Meet Amy Kelley of Great Harvest Bread of Chapel Hill

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Kelley.

Hi Amy, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Tucked away in Chapel Hill for almost 30 years is Great Harvest Bread, a bakery cafe offering fresh baked breads and goodies with fresh-milled wheat ground in-house. The mission of Great Harvest is, “Be Loose and Have Fun…Bake Phenomenal Bread…Run Fast to Help Customers…And Give Generously to Others.” When I had the opportunity to assume ownership in early 2023, it was a great opportunity to combine my passion for fellowship around the table with a long-standing part of the Chapel Hill community with a mission that I was excited to get behind. 

Baking and bakery life runs in the family as my grandfather was in the bakery business, my father put himself through college working in the bakery, and my mother had fresh baked bread as a staple on our table growing up. As a large part of my previous professional work involved global community development, I was able to see how bread is a vital part of cultures around the world and has been over the ages. Using timeless techniques of baking bread from scratch by hand daily with simple ingredients like flour, yeast, honey, salt is the heart of Great Harvest. 

It is an honor to be a part of the table fellowship in our community, whether that is sandwiches made for school lunches, delicious bread used for French toast on a weekend morning, or a special tasty loaf dropped off for someone recovering from an illness or to welcome a new neighbor. We love when young adults stop by and enjoy our free slices of bread that greet guests upon entering, and they share how that was a part of their childhood in Chapel Hill, and they are thrilled to be back! 

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?
Like most small business owners, and especially those within service industries right now, it is always a challenge to find a great staff team that reflects the heart of the business and help provide excellent products and service. We have the benefit of being a university town and having students, but they are off to new adventures during breaks or after graduation, so we usually have them for a short time. We are slowly developing a strong team, but it takes time and patience. 

Our other obstacle is balancing set operational expenses such as rent, ingredients, and payroll with sales as we try to keep our prices down in a time of inflation. Trying to find that perfect balance is always a challenge. In addition, aging equipment is always requiring maintenance and repairs, which can shut down operations quickly, and our customers have been very gracious these first few months as we have been working to bring the equipment back up to healthy working order. 

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you, and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Our goal is to continue to offer quality products and to expand our space to allow the bakery cafe to become a gathering space for the community. Having additional seating, a kid’s corner, and a meeting room will be a wonderful addition to the longstanding space. We also hope to bring back bakery tours for kids and find new ways to engage our community through partnerships with nonprofits and use local farms for as many products as possible. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://greatharvestchapelhillnc.com
• Instagram: @greatharvestchapelhillnc
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreatHarvestBreadChapelHill