Bakery business rises in the blink of an eye

Cheryl Hentz

Contributor

March 17, 2025

CHIPPEWA FALLS – For eight years, Kaitlin Anderson said she was enjoying her life as a special education assistant at McKinley Charter School in the Eau Claire School District – working directly with incarcerated students, something she said she found quite rewarding.

“It was great,” she said. “It taught me a lot about my community, and the work itself was very rewarding. I helped a lot of kids graduate – kids who didn’t think they’d ever see their diploma. Some were the first in their family to ever finish some sort of school. The kids were the best part of my job.”

At the same time, Anderson said she was pursuing a special education teaching license at the University of Wisconsin-Stout and was only about 18 months away from getting her degree. 

However, she said her nearly lifelong dream of owning and operating her own baking business never strayed from her mind.

For years, in addition to teaching and going to school, Anderson said she ran a small home baking business called “Katie Cakes” – doing weddings and catering, but mostly just for family and friends. 

As interest in Katie Cakes increased, Anderson said the dream got stronger, and soon, things were about to change.

Fate lends a hand

Anderson said she and her husband, Brandon, are partners with another person in a real estate investment group – currently owning about 120 units in the Chippewa Valley area. 

In October 2024, she said she and Brandon attended a business owners’ convention, and it was there that she got the encouragement to go for her dream.

“It was eye-opening to see all these people with their own businesses,” she said. “As we were all troubleshooting business ideas and problems together in a workshop-type setting, it was kind of motivating me to open a bakery.”

Then, Anderson said, fate stepped into the picture and there was no looking back.

One of the real estate investments they had recently made, she said, was the purchase of the former Glen Loch Motel in the Chippewa area.

Anderson said Brandon pointed out to her that there was a commercial kitchen in the building that she could easily use for her business.

She said she looked at the place in November – and that set everything in motion. 

“I had no intentions for the next year to even start looking at this bakery dream,” she said. “For one, I wanted to finish school first. But as soon as I saw the kitchen, I knew that this was it. This was where I wanted to start, and I could see a lot of things happening here.”

So within a month, Anderson said she decided to drop out of school, quit her job and throw everything she had into the newly named Crust & Crumb Baking Co.

Anderson said she started taking orders in January and held an official grand opening in mid-February.

She said she describes Crust & Crumb as “a catering bakery focused on high-quality, artisanal baked goods for events.”

“We offer a variety of sweets: custom cakes, cupcakes, cookies and specialty desserts, alongside catering services,” she said.

Learning and baking, from scratch

Anderson said her main goal for the bakery is “I want to try to get away from artificial things.”

“I really like the rustic feel of a homemade baked treat – something you’d get from your grandmother’s house,” she said. “That’s the kind of thing I’m aiming for – bakery items that are homemade, home-crafted.”

The 31-year-old said her baking skills are mostly self-taught.  

“My family, including my grandmothers, has always been big on baking and cooking and hosting, too,” she said. “So getting into baking was almost like second nature to me. Cooking is kind of how we show love, on both sides of my family – my mom’s and my dad’s.”

Anderson said she’s learned many skills on the job, too – previously working at Great Harvest Bread Company in Eau Claire.

“I just loved it,” she said. “And within the first year, I went from helping work the counter to doing prep in the back to becoming head baker (at age 19). It was my favorite job in the world. The owners were great mentors for me. They taught me a lot about the food industry and managing a bakery. They were phenomenal. That gave me my first in-depth feel for the baking industry.” 

Anderson said she worked there for five years and only left because she said needed a little more financial stability – which led her to the job with the school district.

Anderson said she loves the challenge and reward baking brings.

“I love a really good recipe that’s challenging and something I can try to nail,” she said. “That’s really soothing to me, especially if I’m anxious about something. But it’s a hobby, too. I just take it one step at a time, and then I have a really yummy dessert at the end.”

In approximately 2018, Anderson said she made 200 cupcakes for her now-father-in-law when he got remarried. 

“That was my first wedding bake ever,” she said. “My husband and I were just dating at the time, and he wasn’t sure I could do it. But I said ‘Just watch me,’ and I nailed it.”

Since then, Anderson said she’s baked for between 20-25 weddings, including her own.

All kinds of treats

Because she’s doing a lot of catering right now, Anderson said weddings are an important part of her business, even if customers aren’t asking for the big, elaborate cakes as was once the norm.

“A lot of people have been asking for a lot of individual cupcakes,” she said. “They’re just a lot easier to serve. Couples usually want just one cake for themselves. I can do whatever size they want, but it’s usually a six-inch, single-tier round cake, simply decorated that they can cut for photos and for themselves.”

Those smaller cakes – ones that are either six or eight inches – Anderson said, are popular for other occasions as well. 

She said she’s been making a lot of birthday cakes lately, and a lot of smash cakes for kids’ one-year-old birthday parties. 

“What I’m going for right now is something simple that tastes really good,” she said. “I don’t use any fondant – I just use buttercream. And I don’t do any elaborate decor on my cakes. I can point someone in the direction of someone who will do that, but I like to keep things kind of simple. And everything is homemade.”

Anderson said she has a set list of flavors of cupcakes she makes, which varies by season, but said if someone has a flavor they’re looking for or if there’s a certain kind of dessert they especially want, she’ll do her best to accommodate. 

“I try to use a lot of fruits that are in season, like raspberry-lemon, strawberry-lemon, blueberry-lemon and espresso-mocha,” she said. “I really like the s’mores cupcake that I make. They’re actually a go-to item for customers, as are the raspberry-lemon cupcakes. I try to play around with them a little bit, but I really like those classic combos that I put together, like peanut-butter chocolate.” 

Anderson said Crust & Crumb only offers three kinds of cookies – at least for now – including chocolate-chip toffee, peanut butter and Snickerdoodle. 

“The chocolate-chip toffee is really great and highly requested,” she said. “My peanut butter is super nutty and really delicious, as is the snickerdoodle. As the seasons change, I’d like to do more seasonal treats. So, I’ll do gingerbread cut-outs and things like that as the holidays start to roll around.” 

For specialty desserts, Anderson said she enjoys making cream puffs. 

“They’re so fun, and I usually make them for Easter for my family, so I’ll probably put that on my menu for the shop,” she said. “I’ll probably also put lemon bars on the menu for Easter and whatever else people are thinking about or feeling for holidays or certain events.”

For Thanksgiving, Anderson said Crust & Crumb will also offer pies – pumpkin, pecan and apple – something she did with Katie Cakes.

“One year, I made 30 pies out of my house and that was really fun,” she said. “So I’m up for doing that again, but now it’ll be in an actual commercial kitchen.” 

What’s still to come?

Anderson said though she enjoys all aspects of baking, her heart really lies in breadmaking, somewhat heartening back to her Great Harvest days.

“I know people are really loving sourdough right now, and I’d like to get on that train, and I probably will, but I really need to get my skills back up to where they should be,” she said. 

Once she has reestablished her breadmaking skills, Anderson said she wants to do fun flavors – such as cheese breads and a chili cheese bread with green chilis and spices she thinks will satisfy.

“I’m so excited about that part,” she said. “I also keep thinking about making bagels, specialty breads, buns, dinner rolls, muffins and scones. I’m very excited to get going on these things as I get more settled.”

Besides catering, Anderson said she plans to have an actual storefront where customers can savor a dessert and some coffee or other beverage.

She said she is shooting for a June 1 opening date for the storefront.

Anderson said there will be tables and chairs to accommodate 25-30 people.

She said she also envisions renting out the space for special events like birthdays, baby showers, etc. 

In addition, Anderson said she plans to feature other local businesses’ products for sale in her store. 

“I think the best part about being part of a community is to help each other out,” she said. “So I’d love to have other smaller businesses being represented at my bakery, too.”

Utilizing her real estate connections, Anderson said she’d also like to put together client closing baskets, so that upon closing a home sale transaction with a newcomer to town, the buyer would receive a closing basket as a gift – similar to the old Welcome Wagon basket principle.

The closing baskets, she said, would incorporate not only her products but other local vendors’, too.

“It would be things that I love locally that I’d love to share with new people coming to and buying a house in Chippewa Falls,” she said. “They wouldn’t really know much about the area, and baskets like this could help.”

Family a true blessing

Anderson said she knows it’s difficult to launch and run a new business under the best of circumstances. 

In her case, with a three-year-old son and twin one-and-a-half-year-old daughters, she said family has been a great support system.

“If I have to run to the bakery, or I have to stay up late getting some stuff done, my husband is great and the rest of my family is happy to (pick up the slack) as much as they can,” she said. “Life is so chaotic right now, but it’s so fun, too.”

In addition to being supportive, Anderson said her whole family is proud of her new venture.

“My husband, Brandon, is my biggest supporter,” she said. “I also credit him with a lot of my early success. He has a great business mind and between that and his ability to help out financially, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him.”

Crust & Crumb is located at 1225 Jefferson Ave. in Chippewa Falls.

Until crustcrumbbaking.com is up and running, Anderson said the bakery’s Facebook page features updates on the storefront opening, new flavors, specials and an online order form.