BARRE, Vt., Jan. 19, 2027 — Kettle Pond Bakery will open its third bakery on Saturday, February 6, at 9 Carver Row in downtown Barre, in the former Hadley’s Hardware building, which has stood empty since 2021. The shop creates 14 jobs and houses the company’s first stone mill, which will grind Vermont-grown wheat for all three of its bakeries.
The 2,400-square-foot bakery will sell the sourdough, rye and morning pastry the company already bakes in Montpelier and Waterbury, with 22 seats and a window onto the mill. It will open Tuesday to Sunday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The five-month renovation cost $410,000, paid for with a loan from a local credit union and the company’s own savings.
“We have driven a van to Barre every morning since 2023, and the shops we supply there are out of rye by ten,” said Rosa Benedetti, who founded Kettle Pond Bakery in 2018. “Now the bread will be baked a few steps from where it’s sold, and the flour will be milled in the same room.”
The mill has 40-inch stones and will grind about 1,200 pounds of flour a week from wheat grown on two Champlain Valley farms. Until now the company has bought its Vermont flour already milled. Flour from Barre will go to the Montpelier and Waterbury bakeries by the same van that used to carry bread the other way.
Nine of the 14 positions have been filled, all by people who live within ten miles of the shop. Applications for the remaining five, three bakers and two counter staff, are open until Friday, January 29.
“I started on the counter in Montpelier the week the first shop opened, and I’ve made the drive from Barre ever since,” said Devon Ouellette, who will manage the new bakery. “The people we hire here can walk to work. So can I.”
Doors open at 7 a.m. on February 6. The mill will run for visitors at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., and the first 100 customers will each be given a loaf made with its first flour.
Reporters and photographers are welcome at a preview on Thursday, February 4, from 9 to 11 a.m. The mill will be running, and Benedetti and Ouellette will both be free for interviews.
About Kettle Pond Bakery
Kettle Pond Bakery bakes naturally leavened bread and pastry in central Vermont. Rosa Benedetti founded it in Montpelier in 2018 and opened a second bakery in Waterbury in 2022. The company employs 27 people, supplies 23 shops and restaurants, and bakes only with Vermont-grown wheat.