When two women with a love for baking happened to discuss their passion during a work shift at Starbucks, the pop-up bakery The Baking Beans was born. Loren Huff and Breanna Webb opened their local baking business just two months after that conversation and quickly found success.
Huff and Webb are both from Valparaiso, but they didn’t meet until they became coworkers. Huff remembers chatting at work constantly about her passion for food and cooking and felt like she never quit talking about it.
“Opening a business together was all Breanna’s idea,” Huff said. “She approached me one day and said, ‘You and I both like to bake. Do you want to try out this idea with me?’ The rest is history.”
In September of 2022, The Baking Beans took its first order. The women are cottage bakers, meaning that they don’t have a commercial kitchen or workspace. During the first few months, they decided to see their idea through the holiday season and reassess afterwards.
“After those first few months, we started playing with the idea of doing farmers markets,” Webb said. “Then, the opportunity came up to start selling at The Stand here in Valparaiso, so we took part in that. We’ve been growing ever since.”
The Baking Beans currently sells at The Stand on Mondays and Saturdays. The other days of the week, Huff maintains work as a barista at Starbucks and Webb teaches music at Plum Grove Music. During the winter, they receive a lot of custom orders and host pop-ups at local businesses.
“We have found that we do the best business when people see the product in front of them because they want to eat it right away,” Huff said. “It is usually an impulse buy, which makes total sense.”
Customers of The Baking Beans love the cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip cookies, and blueberry muffins. The women believe this is because people love the basics – the tried and true things that one is familiar with.
In the future, they hope to expand their business into something bigger.
“Opening a little cafe would be amazing,” Huff said. “My personal goal would be to have our own commercial kitchen; it would change the name of the game for us. There are limitations, understandably, when you are a cottage baker, so a commercial kitchen would really open up our opportunities.”
Currently, Huff and Webb are trying to expand their selection of vegan options to draw in a new community of people who would appreciate the work and effort it takes to make vegan baked goods. The Baking Beans offers the best of both women’s baked goods, and the bakers are constantly evolving and tweaking their recipes to make them the tastiest they can.
Both women enjoy having their families still living locally and the community-feeling that Valparaiso offers its residents.
“I love all of the events, restaurants and coffee shops in Valparaiso that are unique from anywhere else you may go,” Webb said.
“I travel a lot. I have been to a lot of places in the U.S., and we have one of the best downtowns that I have ever seen,” Huff said.
To support The Baking Beans or follow along with available desserts, locations and more, visit thebakingbeans.com.