There’s something special to be said for a job where you make a product that inspires so much passion you can’t leave it behind. Just ask Holly and Jay VanDuzer. These two former employees of the Greensboro, NC Great Harvest left their jobs making whole wheat bread to move to California when Holly joined the Air Force. And they took their passion with them – all the way across the country, stopping to breathe in the bakery air at as many independently owned Great Harvests as they could manage along the way.
They started out seeing family in Rochester, NY where Holly bought whole wheat bread for her Grandmother. Then, they hit the road. While many of us would have mapped out the most direct route, these two made plans around Great Harvest Bread franchise locations and visited stores in Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah and Nevada to name a few.
Jay said he’d lived most of his life in Maryland. Having never left the east coast, the long road trip was exciting. He had worked in every area of the Greensboro bakery and loved to taste everything they made so he could really talk to customers about each product. He says “making something from scratch with your own hands is a real source of pride.” Visiting so many other stores in the Great Harvest bakery franchise family, he said he felt like a “not so cynical food critic” taking in all the nuances of each location. For him, a lot of the fun was talking to other bakers and seeing the different techniques they used.
Their favorite local GH small businesses were the ones where the bakery owners were right in the thick of things – working alongside the employees, talking with customers, or at the kneading table with their hands in the dough. And while Greensboro will always be #1 in their hearts, two other bakeries made the top of the list as well…Evanston, IL and Salt Lake City, UT.
Holly described Evanston, IL as a “Great Harvest Utopia!” They walked into the bakery during the heart of production and everybody was enjoying a rainy morning with Johnny Cash playing overhead. The biggest variety of scones she’d ever seen was displayed beautifully at the counter and the bright orange oven was loaded. Dave Schaps, the owner, came over and greeted them right away while they were snapping pictures. Shortly after they got there, Cheddar Garlic came out of the oven and Dave plopped a steaming loaf on the Breadboard and joined them in devouring slices. He sent them on their way with a hot loaf of Chocolate Babka and Holly laughs about getting melted chocolate all over the car!
All the owners they met were really welcoming, but they said Tom Cordova and the gang in Salt Lake City really stood out. Jay said, “When we walked into the bakery, everyone from the counter folks up front to the bakers in the back yelled ‘hello’…and that was before they even knew we were from another Great Harvest!” The staff was awesome and Tom took them outside for a close up view of the windmill he’d just finished building with his own hands.
For Holly and Jay, it is about more than just the great people and products…what they truly love are the Great Harvest philosophies and values that get shared. Holly said, “The bakeries are the same in that everyone is friendly, they give generously to customers and their communities, bake with fresh ground flour and all that…but with the freedom franchise, every owner adds their own twist. That’s what gives each bakery its own unique personality.”
Shelia Barth, owner of the Greensboro bakery says, “It’s always so hard to let ‘the kids’ go. They were my dynamic duo! They are so passionate about Great Harvest…real Breadheads!”
Holly and Jay have just arrived in Yuba City, CA where they’ll be stationed at Beale Air Force base. And of course, they’ve already found the Yuba City location of Great Harvest. No doubt, they’ll head back east at some point. And, thanks to all those stops they made on their way west, there should be plenty of breadcrumbs on the trail that they can follow to find their way home.
