Exploring Life & Business with Bree Vandenberg of FKN Bread

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bree Vandenberg.

FKN Bread is lead by a husband and wife team. Bree is from Florida and Dave is born and raised in San Juan Capistrano. Dave has always loved to cook and bake. His family says he perfected a soufflé when he was 11 years old. Dave went to school for business in the Bay Area and worked at a small cafe which started his love affair with small coffee shops/bakeries. After college, he worked in restaurants where he met his wife, Bree. Bree is not a baker, in fact, her background is in social work by way of foster care and adoption. Dave and Bree were married and now have three young boys; Finn, Kane, and Nash. When the global pandemic, Covid-19, rocked Americas norm, Dave and Bree created FKN Bread. FKN Bread is named after the first initials of Dave and Bree’s three sons. FKN Bread was brought to life by the pandemic however, it’s not fading away with it. FKN Bread grew faster than Dave and Bree expected and is now pivoting into a small storefront in the heart of downtown San Juan Capistrano that will provide bakery items as well as breakfast and lunch. FKN Bread is known for its sourdough bread and other sourdough creations. The family-run bakery would not exist without the support of the local community.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Never in Dave’s wildest dream would he have imagined himself owning a small local bakery but now it is a project that he and his entire family are happy and proud to take on. Creating FKN Bread from the first Instagram profile down to business plans and more has been a whirlwind. Dave does all of the baking and Bree handles the business side but, they have had to ask for a lot of help. There have been many sleepless nights and lots of phone calls to friends, community members, and family for advice. Having an idea is the easy part, creating that idea can be fun, but putting it all into play to open a brick and mortar bakery is not so easy. The hardest part has been working around the restrictions brought on by the pandemic while also navigating being first-time business owners. Also trying to juggle all of that with three boys, four years old and under. Things that would normally take 30 days can take up to six months. It makes for a lot of hurrying up to wait, which can be super frustrating. The FKN team feels for fortunate to have the support that they have from the local community.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about FKN Bread?
FKN Bread specializes in bakery items and is known for its variety of sourdough breads. FKN Bread will also offer toast and sandwiches on top of a wide variety of bakery items at their new brick and mortar bakery in the heart of downtown San Juan Capistrano. Sourdough is trending and many people have tried to take it on during quarantine realizing that it is very time-consuming and finicky. FKN Bread took the sourdough craze and ran with it. FKN Bread is best known for its Jalapeño Cheddar Sourdough, Sourdough chocolate chip and oat cookies, and sourdough cinnamon rolls.

Contact Info:

• Email: bree@fknbread.com
• Website: www.fknbread.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/fknbread
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/eatfknbread/
• Yelp: yelp.to/tMu7Z1G0gfb

Image Credits:
Kyle Ortiz Jill Cook