turn our home bakery into a brick-and-mortar location that uses all locally sourced ingredients.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Our names are Abbott Crow (he/him) and Dorian Kohl (he/him). Abbott is an author and gay transgender man from the Midwest that enjoys hiking, coffee, and research rabbit holes. Dorian is a bisexual transgender man from the East Coast that loves writing, reading and collecting books, and photography. We currently have one cat (though if Abbott had his way there would be six more in the house) and more plants than anyone knows what to do with.

Dorian was born with a mixer and rolling pin in his hands. He was in charge of baking for family gatherings as soon as he could walk. Running a bakery has been a lifelong dream of his since he was a small child.

Abbott became a baker less than a year ago, but strives to improve everyday and wears the apprentice baker/dishwasher title proudly.

Crowberry Bakery’s goal is to become an environmentally-friendly business and an entirely from-scratch locally-sourced bakery with a seasonal menu and storefront location.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

Abbott: Dorian and I met online a couple of years back on tumblr. We both had a mutual friend who thought we were vague posting each other, trying to flirt. One day, I had made a post announcing a new chapter online asking “Who wants to see two boys kiss?” and Dorian had posted saying “I just want to see some boys kiss.” The mutual friend took a screenshot of our two posts and reblogged it, tagging us both and saying we needed to talk. Four-ish months later, I got on a plane and met him in person in his home state.

Now, two-ish years later, we have a bakery, a cat, and roughly 72 strawberry plants together (and, yes, they do all have names).

Have you ever had to pivot?

Dorian: Our business is young and doesn’t have a lot of stories to tell quite yet, but it had a major pivot that led to its current idea. Originally, it was just a summer project to keep me busy after I had just moved to Abbott’s home state. Crowberry Bakery was going to be a cottage food licensed home bakery that sold some crochet and homegrown herbs on the side.

After our first month, it started to grow into something more. We started researching local sourcing and using fresh local ingredients, including flour, in our baking. It made a world of difference in the taste and texture of our cookies and bread. Abbott fell down a sourdough rabbit hole and we both decided to start working on pastries. I started learning different frosting techniques and how to make my own cake recipes. We liked playing with all the ingredients we could get our hands on, like crystallized ginger and the various different herbs and flowers Abbott had started growing behind the house, and it led to a wild variety of flavor combinations. It was so much fun to make the different recipes and see people’s reactions to them. Crowberry Bakery started gathering a small following of regulars, and we started to daydream about what it would be like if the Saturday markets were everyday instead.

By the end of July, we had come up with a five year plan to grow our bakery. For now, the immediate goal is to have our wholesale bakery running in 2023 and start working our way up to a storefront location from there, and it all started with a fold out table at a farmer’s market that only had five jars of cookies and a vase of fresh chives sitting on it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shop.castiron.me/crowberry-bakery
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crowberrybakery/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087851500582

Image Credits
Kalie Coyne