Today we’d like to introduce you to Rob Sanz.
Rob, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
It started started as a passion project by a guy (me) who just loves bread, and grew tired of lame and uninspired store-bought options filled with chemicals and ingredients he can’t pronounce. It has grown into a bustling cottage bakery serving the Montgomery County community which I have gratefully called home since birth. I love to share my passion for baking bread with people who appreciate the craft and ritual of the sourdough method, and who just like to eat good bread.
Now three years after my first sale, Rise Artisan Sourdough has become an established Rockville, MD based cottage bakery specializing in long-fermented, handcrafted sourdough breads and pastries. Simple ingredients, small batches, and intentionally slow naturally-leavened methods result in bread made with integrity. Each batch is crafted with love by me personally, where my passion for traditional handmade techniques guides every loaf, bagel, English muffin, and pastry that slides out of my oven.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Starting any business is a huge leap of faith, with no guarantees that your product will find its intended audience. Patience and perseverance are key when starting something from zero. Orders were slow in the first several months, and keeping the faith that orders would start to come in with time was critical. I had confidence that my bread is really good, and sure enough as word of mouth began to spread, the orders started coming in more consistently. If you have a great product and continue to show up despite challenges, success will follow.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
This bread business has grown from a baking hobby into a cottage food business that I have intentionally kept small and manageable. I tend to call it a micro business (or microbakery) instead of a small business. Some might call it a side hustle. I have a full time career separate from this microbakery, and I have shaped my bakery to fit into my life so that it is not a burden, and does not run me ragged. I like to think of it as the type of thing where I’d be baking for fun anyways on weekends, so I’ll just bake a little bit more and sell to my neighbors. In all honesty, it’s grown a bit beyond that due to demand! But I’ve grown the business slowly with intention which has allowed me personally to grow along with it.
I handle every aspect of the business myself – from ownership, to baking, to packaging, to finances, to marketing, to graphic design, and even doing the dishes and cleaning the floors. It’s a labor of love that has provided me a creative outlet from my full time career, which is regularly demanding and stressful. It’s a way for me to do something in my own way, without any outside influences or outside voices telling me what I should be doing, or how I should be doing it. I cherish this aspect of my micro business so very much.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I am an architect by trade, and still practice architecture as my full time career. Baking is a pretty big departure from my formal training in architecture, but I think this is what I appreciate about it. It lights up a different part of my brain, and it gets me out from behind the computer screen to work with my hands and enjoy the ritual of manual work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.riseartisansourdough.com
- Instagram: @riseartisansourdough
- Facebook: @riseartisansourdough
