We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maggie Murphy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Maggie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

I lease a commercial kitchen for my business. Back in August 2023, the big commercial oven at the kitchen broke, right in the middle of my market season, right in the middle of baking 75 large individual sized brownies. Half baked, I was able to turn those brownies into the base for some Caramel Brownie Cheesecake Bars, which gave rise to the many different cheesecake bars I sell now. I use this 5 rack, high end, commercial oven 40-50 hours per week to produce for two weekly farmers markers. It is an integral part of running my business. It took 4 weeks for the part to come in and be installed and a couple of more weeks after that for the oven to actually run properly again. There are 2 other gas range ovens in the kitchen and one of them was already broken at the time. The second gas oven was fixed within a week, so for 4 weeks I baked 400-500 products per market, out of 2 ovens that only allowed for one tray baking at a time. These ovens are more suited to cooking a big roast vs. french style pastries. It was very stressful and took exponentially longer to bake everything fresh on market day. I’d have to start baking at least a few hours earlier those days to get everything done on time for market and prep days were way longer too.

This hiccup affected the type of items I was able to bake. At that time I was still baking Cruffins, which were my top seller, and a cornerstone product of Black Stag Bakery. Cruffins are a hand crafted croissant dough, baked in pop over tins, tossed in sugar and filled with various, delicious pastry creams, jams, etc, topped with all manner of tasty tings like buttercreams, toasted marshmallow, etc. I actually had 150 Cruffins shaped, proofed and ready to bake the day the oven broke. I made a snap decision to bake them all in big pans like buns; chopped them up into pieces and created individual apple cinnamon croissant bread puddings. They were a hit at the market that week!

The Cruffins couldn’t bake in the gas range oven, as they would burn on the outside before the inside was properly baked and I could only bake 12 at a time vs. the 60 I baked in the big oven. I was forced to create some new products that could be successfully baked in a much hotter, smaller, oven with less control. The hand pie was born! I had been dreaming of testing hand pies for a while but did not have time due to the all consuming nature of Cruffin production. Without the ability to bake Cruffins, it was the perfect opportunity to put hand pies on the menu.

The hand pies quickly became a favourite for regular customers. They are sneaky good and a real labour of love like the Cruffins were. I hand make pie dough, 9 hand pies at a time, from scratch. They are flakey, buttery, salty and sweet with various fillings made with seasonal fruits like peaches, blueberries and my favourite combo, raspberry, apple. I’m now selling 75-95 of those per market.

The interesting thing, is that I had never used the gas range oven for baking before it was necessary, and once the big Rational oven was fixed, it actually added to my ability to bake more products, more efficiently in the long run. I can bake the hand pies throughout the market bake day while the big oven bakes my other products and in fact the hand pies bake best in that hotter oven.

That summer in 2023 taught me that every challenge is an opportunity to try something new and that no matter what unexpected problem arises there is always a way to make it work. It’s made me more resilient to any of the challenges that have come with my business since that time.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Maggie Murphy, and I’m a pastry chef and owner of Black Stag Bakery in Olds, Alberta. I’ve always loved good food—my mom inspired me early on—and over time I realized I wanted to create beautiful food myself. After completing a Sociology degree and working in other industries, I decided to follow my passion and trained as a pastry chef at SAIT, in Calgary, Alberta, earning my Red Seal and Journeyman certification in 2010.

I gained experience working at bakeries in Calgary before moving to Olds in 2018 with my husband and daughter. That’s where Black Stag Bakery began—at the local farmers market where I saw an opportunity to bring unique pastries and baked goods to the community, signature items like scones, tarts, and especially Cruffins. Although I did not create the concept of the Cruffin, that title belongs to Kate Reid of Lune Croissanterie in Australia, I did introduce it to the town of Olds and it resulted in long lines at my farmers market table. From those very early mornings baking at home, the business has grown into something I’m proud to share with my community.

The business grew quickly, doubling production each year for the first three years. I eventually moved into a commercial kitchen, began attending the Red Deer Farmers market and hired help, but as the economy shifted, I had to return to working solo. Today, like in those first years, I handle everything—from baking to marketing to sourcing ingredients—often working 80+ hours a week during market season. One of the most rewarding parts is using produce shared by local friends—apples, rhubarb, saskatoons, herbs—which keeps my baking fresh, seasonal, and connected to the community. Through all the growth and challenges, my commitment to quality has never changed. I believe that’s what sets Black Stag Bakery apart and keeps customers coming back. I’m most proud of the relationships I’ve built with my customers, many of whom have become friends, and the community that has grown around the bakery.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I think the best social media strategy really depends on the business and its customer base. For Black Stag Bakery, based in a small town, the goal was never to build a massive on-line following—it was to connect with the people who actually come to the Olds and Red Deer farmers markets.

My approach has been to bring customers into the baking process. We eat with our eyes first, so I share visuals like chocolate pastry cream being blended, tart shells shaped by hand, picking local fruit and turning it into fillings, or hand pies bubbling fresh from the oven. These posts let people almost taste and smell the pastries before/on market day, and many customers have told me they came specifically because of something they saw on social media.

My background working at an image licensing company led me to start a food blog years before I was a pastry chef, so I gained some experience with food styling and cameras. When I launched my business, I needed a fast and effective approach to creating beautiful images of my baking. With food, natural light and simple editing is always best. All of my photos are taken with my iPhone and edited in the VSCO app. instantly. Depending on the light, I edit the exposure, the contrast, the sharpness, saturation and white balance. I do not apply any filters as they tend to skew the colours/tone to a place that the eye reads as unnatural and unappetizing. The goal when editing a food photo is to make that food look as full in colour and detail as it looks to the natural eye in real life. Developing a skill in photo editing can be very helpful in building an on-line following and honestly taking beautiful photos of my baking is one of the parts of the business I most enjoy.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned as a business owner is how to say no gracefully. For the sake of this question I had to unlearn the instinct to just say yes to everything.

In the early days, I tried to accommodate every request, from custom cakes to special gluten-free products, but I realized it wasn’t sustainable. Customers will ask for items outside my menu, and fulfilling those requests isn’t cost effective or feasible for a small business like mine. As Black Stag Bakery grew, I had to focus on what I do best—high-quality pastries for the market. Learning to set those boundaries has allowed me to protect both my time and the quality of my products.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://blackstagbakery.square.site
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackstagbakery/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackstagbakery

Image Credits

Meghan Unger Photography
Maggie Murphy Black Stag Bakery