Meet Bartley Chavez of Dee Bee’s Kitchen Table in North County

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bartley Chavez.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Last year while visiting family in Minnesota, I went to a pizza farm. It was such a cool concept and I was inspired. When I got home to California, my initial thought was to do something similar. So I started making homemade dough and working on different recipes. I soon realized that a pizza farm was an all-encompassing endeavor. That’s when baking bread came into play.

I had a dutch oven and found a recipe I liked. At first, I started making bread for my family. Then things happened organically. Friends started asking about it and wanting some. Within the first few months, I was baking a few days a week, upgraded to multiple dutch ovens and decided to get my cottage food license so I could start selling.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The hardest part was the cottage food license. It took a few months to get which was a waiting game. It was a long process and tedious.

Dee Bee’s Kitchen Table – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I’m a wife and mother of a one-year-old little girl, Hazel. I stay at home with her and work part-time as a social media manager as well as baker. Currently, I bake on Tuesday’s and Friday’s as well as some pop-ups and special events.

Baking is not something I was trained in, I’m self-taught. I started with baking bread and have added cookies, jam and galettes. For the bread, it’s a 12-hour no-knead so I prep everything the night before I bake it. It usually takes me an hour and a half to prep and then around two hours to bake the next day. It’s truly a labor of love. I say a prayer of blessing over all of my baked goods that people would enjoy them and that they would nourish those who eat it. Breaking bread with family and friends is such a beautiful thing.

I’ve been apart of pop up’s (Anthropologie in the Forum and Flower Hill Mall) as well as bake sale’s which have been fantastic. Last month I made fifteen loaves for a wedding which was really special.

The biggest things that sets me apart are that all of my items are baked by hand. They are small batch and I am the one taking and making the orders.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
This year I entered my fig walnut bread into the family baking competition at the San Diego County Fair and it came in second place. My husband entered our oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and they came in first. I’m very proud of that.

Pricing:

• $8 fig walnut bread
• $8 rosemary bread
• $8 cinnamon date bread
• $3 per seasonal galette
• 3 for $2.50 oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Contact Info:

• Email: bartleychavez@gmail.com
• Instagram: @deebeeskitchentable

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