2 local business owners overcome life struggles through cottage baking

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - “It’s my happy place. It’s where I de-stress,” Kelsey Griggs, Lowndes County mother of two and owner of Kelsey’s Bake away, said.

After her love for her family, comes her love for baking sourdough bread. Wanting to be home with her children while keeping a career presented challenges for the Master’s Degree holder.

“It wasn’t in my means or desire to start a brick and mortar business. the overhead for that is very large and it’s super, super time-consuming. So I started researching options. That’s how I came across food baking,” she said.

The battle for Treats and Sweets owner, LaRon Williams is one with his health. He battles Multiple Sclerosis.

Williams works through pain and spasms and sometimes loss of vision to continue to do what he loves... bake.

Both overcame their struggles through cottage baking.

It allows people to sell food they’ve made at home, once they’ve met certain requirements. That includes the requirement of products not being sold in restaurants or mainstream stores.

“I actually fell in love with fresh bread in my early twenties when I went abroad in Europe and you just don’t have anywhere around here that I was trying to find the kind of fresh bread that I was looking for,” says Griggs.

She says cottage bakers can make customized foods that people can’t buy in stores. Fulfilling requests from her own customers taught her how to make some traditional bread, celebrating different cultures.

That includes Jewish Challah and Croatian Povitica.

To find the two businesses at local events and on social media, visit Kelsey’s Bake Away and Treats and Sweets.

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