We were lucky to catch up with Francesca Inglin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Francesca, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today 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.

Ever since I could reach my kitchen countertop, I have always been baking. I fell in love with baking because of tea time in the afternoons with my mom and sisters. No matter how busy our days were, we always made time at least twice a week for our tea time. I baked and my mom would prepare the tea.

As an adult, I began baking on a regular basis, trying out new recipes, and my family would put in requests. They would text me their weekly orders and would tell their friends too. I was getting about 20 orders a week for my banana bread. My sister, Anastasia—also my business partner—pushed me to get my cottage license and start selling my loaf cakes. Since the banana bread was such a hit, we started with that. Once we saw consistent orders, we expanded to four classic flavors that are offered year round. I also wanted to have the flexibility to change out my flavors seasonally, so I decided to showcase two or three seasonal flavors. This also ensures that I only use fresh ingredients that people look forward to once a year.

Currently, our four classic flavors are: Nutella swirl, coffee cake, banana bread and our gluten free chocolate orange. We are transitioning into our winter menu which is: cranberry orange, gingerbread latte with salted caramel, Black Forest, and raspberry champagne. For gifting, we offer a beautiful holiday gift box with 5 mini loafs. We also offer a box of assorted cookies: oatmeal chocolate chip, linzer, and red velvet crinkles.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

At Loaf & Love, we specialize in loaf cakes and baked goods that are inspired by nostalgic flavors. Our goal is to remind our customers of their best memories. We reference ingredients that our grandmother used to bake with because those are our best memories. We want the smells and tastes of our goods to invoke those really special moments in each person’s life. We look to classic flavors like coffee cake, banana bread, lemon blueberry, etc. so that they can be enjoyed at any time of the day, whether it is for breakfast, for an afternoon coffee, or a little dessert after dinner.

We are family owned; we are two sisters, and we seek to gain customers who want to be a part of that family. We love getting to know our customers on a first name basis, remembering their orders and all the little things they tell us. We personally attend each farmer’s market, and love nothing more than interacting with our customers and getting to know them and their taste buds. We want our customers to feel like they are a part of our family.

We love what we do, and truly put love into each one of our bakes. We hand package everything and label each loaf bag ourselves because it really is from our kitchen to yours, all made with love.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

The fact that we are sisters really makes an impact on our customers and our baking community. Everyone knows us as the “Loaf sisters!” They like that we are family run and that we make it a truly fun experience. My sister and I love to crack jokes and also really enjoy getting to know each of our customers. We don’t view any transactions as just a sale; we view each new customer as becoming a part of our family.

Since our baked goods are inspired by classic recipes, we also love hearing from our customers what they are reminded of. Each person has such a different and unique story. One of my favorite moments was of a woman who tried our coffee cake. She closed her eyes and didn’t say anything for a long time. When she opened her eyes, she had tears and said it reminded her of her HomeEc class in high school. This was the first cake she learned how to bake and she ended up making it for her crush, who is now her husband of 40+ years. It was such a touching story, and you could tell she was instantly transported back to one of her favorite memories. That is how our cakes set us apart. We love tapping into these beautiful memories and delivering happiness to our customers, one bite at a time.

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

My sister, Anastasia, is my business partner—and I wouldn’t have anyone else by my side. She takes care of the marketing and branding which allows me to mainly focus on the baking and the creative. She has always been my biggest supporter and cheerleader, and who better to have on your team than your sister who wants this company to succeed as much as you do? Anastasia was the one who pushed me to start this business and there hasn’t been a day that goes by that I regret it. We have the absolute best time working together and that makes such a difference. When you do something you truly love, it doesn’t feel like work. I am a huge believer in energy and how it gets absorbed by the food we make. One of the reasons our cakes taste so good is because I have the best time making them and put so much love in the process that you can actually taste it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://loafandlove.com
• Instagram: @loaf.and.love
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Loaf-Love/61551738497576/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@loaf.love?_t=8rcDeICmvFa&_r=1

Image Credits

dana hanley
andrew inglin