HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – Located downtown at 110 E. Sixth St. is a hidden gem, Baked. A bakery inside a boutique that offers coffee, breads, cakes, muffins, cookies and so much more to its visitors.
Husband and wife team Heather and Graham Dawson are the owners of this little store, and they started Baked when their beloved restaurant The Mixer took off. The Mixer, conveniently located next door, began as a bakery and cocktail lounge, Heather said. “Suddenly, we were receiving more and more specialty orders for our cakes and breads, and The Mixer wasn’t really large enough for what the community was supporting us with.”
Heather and Graham decided to expand and open a bakery, and in December 2022, their idea came to life. Everything is baked from scratch with original recipes coming directly from Heather, who started baking as a child with her grandmother. “You would always know it’s the holidays when my grandmother started baking her cinnamon rolls,” Heather said. To this day, Baked uses that same recipe for their cinnamon roll dough, which always sells out on the weekends.
Family recipes can also be found in the scones at Baked. “Our scones are my mother in laws recipe, that her mother from Scotland used,” Heather said. Along with family ties, Heather and Graham allow their employees to collaborate and create recipes as well.
Becoming small business owners
Before Baked, Heather and Graham never pictured themselves as business owners. “I was in the theater business and I loved it, but when you do theater you are a server,” Heather said.
Later on Heather fell in love with food and the food industry. “When food is really good you can tell when someone put their heart and soul in it and there is something really special about that,” Heather said. “Food can make a bad day be better and a great day be even more celebratory, I love food and how it connects people together.”
When working on theater sets in L.A., Heather would bring baked items to her coworkers and crew who all fell in love with her food. “I remember they would ask who made this, and I was like, me,” Heather said. It wasn’t until Heather’s 20s and early 30s did she start seriously thinking about following her heart in the food industry.
Heather and Graham have been working on Baked and The Mixer for over 12 years. The two met in 2011 and worked together for several years before becoming entrepreneurs. “We work together perfectly and we help push each other in certain directions that either one of us may be scared to go in, I could not imagine having a business without him.”
Employees matter
Since Baked, Heather and Graham have learned several lessons as small-business owners. There are so many unknowns when owning a business, explains Heather. “Something isn’t working properly, something else shuts down, the food truck didn’t deliver on time, and you just have to breathe and ask yourself what you can control.”
As business owners, Heather and Graham have also learned to take time for themselves and to cherish their employees. Whether that be by not talking work at home or by dedicating a day to spending time outdoors or on a hike. “You have to give time to yourself or you will burn out,” Heather said.
The couple attributes part of their success to their employees. “When you find a good employee, find a way to keep them,” Heather said. That’s part of the reason the bakery is closed three days of the week. “We appreciate everyone here and they helped execute our vision.”
Future plans
Currently, the Grahams are focusing on Baked and The Mixer’s recovery after being destroyed by a storm in March. Entrepreneurs always say that they will never do anything else, and then a couple years later they are doing something else, explains Heather. “Since Graham and I love doing this, opening a business and contributing to the community, if the opportunity arose we would take it.”
Baked is open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 8 a.m.-3 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
For more, call 270-220-0374 or check out their Facebook page.
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