At Ceres Bakery, all the best things are made from scratch. 

Every morning, the smell of baking sourdough permeates the cafe in downtown Kalispell. Racks of golden-brown pastries emerge from ovens as baristas stir up lattes and cappuccinos. Even the art that adorns the cafe walls is hand-crafted by local artists.

But owners Rick Grimm and Hannah Bjornson said their greatest creation is the community that gathers within the bakery’s walls. 

“It’s kind of like ‘Cheers’ except with coffee instead of beer,” said Bjornson.   

After 20 years of operation, Ceres Bakery has become a stalwart of Main Street Kalispell, attracting regular customers and tourists alike, but Grimm and Bjornson said the beginnings of the bakery were far from easy.  

Grimm made his start at breadmaking as a teenager, working the early morning shift at a coffee shop in Bismarck, North Dakota. He later took a job baking bread for a French bakery in Missoula, but had no ambitions of opening his own shop until a friend pointed out the lack of bakeries at the time in the Flathead Valley. 

Grimm spent the following months slowly building connections. He paged through phonebooks to identify potential accounts for wholesale breads. On one of his days off, he piled dozens of fresh-baked sourdough loaves into the backseat of their car and drove two hours north to Kalispell to hand out samples to local restaurants and grocery stores. 

Bjornson, meanwhile, was busy honing her skills as a pastry chef. She had never baked commercially, but the idea of a bakery excited her. She spent her free time scrolling online forums for flavor ideas and advice on proper piping techniques. 

The couple soon found a space to lease on Main Street, and, in January 2006, Ceres Bakery opened its doors for the first time.  

Fostering the bakery’s growth was a little like raising a kid, said Bjornson. In the beginning, there were plenty of frustrations and a seemingly endless catalogue of messes to clean up. The couple stole moments of rest between 16-hour shifts that often ran overnight.  

“Time never goes slow,” said Grimm of working as a commercial baker. “It can be challenging just to find time to go to the bathroom.” 

Grimm and Bjornson hired their first employee a few months after opening. They continued to add staff as the bakery grew and today manage 25 employees that collectively work 22 hours a day, six days a week.  

The storefront has also grown to accommodate an ever-increasing number of customers. After purchasing the building on Main Street, Grimm and Bjornson spent the early months of 2020 redesigning the storefront. They replaced the ceiling, the floor and most of the machinery in the kitchen and added a seating area where patrons could relax while sipping their morning coffee. New display cases showcased the array of pastries Bjornson had perfected in the years since the bakery opened. 

“The pastries have definitely evolved, what we make and the flavors we offer,” she said. 

Now that the bakery has fully matured, both Grimm and Bjornson said they are enjoying a bit more independence from the business. Grimm traded the graveyard breadmaking shifts for daylight hours to spend more time with the couple’s daughter. Inspired by the help she received as a young baker, Bjornson now mentors students in Flathead Valley Community College’s culinary and business programs. 

“When we first started, we depended on so many people,” said Bjornson. “Now that we’re a little more established, we’ve been able to get a little more involved with the community.” 

While they may not spend as much time in the kitchen as they used to, Grimm and Bjornson said they planned to remain involved in the bakery for many years to come. We probably won’t ever really retire, they joked. They would miss the warm smells and gentle comradery of the bakery too much. 

“A lot of what makes the bakery special is the community and the people who come in every day,” said Bjornson. “We started it, but it actually is the community.” 

Reporter Hailey Smalley can be reached at 758-4433 or [email protected]. 

    Customers pick out some baked goods from Ceres Bakery in Kalispell on Thursday, Feb. 19. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    A mixed berry danish at Ceres Bakery in Kalispell on Thursday, Feb. 19. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    A croissant is hand-rolled before being placed on a baking tray at Ceres Bakery in Kalispell on Thursday, Feb. 19. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Sourdough loaves of bread at Ceres Bakery in Kalispell on Thursday, Feb. 19. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Cherry and plain cardamom knots at Ceres Bakery in Kalispell on Thursday, Feb. 19. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Hand-rolled croissants are placed on a baking tray at Ceres Bakery in Kalispell on Thursday, Feb. 19. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Blackberry peach scones at Ceres Bakery in Kalispell on Thursday, Feb. 19. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider