📍 Warrenville, New Jersey
🔗 hotplate.com/warrenvillebread

“It was never meant to be a business,” Matilde Rasmussen says. Today, Warrenville Bread has grown into a thriving six-figure microbakery with weekly sourdough drops that often sell out in minutes.

“We are originally from Denmark and we moved here a little over three years ago…European food. It's fresh. It's organic. It's delicious. Fresh bread is everywhere. But when we got here, we were like, where do people get good bread? We just couldn't find good organic bread made with real ingredients.”

So, Matilde started baking it herself.

At first, the bread was just for her family. But eventually she was baking more than they could eat.

“So I baked and baked. Until the point where our freezer and our family just couldn't keep up anymore,” she says. “I really fell in love with the process of doing sourdough. So I said to my husband, take it to the office, bring it to your colleagues.”

The response surprised her. This is amazing bread. Can you bake for us? We want to buy it.

“And I was like, you want to buy my bread?” she says.

From there, Matilde started doing small sourdough drops and bringing loaves to the office for pickup. But after having her baby, transporting everything back and forth became a hassle.

“So I thought, what if people could just pick it up from my garage?” she says. “I got the cottage food license and made this Facebook post in our local group. I love to bake. Is anybody interested in fresh sourdough?”

That simple setup quickly grew into a steady stream of regular customers.

From home kitchen to commercial kitchen

In the early days, Matilde baked at home while taking care of her kids. Word spread naturally through Facebook and between friends.

Over time, regular customers started showing up week after week.

As demand grew, she eventually outgrew her home kitchen and moved production into a commercial kitchen space, where she now runs her weekly sourdough drops.

A turning point came when a local newspaper featured her story and included links to her Instagram and Hotplate storefront. Suddenly, it became much easier for new customers to discover her bakery, browse the menu, and place orders.

“And then they come back week after week,” she says. “I’ve truly met so many wonderful people through this. Moving here from another country, I didn’t know anybody, so I feel very grateful for the community that has grown around it. It has become so much more than just bread.”

Since then, her weekly drops have continued to grow, mostly through word of mouth.

How she runs her microbakery today

Today, Matilde runs Warrenville Bread as a weekly sourdough microbakery with a highly structured rhythm that works with the rest of her life.

“I needed it to fit into our life as expats without any support network or family here. So I have two long dedicated days to it now since I outgrew our kitchen and rent a space twice a week. The rest of the tasks I fit in at flexible hours that can work around my kids’ schedule. I honestly love having built something that I can run like this.”

Her week starts on Friday, when she builds the menu and plans quantities for the next drop. Orders open Sunday at 10am and often sell out within minutes.

From there, everything follows a set process. Wednesday is for mixing and prepping dough. Thursday is for baking and pickups.

“I wake up at like 4 a.m. Wednesday is 10 to 12 hours and maybe Thursday is 12 to 16 hours,” she says.

Each order is packed by hand, with names written on every bag. On busy weeks, 50-60 bags are lined up across tables waiting for pickup.

“It’s just intense what’s going on,” she says. “I’m pulling loaves out, still packing, and customers are arriving getting their weekly bread.”

Because of that, her workflow has to be simple and reliable.

“The system has to be really clear and organized during pickups,” she says. “I’m very structured, and that helps tremendously in a setup like this.”

Building for efficiency

As her volume grew, Matilde realized she needed to think carefully about sustainability and efficiency.

Everything is now built around her equipment and workflow. Her dough bins hold a fixed number of loaves. Her ovens fit a specific number at a time. Her recipes are designed around those constraints.

“This didn’t even – I didn’t plan this to be a business. It kind of happened, and I feel so grateful for how this journey has unfolded” she says.

But as it grew, she learned quickly that running a bakery requires a different mindset than baking at home.

“In the beginning, you’re just a passionate home baker making one recipe at a time,” she says. “But when it turns into a business, you have to start thinking differently. You have to build systems that are efficient and sustainable.”

That realization shaped how she builds her menu today.

“I learned that I cannot, you know, do 10 different kinds of loaves. I need to make it efficient and for it to be sustainable.”

She’s also intentional about protecting balance outside of baking.

“I need the balance of doing something else the other days, so that I continue to love baking” she says.

That structure is what allows her to keep growing without overextending herself.

Finding the right tools

Matilde discovered Hotplate through other microbakers she followed online.

“I would click on their links and think, how cool is this?” she says.

When she started her own bakery, it quickly became a central part of how she operates.

“Hotplate was just a very powerful tool for me to get started,” she says. “I don't think I would have been where I am today if it hadn't been for Hotplate.”

She especially values the direct connection with customers.

“That text list is such a powerful tool because you push it out every week and people get it on their phone,” she says. “And then they're like, Oh, let me just check it out. I don't have to do anything.”

Her customers notice the difference too.

“My customers tell me, ‘This is a very professional setup,’” she says.

Looking ahead

Warrenville Bread has grown far beyond the small garage pickups where it started.

Today, the bakery has grown into a thriving six-figure microbakery with weekly sourdough drops that regularly sell out - something Matilde never imagined when she first started baking extra loaves for her husband’s coworkers.

But for her, the growth has never been about scaling as quickly as possible. “It has been a journey that kind of has unfolded itself and I’ve gone with it”. It has always been about building something sustainable - something that fits around family life, creativity, and the kind of business she genuinely enjoys running.

She has built systems that work for her schedule, her equipment, and the rhythm of weekly baking. Some weeks are bigger than others, especially around the holidays, but the focus is on keeping the bakery manageable, intentional, and enjoyable long term.

What started as baking better bread for her family slowly turned into a loyal customer base, a commercial kitchen operation, and a thriving microbakery serving her community every single week.