Above: Brandon Hollingsworth of the Bread Box. Photo by Joseph Kreiss Photography.

FAIRMONT — The Bread Box has quickly become a local favorite of many to get homemade baked goods in Fairmont. Baker Brandon Hollingsworth shared that some changes are coming to his baking business.

Cooking and baking have always been hobbies of Hollingsworth. He began thinking of the idea to start something during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and when things started to slow down, he launched the Bread Box earlier this year.

He got his Cottage Food License and began baking in his home kitchen. Hollingsworth started by accepting orders throughout the week, and then people would come to his home to pick up their goods on the weekends.

When asked what some of his most popular items are, Hollingsworth didn’t hesitate to say his bacon sourdough loaf.

“I use bacon from Welcome Meats. Basically it’s my sourdough with bacon throughout. That’s probably my most popular bread,” he said.

His Everything bagels also have been popular. Cookie-wise, Hollingsworth said his chocolate chunk cookies have done well.

“Pretty much anytime I do macarons, I sell out so those are pretty popular too. I don’t usually do the same flavor every time I do those, just macarons in general seem to be pretty popular,” Hollingsworth said.

In the spring, Hollingsworth began setting up at Loxley Coffee about once a month.

Hollingsworth said he’s been friend with James McAdams, coffee roaster and co-owner of Loxley Coffee, for 10 years.

“We just both had the idea of wanting to start our own thing. A bakery and coffee shop go together. We work off of each other business-wise with walk-in traffic. It’s been a good relationship, inside of business and outside,” Hollingsworth said.

Most recently, Hollingsworth announced that he’ll be moving semi-permanently to Loxley Coffee.

“There was a need for me to stabilize a schedule. It was kind of chaotic as far as when I’d be at Loxley and what would be on the menu. This is an attempt to make it more regular and predictable,” he said.

Hollingsworth shared that sometimes he has people who call and ask if he has anything on hand and he wanted to reiterate that he’s a weekend baker and a hobby baker without a brick-and-mortar shop. While he likes what he does, it’s still a hobby for him as he works full-time job and has a family, which includes a 6-month-old baby.

“It’s supposed to be a hobby for me and it turned into four out of five days a week I was doing Bread Box things to prepare for the weekend,” he said.

He said he hopes this change will make his work flow easier and the location and hours easier for customers to understand. He’ll be at Loxley Coffee every other weekend, beginning Oct. 2.

“I’ll also have regular items on my menu, whereas before it was always rotating,” Hollingsworth explained.

He’ll still be baking in his kitchen and out of his garage, where Hollingsworth said he’s slowly setting up his permanent baking area.

“My location for pickup for pre-orders and walk-in goods will be at Loxley from now on,” Hollingsworth said.

In addition to his location and hour change, Hollingsworth is getting ready to accept holiday pre-orders starting in October.

For the holidays, The Bread Box will offer three new cookies, though Hollingsworth’s not sure what kind just yet.

“There’ll be cranberry walnut sourdough bread, some hot chocolate and homemade marshmallow packs that I’ll be making,” he said.

Specifically for the holidays, he’ll also be making pies, a trio of seasonal flavors: apple, pecan and pumpkin.

“I’ll have some different variants of macarons and cookie packs,” Hollingsworth said.

He said he’ll be putting up a monthly calendar that will have his open dates, the items that will be available and any special events that he’ll be doing. It can be found on his website, breadboxmn.com and on his Facebook page.

Hollingsworth shared that he’s also starting a Youtube channel to show what he’s working on. He’ll also review baking books and recipe books and will document the journey as he goes through his late grandmother’s recipe book. He hopes to get the first video up in November.

Hollingsworth said his favorite part of his business is definitely the baking and creating part.

“I am not a recipe kind of person so a lot of the time, the things that I do is just off the top of my head and what I know about food and what goes good together,” Hollingsworth said.

Something Hollingsworth said he didn’t have before starting The Bread Box was getting to connect with the community.

He was at Interlaken Heritage Days, He’ll also be at the Granada vendor craft show next month with some baked goods. He also plans to be at Interlaken’s vendor and craft show in December.

“A big part of The Bread Box is providing something to the community that you can’t get anywhere else,” Hollingsworth said.