Falls Baking Company keeps fresh bread tradition alive in Fergus Falls

A bakery built on steady demand

Falls Baking Company has lasted by doing one thing well and doing it over and over: fresh bread, made the old way, with a consistency that keeps customers coming back. Opened in August 2005 by Scot Erickson and Traci Kromenaker, the bakery originally expected to sell about 70 loaves a day. It now says it moves between 250 and 500 loaves daily, a sign that the brand has grown from a local experiment into a durable part of the Fergus Falls food scene.

That kind of growth matters in a small-town retail environment where shoppers have more choices and independent businesses face pressure from labor costs, supply costs, and changing habits. Falls Baking Company’s answer has not been reinvention for its own sake, but repetition with quality: fresh bread, recognizable products, and a production rhythm that has become part of local routine. In Otter Tail County, where Main Street businesses often have to justify every shelf and every hour, that steady demand is the real story.

What keeps people coming back

The bakery’s appeal begins with the product itself. Falls Baking Company says its bread is made fresh every day without preservatives, and local reporting has highlighted that it bakes fresh bread five days a week in the old-world tradition. That matters to customers who want a loaf that feels made for eating, not sitting. In a market full of packaged convenience, the bakery’s emphasis on freshness and simplicity gives it a clear identity.

The company’s bread schedule also points to a process that is deliberately hands-on. The dough is hand-shaped by bakers rather than machines, the loaves are made with a pre-fermented starter, and they are baked in a stone hearth oven. The bakery says it also uses artisan flour, which fits with its broader commitment to bread as craft rather than commodity. That combination of technique and consistency is part of why a small bakery can still command loyalty in a county where people notice who stays open, who keeps quality high, and who shows up every week with the same product.

How the bakery operates day to day

Falls Baking Company says it runs with a small staff out of a small facility, which makes its output even more notable. Bread is shaped and packaged by hand, not pushed through a fully automated operation, so each loaf carries the imprint of a local production model rather than an industrial one. That is a different business proposition from a large grocery chain, but in Fergus Falls it gives the bakery a clear place in the food economy.

The company’s operations also stretch beyond retail counter sales. Falls Baking Company supplies area restaurants, delivers to other businesses in town, and ships to stores and cafes throughout the region. That makes it more than a bakery on North Union Avenue; it is part of the supply chain that helps other independent businesses serve customers. In practical terms, the bakery is doing what surviving local food businesses often do best: mixing direct sales with wholesale relationships so it can keep production moving and keep its name in circulation.

A local footprint across the county

Falls Baking Company’s Fergus Falls location is at 1217 North Union Ave, a familiar address in the city’s business landscape. The company also operates a Battle Lake location at 110 W. Henning St. Ste 124, extending its reach deeper into Otter Tail County. That second location matters because it keeps the brand visible beyond Fergus Falls and helps connect the bakery to a wider set of shoppers, seasonal visitors, and nearby communities.

The company says it also has bread available in surrounding communities, which helps explain how a local bakery can become regional without losing its identity. Stores and cafes in places such as Pelican Rapids, Morris, Alexandria, and Detroit Lakes sit within the broader orbit of that distribution network, giving the bakery a presence that reaches well past one storefront. For a business built on bread, that kind of footprint is a form of resilience: more outlets, more regular buyers, and more reasons for the brand to stay embedded in daily life.

Why the ownership change did not interrupt the tradition

The bakery changed hands in July 2025, when Evan Burkdoll and Elora Flores bought Falls Baking Company from the founders. Even with the transfer, the business has continued a tradition that is now more than 21 years old, which is important in a town where continuity carries real value. Customers do not just buy a loaf of bread from a bakery like this, they buy into the expectation that the same name will still mean the same thing next month and next year.

That continuity is especially important for a business whose identity rests on a particular production style. Fresh bread, hand-shaped dough, a pre-fermented starter, and a stone hearth oven are not just talking points, they are the operating system of the company. Keeping that system intact after a sale is what makes the transition feel less like a reset and more like a handoff.

What Falls Baking Company says about Fergus Falls demand

Falls Baking Company is a reminder that Main Street demand in Fergus Falls is not only about new growth or flashy openings. It is also about the businesses that become habits, the ones residents return to because they trust the product and recognize the role it plays in town life. A bakery that sells hundreds of loaves a day, supplies other businesses, and keeps production rooted in a small local facility shows that there is still room for legacy food businesses to anchor the local economy.

In a county shaped by practical buying decisions, the bakery’s longevity suggests something simple but important: there is still reliable demand for fresh, locally made food when the product is consistent and the business stays visible. Falls Baking Company has survived by making bread part of the everyday rhythm of Fergus Falls, and that kind of staying power remains one of the clearest signs of a healthy Main Street.