GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A sourdough start-up in Green Bay is capitalizing on the communities love for bread.
Voyageurs Sourdough was co-founded by friends Ben Cadman and Kevin McGillivray just last year.
Currently, they bake about eighty loaves of bread a day, but are forced to do so in less than ideal conditions.
In fact, it’s not even their own space.
The pair of artisan bread creators have been relegated to perfecting their craft in a shared kitchen located at St. Jude Catholic Parish in Green Bay.
Over time their popularity has grown and local residents have asked for loaves to be delivered to their home on a weekly basis.
“We do between fifty and a hundred homes in the Green Bay area currently every Thursday,” explains co-founder Ben Cadman.
To ensure the deliveries they have elicited the assistance of four retired gentlemen that bring the loaves from home-to-home.
The only payment they ask for? Free loaves of the famous sourdough for themselves.
According to Cadman, their operation has reached a crossroads.
They continue to grow in popularity and the demand for weekly deliveries is growing, but they are unable to ramp up production in their current space, which lacks proper equipment.
To help fund the purchase of a professional bread oven and expedite the process of acquiring a permanent bakery located in downtown Green Bay, the duo launched a Kickstarter campaign twenty-five days ago.
Their goal was to raise $25,000 in that timeframe.
For Cadman, he was preparing to reach out to every relative and acquaintance that he could think of.
“Obviously we contacted friends, family, uncles, aunties, cousins, etcetera,” he explains.
Beyond that help, he says their growing list of customers answered the bell.
“About eighty percent of the pledges came from community members,” explains Cadman. “So of course, many of those are existing customers who buy bread on a regular basis.”
The unexpected factor in the fundraising process has been complete strangers that read about their background and goals before deciding to chip-in.
“There are just random people out there that want to give five bucks, ten bucks, twenty bucks,” he says.
In all, they’ve managed to already raise in excess of $30,000 and there is still time remaining on their original deadline.
With the added funds, they hope to ramp up production to 400 loaves and expand delivery towards Appleton and Door County.
Also, their sourdough could be headed to a store near you.
“Supermarkets will be a focus,” says Cadman. “I really think Green Bay is crying out for their supermarkets to have some real artisan bread.”
He says they don’t have anything officially purchased yet, but believe they could have a bakery space of their own in downtown Green Bay by this summer.
You can donate to the Kickstarter campaign here.
While delivery orders can be placed here.
