Life & Work with Evan Hayes of Jarvisburg

Today we’d like to introduce you to Evan Hayes

Hi Evan, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I now run a small, homegrown, and homemade bakery in the Outer Banks area of North Carolina. I sell my products at a few local farm markets and choice retailers. I’m sorry if I wander when I write this. It will illustrate how everything intertwines. I started in the food service industry as a child when my family had a small bakery and sandwich shop in Greenville, NC, named The Upper Crust Bakery. I would make cookie dough and muffin batter to pass the time after school. We would grow lettuce and tomatoes for our sandwiches and salads. It was what both my parents did for decades. I was in the 4 H program, and I would make pumpkin bread and banana bread instead of showing livestock when competitions came around. Cooking was always fun to me, and I got to eat food! I took culinary classes in high school and used them to get an internship for school credit. (and could leave High school early, as my shift started at 2). That turned into going to Johnson and Wales University in Norfolk Va for culinary arts. Over time, change happened, and my Dad chose to close the bakery. My university internship brought me to the outer banks, where I’ve been ever since.

I spent the next 25 years working my way up from dishwasher to prep to garde manger to grill to sous chef to head chef. Over time, I have been turning my home into a homestead. My wife and I plant every square inch of our land here. My wife Carrie also has a small business selling her products in the same markets. She takes all our products and turns them into a million different items. She sells natural skincare, healing salves, garden sides, seasoning salts, plant starts, and weaves pine needle baskets. She can turn anything into something to sell. We get lots of inspiration from traveling the world and seeing what works abroad. We fell in love with Belize many years ago. We have been working on growing an organic biodynamic medicinal/food forest. Every year, we plant any food crop or medicinal plant we can get. It is in the middle of the best coca-growing area in the world. So, we are, of course, growing as much as we can. It is a hard fight when they are sprouts because the leaf-cutter ants also like the cocoa, hoping that one day we can grow and process our chocolate. Now, I bring back cocoa powder from our neighbors down there to my bakery. It is the best chocolate I have ever tried! If you are ever in San Filepe, Toledo, or Belize, please go to Ixcacao Mayan Chocolate.

During the Covid times, my family had a severe health scare, and it helped to put things into perspective. Working long hours for someone else while driving 45 minutes each way to work looked less and less appealing. Being close to home and working for myself to be around my loved ones was the right move. So, I left a stable, successful job for the unknown. I always want to get back into baking. There were never any successful bakeries down here. A few tried, and some did well, but nothing ever stuck. The tourist industry here funnels people to the large grocery stores for everything. But the Secotan farmer’s markets bring out the locals who care about what they eat. It solely consists of producers of homemade products. Some markets are more craft fairs and middlemen of “local” produce.

I was able to join this market a while back, and The Upper Crust Bakery was reborn after a 20-year hiatus! It changed, but the same. I use some old family recipes and mash them up with what I’ve learned over the years. I cook like I want to eat. I’m over the place, but I like it, and my customers do. (except the person who can’t make up their mind due to too many choices) At any given market, I have 6-7 types of bread, 3 cookies, 4 empanadas, 3 rolls(ex Cinnamon Whipped Honey, Blackberry plum cream, or basil pesto and Roasted Garlic), sweet potato biscuits, chili cheese biscuits, Guava Quesitos, dog treats, protein Bombs, Granola, biscotti, crostini, or hand made pasta. With a focus on growing as many things as possible and supplementing with products from other small business owners that I know and want to support, I always say you want your money to do a few laps around your community before it gets sent out to some mega-corporations in some tax haven country. I am preferably staying in the area. That means seeking out and supporting small independent businesses. Sometimes, it’s an extra few minutes drive or a few bucks extra, but it directly helps a mom or a dad trying to support their loved ones. I’m not buying some dude you have never met. Buy another yacht. Now, we are preparing for another big summer season. I am super thankful for all that I have. I can’t wait to see what’s up next.

Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
Smooth some days, bumpy others. As soon as you think you got it, someone or something will let you know otherwise. I’ve had, and my family has had health issues. I’ve had unemployment issues at times in my life. This leads to money issues. The bank has denied me loans for having too much credit, and I’ve been dismissed for not having enough! They were only a few months apart, and I never did anything different! It just makes you think that it will never happen. I’ve had more than a few real estate agents blow me off because I was looking for someone small, not a mansion on the beach. I wasn’t worth their time even talking to. Or, I need more than 300k just lying around as a down payment. So, I don’t get a callback.

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am specializing in fresh-made goodness. I’m most proud of not skimping out on the good stuff. Being in the restaurant business for so long always comes down to “how can we make our products cheaper and charge more for them?” So, I’m proud to use the best quality ingredients. I eat my food; I want to use the good stuff. There is a push to turn everything into a convenience product, into fast food. We need to slow food down. Spend the time doing it right.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I am not anti-technology, but I am not a big App or Blog guy. I’m an outside-working-with-my-hands kind of guy. I do love how accessible information is now. But I use it mostly to ID plants, bugs, lizards, and such! It will be hard to believe, but I don’t have internet hooked up at home! (gasp) I have a 8-10 year old phone! Mostly, I like using human resources. Talk to the old farmer dude, who has kept bees for decades, or any tradesman making that trade. They have many apps worth of information in their head. It usually takes a couple of beers and hours of talking to unlock the Intel.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://facebook.com/TheUpperCrustBakeryOBX