Rising Stars: Meet Keegan Rodgers

Today we’d like to introduce you to Keegan Rodgers.

Hi Keegan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
It all started with a chocolate chip cookie in my Granny’s kitchen at Christmas time. Every year we would make cookies to give to family, friends and neighbors at the holiday. From a Childs perspective, it seemed like thousands of cookies; chocolate chip, date pinwheels, pecan sandies, decorated sugar cookies, and so many more. I loved being in the kitchen surrounded by the smells and of course my family, but especially Granny. A few years later, I was nine and bored over summer. I found an old Hershey’s cookbook from 1934 and began flipping through it. I found the chocolate cake recipe and wanted to make it. I walked to my mom’s office and asked for $20 so I could get all the ingredients I needed to make the cake. She questioned me about it, a box cake mix was much cheaper and easier to make and who was going to clean up the mess. I assured her I would clean up everything and I really, REALLY wanted to make the cake from scratch. She relented and sent me on my way. I stopped at the local grocery store which was on the way home. I gathered everything I needed and realized at the check out, I didn’t have enough money for the frosting ingredients. Sad but undeterred, I put those ingredients back and made my way home. I followed the recipe to the letter! Mom came home and sure enough, the kitchen was cleaned up and the cake was ready to eat for dessert. Even without the frosting, it was delicious! I was hooked! I began baking and cooking every chance I got. As I got older and into my early teens, things at home became troubled. I began to get depressed and found peace in baking. Things became very difficult and after my freshman year of high school, left home and became a ward of the State of Michigan. I spent the next several years moving from state run facilities to charitable group homes to eventually end up in foster care. All the while, baking was my refuge.

I began working at a fairly well known restaurant where my foster home was. I didn’t care for the savory side of things and when the opportunity arose to transfer to the pastry department, I applied. That began my professional pastry career. I was 17 and have loved pastries ever since.

Over the years I worked in a variety of pastry and baking positions, even spent some time on the savory side gaining as much experience as I could. I learned cake decorating at a grocery store chain in Memphis, TN, I learned smoking meat and grill cooking at a hotel in Memphis, TN. I even spent some time at a wholistic grocery store trying to convert traditional French pastries to gluten free and vegan delights. I’ll be honest, I wan’t very successful at that part.

I moved back to Michigan and while I professionally veered away from baking and pastries to pa the bills, I was always baking and cooking; wedding cakes for family, dinner parties for friends and colleagues. I realized I wan’t happy baking part time. I decided to give up everything I was doing and begin the long process of realizing my childhood dream of opening my own bakery / pastry shop.

At 40 I went back to culinary school and graduated with Honors from a local community college culinary program. I went to work at any bakery that would have me. Even working as a cake decorator at a local grocery store. I contacted culinary professionals to mentor me on how to attain my ultimate goal, my own shop.

Along the way, I took a job teaching pastry classes at a national chain kitchenware store and found I loved teaching. I spent over 7 years there teaching and loved every minute. A friend contacted me and said there was a teaching position at another local community college culinary program and wanted to know if I was interested. I jumped at the chance! I taught there for 5 years and was sad when the program was closed down by the college.

I took a job a the Head Baker for a local food co-op and transformed the department from just me to 4 full time employees with 3 wholesale accounts. I was promoted to the Manager of all Prepared Foods after a few years. I took me away from hands on baking, but gave me the leadership and organizations skills I would need later on. While there, the General Manger and I were looking for a larger commercial kitchen so we could expand and grow the prepared food department. We found a space that was too far and logistically not viable for our needs.

In the fall of the next year, my mom passed away. Despite our troubled relationship, I was devastated. I began to re-evaluate my life, what I was doing and where I was going. I didn’t want to get side tracked like I did when I was younger. I had an idea and I talked to Granny about it. I wondered if I could buy the commercial kitchen I looked at with the GM from the co-op. She looked me straight in the eye and without a trace of doubt in her voice said “of course you can”.

So, with Granny’s endorsement I began the process to purchase the space I looked at the year before. Fortunately, it was still on the market. I contacted my credit union and made an appointment with Margaret, who was in the mortgage department. I took the real estate listing and my pay stubs from all my jobs and asked if I could afford to buy the building. It was a commercial building but it had an apartment attached and it was on a lake. Margaret looked everything over and concluded, yes, I could afford to purchase the building. She then let me know I needed about $20K for the closing costs and downpayment. I was crushed. I didn’t have that kind of money.

I sat with the information for a while and remembered I had a retirement account with more than enough money to cover the costs. I went back to Margaret and asked if those funds could be used. She said yes and connected my with the Financial Planning department at the credit union. I had a meeting and asked about how to use that money to buy the building. They helped my call the company where the retirement was being held and found out it wasn’t an IRA, it was a fully vested pension that I couldn’t access for another 15 years. Again, I was crushed. I kept feeling I was so close but still so far away from making my dreams come true.

6 weeks after this, Granny passed away. I was distraught. My biggest support and cheerleader was gone. I was ready to give up on my dream and focus on being the best at what I was doing. Two weeks after Granny passed away, I received a letter from the retirement services center saying they were offering a one time buy out of my pension and I needed to respond in 14 days if I accepted the buy out or not. I took that letter to Margaret and asked Dif that would work and she said yes. I signed saying I would take the buy out and sent it back. Now we had to wait for the payout to come, 120 days from when I sent the letter. Margaret helped me create the offer letter and send it to the real estate company selling the property. Several more miracles happened that year for me; for example, the credit union doesn’t do commercial loans but since it has an apartment attached and would be my permanent home, they agreed to process the loan as a home mortgage.

I closed on the building in May of 2017 and moved in in June. I spent the next year renovating the bakery to my vision; painting, cleaning, adding walls and reorganizing the whole space. I had enough PTO accrued at work to take every Friday from May to October in 2018 off so I could bake all sorts of products to sell at the local farmers market on Saturday.

I resigned my position in December of 2018 and opened the doors of The Lakehouse Bakery in January 2019. It’s been 5 and a half years now and we’ve made it through some difficult times, not just Covid. Starting any business is difficult but a food business has another layer of difficulty. I’ve overcome a lot and know Granny and Mom are in my corner supporting me. So is my life partner, the community, the team working at the bakery. I have no doubt we will be here for a long time to come.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, it has not been a smooth road. On some level, I don’t think it shouldn’t be totally smooth. There needs to be some bumps and dips along the way. Since I cashed in my pension and used it for the purchase and renovations, I’ve never had a cash reserve for equipment breakdowns or other unexpected costs. We are still working our way off the hamster wheel of limited or no cash flow.

It’s also been a struggle to find and retain professional help. I don’t have a clue how to run payroll for example and our first payroll provider failed to file all the necessary forms with the state and federal government.

I think I’ve finally found a great business coach, accountant (who does payroll) and lawyer. Three things every small business needs!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We are most known for our cookies, especially our Chocolate Chip and French macarons. Of course I’m using Granny’s recipe for the chocolate chip. Our French macarons are also a real treat since we can make them in just about any color and flavor you can think of. One of my favorites is the wasabi mango!

We also specialize in gluten free and vegan baking. We aren’t certified, but the ingredients we use are inherently gluten free and vegan, from our Carrot Pineapple muffin to our NBC (Nothing But Chocolate) cake!

Who else deserves credit in your story?
Other than Granny, my life partner Jilly is the only who deserves the most credit for being my cheerleader and supporter. I tend to be single minded in things and she helps me take a step back and rest. She’s also a great collaborator for item development, social media ads, customer service and overall bakery operations. I truly couldn’t do this without her.

Pricing:

• We use as many local ingredients as possible. For example, we use eggs from a farm 7 miles down the road.
• We use local Michigan beet sugar from an agricultural co-op 2 hours from the bakery.
• We use un-bleached and un-bromated flour.
• We use easy to pronounce ingredients you find in any kitchen pantry.
• We use Belgian chocolate and European butter.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thelakehousebakery.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelakehousebakery/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelakehousebakerychelsea
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/LakehouseBakery

 

Image Credits
Keegan Rodgers