Help Open Tough Cookie Bakery
Donation protected
Tough Cookie Bakery is a husband and wife team that have been baking professionally together since 2005. We began with a pretzel wagon at festivals, hand rolling and baking big soft pretzels with another couple. We loved the fun weekend hobby baking, and decided to leave our day jobs behind and jump in to full time baking. We were gifted some accounts from another vegan baker and built our business from that not so small gesture of love and trust. TCB hit the ground running filling in the gap in Dallas TX for yummy vegan goodness.
It was such a rewarding place to be in, watching people who were unable to enjoy an ooey-gooey cinnamon roll, or have a vegan muffin at their coffee house.The kids really melted our chocolate chip hearts, having tasty treats they had only watched friends enjoy. Then there was pretzel bread, a way to make our humble beginning into a meal. We knew we were doing the work our hearts and hands were meant to do.
We had built up the equipment needed to run a full size bakery, and had grown the business to support ourselves. We began selling at a local farmers market that was just starting up. We fell in love first hand with local food and saw just how important it was. We began incorporating what we could into our baked goods. The desire to be closer to nature and the local food scene grew every day.
We took the leap in 2011 and moved from Dallas to Bastrop, a lovely town in the piney woods, 45 minutes east of Austin. We began baking for our local farmers market and started to try and rebuild our business from the ground up. We decided to add our vegan and vegetarian food with ingredients from our local farmers to the mix. Things were falling into place, we had an almost cult like following. We were preparing to enter into wholesale agreements with Wheatsville in Austin, and a few other locations.
A few months later, in September, we were affected by the largest wildfire Texas has ever seen. We lost all of our bakery equipment and had no insurance. We also had a bun in the oven. When we were allowed to return to the area, we discovered our pretzel wagon had been saved by the local volunteer fire department. Literally like a phoenix from the ashes, we began baking using our food trailer as a mobile bakery. Due to its size, we were limited to how much we could produce. We knew we needed to whip up a store front and grow this dream again.
We began opening a storefront with a partner, and that’s where is ended. The timing wasn't right, too many cooks in the kitchen. We hung up our aprons, and welcomed our second lil chocolate chip off the ole' block. Back to the 9-5 grind, we took every opportunity to bring food to others. "Pot Luck-We're on it! Had a new baby, how does gluten free banana bread and some veggie pot pie sound? I’m sorry you lost your fur baby, let’s talk about it over coffee and some lemon blueberry bread."
Food. It is our love language. Some people buy nice gifts and send cards, we bring a plate of warm cookies and a hug. If you have ever met us you know this to be true.
We are raising funds to help with start up costs for a
Bakery Cafe serving organic vegan and vegetarian food. We are striving to source the majority of our ingredients from local farmers and producers we already have a relationship with. We want this to be a cooperative endeavor, where our fellow team mates also have a say and ownership in this amazing confection creation. We believe this will foster a sense of community, and you will feel it when you walk in the door. We plan on filling the need for local, healthy, cruelty free food in our area and creating a space that families can come and feel welcome.
Where we are at: We have found our space and have half of our equipment. We still need our big bread oven and a few smaller pieces of equipment, to do some minor build out, permits, take care of the front of the house, and put some ingredients on the shelves. We are so close we can smell the bread baking in the oven.
If we bake it, they will come. We will not give up, we haven't yet. We are Tough Cookie Bakery.
Please know that no gift is too small. If you are unable to contribute financially, we ask that you please forward our campaign on. From little things big things grow.
With much gratitude,
Chris, Jennie
and Family
It was such a rewarding place to be in, watching people who were unable to enjoy an ooey-gooey cinnamon roll, or have a vegan muffin at their coffee house.The kids really melted our chocolate chip hearts, having tasty treats they had only watched friends enjoy. Then there was pretzel bread, a way to make our humble beginning into a meal. We knew we were doing the work our hearts and hands were meant to do.
We had built up the equipment needed to run a full size bakery, and had grown the business to support ourselves. We began selling at a local farmers market that was just starting up. We fell in love first hand with local food and saw just how important it was. We began incorporating what we could into our baked goods. The desire to be closer to nature and the local food scene grew every day.
We took the leap in 2011 and moved from Dallas to Bastrop, a lovely town in the piney woods, 45 minutes east of Austin. We began baking for our local farmers market and started to try and rebuild our business from the ground up. We decided to add our vegan and vegetarian food with ingredients from our local farmers to the mix. Things were falling into place, we had an almost cult like following. We were preparing to enter into wholesale agreements with Wheatsville in Austin, and a few other locations.
A few months later, in September, we were affected by the largest wildfire Texas has ever seen. We lost all of our bakery equipment and had no insurance. We also had a bun in the oven. When we were allowed to return to the area, we discovered our pretzel wagon had been saved by the local volunteer fire department. Literally like a phoenix from the ashes, we began baking using our food trailer as a mobile bakery. Due to its size, we were limited to how much we could produce. We knew we needed to whip up a store front and grow this dream again.
We began opening a storefront with a partner, and that’s where is ended. The timing wasn't right, too many cooks in the kitchen. We hung up our aprons, and welcomed our second lil chocolate chip off the ole' block. Back to the 9-5 grind, we took every opportunity to bring food to others. "Pot Luck-We're on it! Had a new baby, how does gluten free banana bread and some veggie pot pie sound? I’m sorry you lost your fur baby, let’s talk about it over coffee and some lemon blueberry bread."
Food. It is our love language. Some people buy nice gifts and send cards, we bring a plate of warm cookies and a hug. If you have ever met us you know this to be true.
We are raising funds to help with start up costs for a
Bakery Cafe serving organic vegan and vegetarian food. We are striving to source the majority of our ingredients from local farmers and producers we already have a relationship with. We want this to be a cooperative endeavor, where our fellow team mates also have a say and ownership in this amazing confection creation. We believe this will foster a sense of community, and you will feel it when you walk in the door. We plan on filling the need for local, healthy, cruelty free food in our area and creating a space that families can come and feel welcome.
Where we are at: We have found our space and have half of our equipment. We still need our big bread oven and a few smaller pieces of equipment, to do some minor build out, permits, take care of the front of the house, and put some ingredients on the shelves. We are so close we can smell the bread baking in the oven.
If we bake it, they will come. We will not give up, we haven't yet. We are Tough Cookie Bakery.
Please know that no gift is too small. If you are unable to contribute financially, we ask that you please forward our campaign on. From little things big things grow. With much gratitude,
Chris, Jennie
and Family
Organizer
Jennifer Olsen McEwan
Organizer
Bastrop, TX