Today we’d like to introduce you to Adriane Lepage.
Hi Adriane, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve been a baker for a long time, and bread had always intrigued me. In December of 2020, I was gifted a sourdough starter. Shortly after that, I decided to make a loaf of bread every day for a week. I pulled an unused journal out of my desk drawer to record what I made and how it went (results were mixed), but during that week something was set in motion. And there was something about sourdough that made more sense to me than any other bread-baking method. As I tried new recipes, I started baking more sourdough loaves than our family could eat, so I began gifting them to friends and neighbors. They offered to pay me for the loaves, and from there I started digging into whether this could be a business. I learned about Minnesota cottage food law and running a microbakery out of my home. I founded Cherry Street Bread in February 2022, selling about 4-6 loaves a week. I continued to hone my skills and learn new recipes, while also learning about how to expand through social media marketing and investing in an ordering platform. I officially expanded in the fall of 2022, offering a small menu of loaves to my community. I continued to grow and expand as word spread, landing where I am today, offering a regular menu of six different types of loaves plus sourdough pizza shells each week for porch pickup, along with weekly specials and seasonal holiday menus. Maybe it seems like a simplification, but it feels like it just sort of happened. I loved baking sourdough and wanted to share it with people, who told other people, who told other people. I see it as creating and sharing joy, building community and connection.
I also work as a nonprofit consultant and have two children, so the bakery provides me an enormous amount of flexibility to do other things I love, like supporting our local nonprofit organizations through my consulting work and spending time with my family.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Of course not! Like any small business, there was a lot of learning away. Looking broadly, I would say the biggest struggles came from overextending myself and making things I didn’t really want to make. In short, I never wanted to say no. Before I learned to say no, I offered more inventory then I could reasonably manage, making me constantly burned out and tired. I made more items than I could reasonably manage, causing the quality to falter or bakes inconsistent. I tried to bake as many weeks as possible, even if I was feeling like I needed a break. In response, I would remove an item from the menu if I didn’t enjoy making it (cookies left the original menu very quickly!) or make adjustments when and how I was making the bread. I connected with other sourdough microbakery owners locally and via social media to learn other ways I could work smarter.
As an example, just this fall I went through a major change with the bakery. We had a family schedule change that impacted how many hours each day I could give to the bakery (I have two elementary-age children). Rather than acknowledge this change and adjust, I plowed through trying to make the same number of items each week, and offering the same variety of weekly specials (160 bagels, anyone?). During fall break, we went to our family cabin and I used that time to really think about what was happening in the bakery. I was exhausted, burned out, and, I realized, starting to hate it. This was the last thing I wanted. I started this bakery because it brought me joy. If it didn’t do that anymore, why was I doing it at all? Then, I sat down and looked at my business data to see how I could adjust. What wasn’t selling? What wasn’t really worth the amount of work that went into it? From that, I started to say no. I pulled three items from my menu that didn’t sell particularly well and stopped offering labor intensive weekly specials (again, 160 bagels, anyone?). For more popular items, like bagels, that I was no longer making, I referred out to other talented microbakers in my community. I realized I may lose customers, or make less money, but the truth is, none of those things happened. I also started regularly taking a week off. Sometimes once a month, sometimes every other month. And, I’ve returned to loving the bakery again.
I also learned that, like many solopreneurs, working alone can get very lonely! I’ve made an effort to connect with local microbakers so we can better support each other, sharing ideas, workshopping problems, and planning for the future. In discovering the value of that connection, I wanted to create a space where more cottage food producers can meet, connect, and support each other, so I started the Valley Food Collective, which has its first meeting in January 2026.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Cherry Street Bread?
Cherry Street Bread is a sourdough-focused microbakery based in Stillwater, MN. Founded in 2022, we provide high quality artisan loaves using organic, freshly milled flour. We are known best for our signature rustic sourdough and our cranberry wild rice sourdough (voted best bread in Stillwater in 2024), as well as our unique weekly specials like French onion soup sourdough (a mix of caramelized onions, gruyere, and thyme). Loaves are pre-ordered each week and picked up from a cabinet on the porch of my 150 year old house on North Hill, overlooking the St. Croix River Valley. What makes us unique is our focus on community and connection; on our bread’s ability to bring people together around the table or to simply bring joy to a breakfast plate or afternoon snack.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I bake bread because I love it. It creates joy for me and brings joy to others. My love of bread baking comes through in every loaf I make and share with people.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cherrystreetbread.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cherrystreetbread
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cherrystreetbread
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianelepage/
- Other: https://www.hotplate.com/cherrystreetbread
