Duffy’s Dough turns 73-year-old family starter into Kroger sourdough line

A 73-year-old sourdough starter that began in Patrick Duffy’s family kitchen has made the jump to Kroger shelves, with Duffy’s Dough pitching the line as both a legacy project and a hunger-relief engine. The company says the culture was passed down from Alaska Gold Rush miners and given to Duffy’s mother more than 70 years ago, giving the bread a backstory that is far more personal than a typical packaged-loaf launch.

Duffy has dated the starter to 1952, when he was 3 and his parents took him and his sister to Alaska. That history now sits behind a supermarket rollout built around familiar grocery staples, including a sourdough loaf and an artisan sandwich roll sold through Kroger. Duffy’s Dough says the products were first introduced in select Ohio locations and are available exclusively at Kroger supermarkets.

The chain has since widened the footprint. Local reporting said the line expanded into 11 Kroger divisions and now includes five varieties of sourdough products, a sign that the brand is trying to grow beyond novelty into an everyday bread presence. King Soopers product pages also listed Duffy’s Dough items, including a multigrain sourdough loaf, showing how the line has moved from a single regional debut into a broader grocery network.

What makes the rollout stand out is the company’s pledge to donate 100% of profits to hunger relief. Duffy’s Dough says that commitment is central to the business, and Kroger has tied the launch to its own anti-hunger fundraising efforts. That connection was reinforced at in-person events, including a Colorado Springs appearance where Duffy’s Dough presented a $5,000 check to Care & Share, and a Marietta Kroger event where the company donated $10,000 to Meals on Wheels Atlanta.

The project gives Patrick Duffy and Linda Purl’s bread business a different shape from standard celebrity branding. Instead of a name slapped on a store brand, the pitch rests on family inheritance, memory, and a clear charitable destination for the money. For sourdough buyers who care where a starter came from, how long it has been kept alive, and what it represents, Duffy’s Dough is trying to turn a supermarket loaf into something closer to a living heirloom.