Today we’d like to introduce you to Kim Kiser.
Kim, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I never imagined when I moved to Walton County with my family seventeen years ago, that one day, I would be an owner of my own small business. My husband and I moved to Loganville in 2000 with our two young sons. We loved the small town feel of Loganville and with boys that would soon be school age, we wanted to be in a community with good schools. At that time, we did not know that we would decide to home school. My husband, Rob Kiser, opened a law practice, Kiser Law and immediately became involved with the community. As a charter member with the Loganville Rotary Club, a founding member of Legacy State Bank, a supporter of the Walton County Boys and Girls Club and as a member on the Walton Counter Water Authority Board, Rob loved being a part of this thriving and growing community. Meanwhile, I was home schooling our seven children and active in local home school groups, like LIFE (Learning in the Family Environment) and Classical Conversations. During this season, a new friend, who is now a dear friend, introduced me to the benefits of milling grain into flour and baking fresh bread from scratch. As I learned how to do this and started branching out into making other baked goods from the fresh ground grain, my passion and love for delicious homemade bread and other goodies grew. I started teaching others about the benefits of eating whole grains and how to bake whole grain bread from scratch. In 2014, life changed dramatically. After a short illness, my husband passed away. It was a shock to all of us and, needless to say, turned our lives upside down. I found myself with some tough decisions ahead of me. I am grateful that God never leaves us nor forsakes us as He has provided my children and me with a wonderful support system of family and friends that have been by our side and walked every bit of this difficult journey with us. As I considered my options, I decided that I wanted to take my love of whole grains and nutritious bread and start my own business. I’ve never owned my own business, so I wasn’t sure where to start. I decided to try baking some bread, cookies, muffins, and granola and selling it at the local Autumn Heritage Festival in Loganville to see what kind of response I would get. It was a great day and I got lots of compliments and encouragement from the community. A few weeks later, I participated in another booth at a wellness fair at Hera’s Healthcare in Monroe. Another vendor at this fair tasted my bread and loved it. She asked if I had ever heard of Great Harvest Bread Company, a whole grain bakery in Johns Creek. I looked them up on-line that evening. They milled their grain fresh into flour in store and baked bread and other goodies with the whole grain flour every single day! Why had I not heard about this before? I was especially touched by their mission statement: “Bake phenomenal bread. Run fast to serve others. Have fun. Give generously.” All four of these statements resonated with me. Baking phenomenal bread is a given. Whole grains and freshly made bread with no preservatives and artificial ingredients makes for not only phenomenal bread but also delicious bread. The other 3 however, were what touched me and I found myself crying at the computer. These are qualities my husband strove for and exhibited in his law practice. I had countless people come to me after the funeral and in the weeks following to tell me that Rob was not only their attorney but also their friend. He genuinely loved people and ran fast to serve those around him. He was light-hearted and happy and loved to have fun no matter what he was doing. Rob had a way of making people feel comfortable and of helping to lighten up what was usually a heavy legal matter. Lastly, Rob was incredibly generous. He gave freely of his time and his resources. It was not unusual for him to stay after hours for a client or to go out of his way to help someone in trouble. He also offered free wills to our local police department and the local church where our Classical Conversations group met. I realized that night that this company could help me realize my dream of being a small business owner. Being a franchise, they had all the systems in place and could train me. The company’s values matched up perfectly with mine.
Most importantly, however, I could continue my husband’s legacy of running a business that positively impacts others by providing superior customer service and giving generously to the community. I knew this endeavor would be too much to handle on my own so I prayed for a partner. That prayer was answered when Rob Browne joined me. Rob’s wife, Traci and I, have been friends for many years and after helping me in the process of starting up, Rob became my partner. We are committed to bringing to our community delicious breads and goodies made from freshly ground wheat grown in Montana’s Golden Triangle, the best wheat source on earth. We also handcraft great-tasting sandwiches, salads, grain bowls, and more! We are honored to be one of over 200 independently owned stores in the US. Great Harvest is about customer service and the promise of phenomenal tasting food made with freshly-milled whole grains and pure and simple ingredients.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has not been a smooth road. Building out our space and acquiring the necessary equipment was a big job and took many months. Balancing a new business as a single mother also presents many challenges. Running a business takes a lot of work and bakery life starts early in the morning. Ovens and mixers break, bakers get sick and coolers stop cooling. It can be challenging but it is very rewarding to see happy customers enjoying our products.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Great Harvest Bread Company – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Here at Great Harvest we bake all of our bread and goodies from scratch every morning. We start each day at 3 a.m. mixing together simple, pure ingredients. Baking all of our products in store from scratch and milling all of our whole grain flour on site sets us apart. We have a mill that grinds these fresh wheat berries into flour everyday so we are able to provide our guests with whole grain bread and goodies that have no preservatives or additives. Everything is handmade from scratch. Our sandwiches and salads are made to order to accommodate each person. Everything is fresh and delicious. We have breads like Cinnamon Chip, White Chocolate Cranberry Swirl, Popeye, Cheddar Garlic and Breakfast Blast. Breads you can’t get anywhere else. We do not sell any bread over 24 hours old and we donate all left over bread to our local food co-ops. Another thing that sets us apart is our involvement in the community. Every month, we pick a non-profit organization to sponsor. We give this organization all of our tips for that month and we choose a product each month which we give a portion of our profits from that product to the non-profit. Currently, we are sponsoring a young resident of Loganville who is in need of a Diabetic Dog to help alert her parents when her blood sugar begins to dip. It’s rewarding to see the community come out and support these organizations and people. What I am most proud of, is our excellent customer service. We strive to go above and beyond to provide customers with an experience that exceeds anything they’ve experienced. Each person that walks through our doors receives a smile and a free slice of bread with one of our delicious spreads including a Vanilla Honey Butter or Cinnamon Honey Butter that we make in store. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first time or hundredth time, everyone receives a free slice.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are excited about our one year anniversary that is quickly approaching. April 7th will be one year since we opened and we are planning on having a week to celebrate with special offers and giveaways to show our community how much we appreciate their support in our first year. This summer we have plans to participate in a few local farmers market to sell our bread and a few goodies. We are planning on participating in the Snellville Farmer’s Market, Lilburn and Monroe. After we get this first year under our belt, we would like to look at opening a second bakery in a neighboring city. We have considered about 3 or 4 areas but have not decided on the best location. This location will be smaller than what we currently have as we will be doing all the bread baking from here and transporting it to the second bakery/café.
Contact Info:
- Address: 150 Athens Hwy Suite 700
Loganville GA 30052 - Website: www.GreatHarvestLoganville.com
- Phone: 678-580-0734
- Email: greatharvestloganville@gmail.com
- Instagram: greatharvestlga
- Facebook: greatharvestbreadloganvillega
- Twitter: greatharvestlga
- Yelp: yelp.com/biz/great-harvest-bread-loganville
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
