Food for body & soul : By Megan Brandsrud
hen Paul Holje and George Kelley talk about how they changed careers midlife to
start a business, they joke that their story is the one about the architect and air traffic controller who opened a bakery. Self-proclaimed “foodies,” Holje and Kelley had talked for years about opening a restaurant. When they saw the need for a hometown bakery in their city, Grand Forks, N.D., they knew it was time.
“We took a look at the local
market and saw that Grand Forks had lost all of its old hometown bakeries,” Holje said. “In an area of the country that produces the best wheat, sugar, honey, dairy and eggs, we didn’t have a local place to make those fantastic ingredients into something special.” Aſter a year and a half of plan-
ning and test baking hundreds of goods, Holje and Kelley opened
Dakota Harvest Bakers in May 2006. “Te name ‘Dakota Harvest’ just
sort of came to us. Inspiration from above, if you will,” Holje said. “We wanted to take the name one step further though. ‘Dakota Harvest Bakery’ just didn’t have the right feel. Being an architect, sometimes the focus gets to be too much on a building and not on the people using the building. Tat’s why we decided on ‘Dakota Harvest Bak- ers.’ It’s about the people, not the building.”
‘Family’ of faith Holje and Kelley’s commitment to people doesn’t end with the bakery’s name. It shows up in all aspects of their business—and their life. It’s a value they say is part of their faith. When Holje and Kelley were
looking for a congregation to join, they wanted one that held their val- ues of hospitality and community. “We found Family of God Lutheran Church in East Grand Forks [Minn.], and everything about it just felt right,” Holje said. Kelley said, “Family of God
has a long history of welcome and hospitality, and we’ve felt at home there since the first time we visited for worship. Tat sense of commu- nity is so important to us personally, and finding a church that lives those values was truly a blessing.”
George Kelley and Paul Holje support their community and area churches through their bakery, Dakota Harvest Bakers.
DAKOTA HARVEST BAKERS
DAKOTA HARVEST BAKERS
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