Meet Kristin Ledgerwood of Vivian’s Gourmet in Evergreen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristin Ledgerwood.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Kristin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Growing up, I spent many days at my grandmother’s hip side. She was an old fashioned cook and created everything you can think of from scratch. She was the matriarch of our family. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized that many families, like ours, would be surrounded by great food when they all came together. These memories of cooking, baking and celebrating are my first really memories of food and the effects that they have.

After college, I spent time in Chicago as an Interior Designer and one day found myself looking for more. I decided to take night and weekend baking and pastry classes for fun. It wasn’t until I took a specialized pastry and showpiece class that I had even considered this to turn into more than just a hobby. I had an amazing chef instructor that opened my eyes up to the world of pastry and design. I was blown away at the opportunities there were.

Soon, I was moving to Denver, leaving my job as a designer and getting my foot in the door at some higher-end restaurants in town. I worked with more great chefs, learned a lot but I knew that restaurants were not my thing. Soon after, I took on a new role as a corporate chef, spending time in food production, recipe ideation, traveling and even educating others in cooking. I always said I loved who I worked with and who I worked for but something was still not right.

In 2012, I had my daughter, Vivian, and needless to say I was a bit head over heels for her. I felt I had met my calling to be a mom. An overwhelming feeling that had me questioning my professional role. I wanted nothing more than to be her mom and found my self not wanting to go back, I didn’t want to miss a minute of her. After many discussion of what the future looked like with my husband Geoff, we decided to start a business that would allow more flexibility in our life. We were not 100% sure what it looked like but we knew that we loved the name, Vivian’s Gourmet.

The next three years were filled with personal recipe testing, brainstorming, and some misses. We also welcomed our son, Keaghan in 2014 that opened another door in our life. When I went back to work, I was working part-time, allowing more time with my kids and more time to think about if Vivian’s Gourmet was simply a hobby or if it pans out to be more.

I soon found myself applying for artisan markets, building booths and packaging product to sell. I was flabbergasted after my first market at the amount I sold but more so the comments I received about my goodies. People like them loved them and even compared them to other companies with passing along their compliment! I started to realize that maybe I had more than just a hobby, and so did Geoff.

In January of 2016, he came home to tell me about this space that he found and we should check out. I was a little confused but played along and went to see the space. We talked about how it could be a gourmet bakery, offering more than just pastries or more than cakes. Soon, we were developing our business plan, menu, and signing a lease. A bit fast and overwhelming but by March 18, 2016, we opened our doors to the community. Our goal was to create this high end, a gourmet bakery offering fresh pastries, cookies, bread, and specialty cakes. However, being part of the community and making it family friendly was a must. Offering educational hands-on baking classes to the community as well as a celebration space was a priority of ours.

We are now three years in and we proud to say we have achieved those goals and are constantly growing. One of my favorite things about opening this bakery is truly the people. The community is our biggest fan and I love being able to spend time with them every day, it warms my heart to know that our kids are growing up in such a beautiful place filled with so much love and support. It often reminds me of being at my grandmother’s hip side sharing our love through the love of food, a nostalgic feeling that I hope never leaves me.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Being a mother and an entrepreneur is no easy task. I often find myself experiencing guilt for one reason or another when trying to balance running a successful business and spending quality time with my family. Life of a baker can be very hard as it often includes early mornings and long days. As someone who is very dedicated to my work, I find the biggest struggles are with finding balance, setting and following boundaries and self-care.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Vivian’s Gourmet story. Tell us more about it.
Vivian’s Gourmet is a high-end bakery that specializes in fresh pastries, cakes, cookies, pies and more. On a daily basis, we offer a wide selection of baked goods both sweet and savory and offer Da Kind soup for an additional lunch option.

We offer private & semi-private baking classes along with party options both on and off site.

We are known for the variety of custom cakes available. We can create everything from a classy, elegant birthday cake, to a sculpted specialized cake or a wedding cake of your dreams! We pride ourselves in having a very hands-on personal connection with each client to ensure their expectations are met and exceeded.

Our hand-made, from scratch approach, is a huge factor that sets us apart. We use high end, quality ingredients so that our cakes are unlike anything you will get elsewhere.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I do not believe luck has played a large role in the fate of my business. I started Vivian’s Gourmet on a dream, following my gut and my heart. I listen very closely to both and often make decisions based on what they are telling me. I was lead to where I am in my life by fear, I was afraid of failing and afraid of success so every day, I am grateful for how far I have come. I give credit to listening closely to myself and not always what’s around me to make my next move. It has served me well to this day.

Contact Info:

• Address: 27904 Meadow Drive, Suite B
  Evergreen, CO 80439
• Website: www.viviansgourmet.com
• Phone: 303-674-6781
• Email: kristin@viviansgourmet.com
• Instagram: viviansgourmet
• Facebook: facebook.com/viviansgourmet

Getting in touch: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.