Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Kibler.
Hi Julie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The long and short of if is that I married a baker. I was heading up a graphic design program at a small college in Toledo, OH, when I decided to buy my friend a baking class for her 30th birthday…. Mambo Italiano at Zingerman’s Bakehouse in Ann Arbor. The man teaching that class is now my husband. There’s a story in there, but maybe too long for this article!
He had dreamt of opening his own bakery, and when the opportunity presented itself, I said “Sure! let’s do it.” I started building the business with Shelby (my husband). At the beginning I mostly worked on our branding, website, social media and all of the HR elements. When we opened, I started working at the retail counter part-time, which turned into full-time. I really enjoyed being part of this exciting venture with my partner.
About a year and half in, we were approached to open a cafe. We turned it down initially, assuming I would go back to work in Higher Education. He didn’t want to open another location unless I was on board to run and own the place 50/50. The realtor was persistent, and eventually we relented, signing on to open our little cafe in the Monroe North neighborhood. People thought we were crazy. The area wasn’t much to look at and didn’t have a whole lot going on, but we could see the potential of a sprawling neighborhood on the river, and on busy street running through downtown. It has proved fruitful.
We’ve been open for almost 9 year now. It’s been incredibly difficult, specially during covid. But we made it through and now we’ve got an amazing, bustling little gem that people love.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Is life a smooth road? Being in business is difficult. Being in a food business is relentless. Shelby and I worked together in the beginning to manage the cafe. But after about 9 months of him being away from the bakery, our management team at that time found themselves in a financial crisis. Shelby had to go back to baking an get things back in order. I’ve been GM now since then, in charge of finances, accounting, hr, etc. while also regularly helping in the front of house, managing catering, and sometimes even doing the dishes when someone calls off!
Having 2 businesses has not been easy on our family. You think you’ll be making actual money at this point, and have lots of time to spend with your kid and on the house and doing things other than working. But that just never seems to happen. We’re still plugging away though. We have a great product and we love our community. I have faith we will see real success at some point in the future.
Of course, it feels much easier now than in the beginning. We have incredible managers in place who make sure their departments are running smoothly. Thank goodness for them! I have way less to worry about than I did 5-6 years ago.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We started as a wood-fire bakery in the Downtown Market, committed to using local and organic ingredients. The cafe grew out of a desire to offer more to the community. A place to be, to share, to become enriched with conversation and good food. I think our cafe has really become synonymous with “clean food”. We make everything from scratch. We source with care and do everything we can to make sure what we serve is healthy AND delicious.
I feel like one of the major things that separate us from similar breakfast and lunch spots is our commitment to the slow food movement…. and an amazing cup of coffee. Honestly! most places we go have great coffee and mediocre food, or genuinely tasty food, but terrible coffee.
We pride ourselves on knowing where things come from. You’ll see local farmers coming in and out of our kitchen every single day, dropping off produce, meat, eggs, grains and even cheese! It feels SO important to be part of a thriving local food system. We want to support local producers as much as we can.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
We are not rich, and barely profitable. People think just because our bread is in all the grocery stores, and on some of the most upscale restaurant menus in town, we must be doing SO well. Look, organic HANDMADE bread is expensive to make, and our margins are terribly small. It’s been difficult, in a town like Grand Rapids (sorry GR), to convince the general public of the value of our products. We’re always amazed that people will spend $8 on a beer and not bat an eye, but spending $8 on this artisan product that will nourish their body seems somehow too expensive. I just don’t get it.
Pricing:
- Loaf of organic Levain $7.50
- Ham & Cheese croissant made with ham sourced locally from Jake’s Country Meats $5
- Latte, made with organic milk from Sassy Cow and vanilla syrup made in house $5.50
- Spinach & Feta croissant with locally grown, organic spinach $5
- Breakfast Burrito made entirely of local produce during the summer month, even the shell is produced locally $13
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fieldandfire.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fieldandfire/
- Facebook: https://fieldandfire.com/
- Twitter: fuck elon musk
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/field-and-fire-grand-rapids
