By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV
February 18, 2023
Two years ago, Karri Roberts and Dan Cannon were living in Pittsburgh. She was a florist and he was a maintenance tech for a real estate firm. “The pandemic hit,” she remembers, “and I was like, ‘Take me back to the farm!’”
Karri is originally from Craigsville (Nicholas County, WV) while Dan is from Pittsburgh and spent his 20s living in the west. They decided to leave the city and move back near Karri’s home. After visiting Richwood, Fayetteville, and the Greenbrier Valley, they faced a tough decision.
“All three places are great, but it just sparked for us here in the Greenbrier Valley,” Karri says.
“It looked like California!” Dan commented. “People don’t realize it’s a diverse place here. We get bankers and farmers and retirees in the store each week, and they are all great people.”
Usually a line, often sell-out
“I’ve worked with customers all over the country,” says Karri. “The customers here in Greenbrier County are my favorite ever! We’ve never had a slow day, and it always feels so exciting.”
People come from all over for their food–Alderson, Beckley, and Covington, to name a few. The bakery only opens on Fridays and Saturdays. There is usually a line, and they often sell out. Local citizens account for their customer base, but they also see tourists on a seasonal basis.
“Our customers are so loyal,” Dan comments.
“We have people that show up every week for a pepperoni roll and a brownie,” Karri says proudly.
When I arrived to interview Karri and Dan at the bakery half an hour before they opened, there were already people waiting in their cars to get inside.
Patrick O’Flaherty from White Sulphur Springs comes for the ginger snap cookies. “I love it,” he says. “Terrific food.”
Gail McElwee recently moved to White Sulphur Springs from New Jersey. “I’m here at 11am on the dot every Friday,” she says. “It’s part of my routine now.”
Mary Brand is a student at the WV School of Osteopathic Medicine. As she looked at the case of food and was asked for her order, she said, “I feel like saying one of each!”
Karri says it has happened before. “A lady asked for one of everything, so we did it!”
A dynamic duo
Karri is the artistic force behind the bakery. She painted all the artwork on the walls and keeps a meticulously-clean space for customers.
Dan does all the baking. As popular as his food is, you would think he’s a classically-trained chef. But he’s only been cooking for four years.
“I taught myself to cook,” he says as he chuckles. “I lived on the road all my life, and for the first time I moved into a house with a kitchen in 2018. So I taught myself to cook. My first bread was awful.” These days, he can’t make loaves of sourdough fast enough for his customers.
‘Something for the community’
“When we moved here, I wanted to do something for the community,” Dan explains. “We live an hour from town. One day going to town I saw this place sitting there by the road. It had been empty. It just made sense, and we were open a month later.”
Most everything Dan bakes is made fresh on Friday morning before they open. Hours are 11am-4pm on Fridays and 10am-2pm on Saturdays. They are located on 219 directly across from Frankford Elementary School. Turn in at the sign and veer to the left.
