J.Rich Atlanta believes in elevating influential voices in our community. Today, we hear from Emma & Sean Schacke, Founders of Kirkwood’s Evergreen Butcher & Baker!
If you have driven down the streets of Kirkwood lately, you may have noticed a new face on the block nestled behind the neighborhood stalwart that is Ardens Garden. Evergreen Butcher + Baker, has moved into the building at 2011 Hosea L. Williams Drive and transformed a space loaded with potential into a thriving business poised to become a new anchor in Kirkwood’s quaint business district. Evergreen is an homage of sorts to a time past, when you could walk to a local butcher or bakery to procure fresh meats and breads. We took a moment to sit down … well actually stand up … and speak with Sean & Emma Schacke, the husband and wife duo behind Evergreen, to uncover what inspired them to start the business and why they chose Kirkwood to call home.
Q&A with Sean & Emma
1) How did you guys dream up this entire idea and concept; where did it come from?
Sean:
For as long as Emma can remember, she's wanted to own a bakery. It kind of started for me once I started cooking. I always thought it would be cool to have a sandwich shop, deli kind of thing. That was 15 years ago, and we have been working and learning different avenues in our crafts. I started butchering five years ago or so and really loved it and got into it.
Emma:
I've been working in bakeries for the last 10 years, so I feel like I just kind of pulled all my favorite things about each one. I worked in a bakery in Amsterdam that was kind of like this, where it was just all grab-n-go stuff, and it was so nice that everyone who lived in the area was able to grab something.
I always wanted a bakery. He always wanted a sandwich shop so ….
Sean:
Once Emma started doing the bread, it all just went hand in hand — bread, meats, pastries.
“I worked for Eli Kirshtein when he was on Top Chef. It was my first job, and it was kind of baptism by fire.”
2) Where did you start your careers?
Emma:
I went to a French pastry school when I was 19. After pastry school, I worked at Cacao, Atlanta, as a chocolate maker for a couple years. Then I went to Amsterdam and worked as a baker. I came back and worked at the One Eared Stag as a pastry chef, and that’s where I met Sean.
Sean:
I started about 15 years ago in a restaurant called Eno that was in Midtown. It closed a few years back. I worked for Eli Kirshtein when he was on Top Chef. It was kind of baptism by fire. I went from there to a few other kitchens around town and got the job at One Eared Stag, and I was there for about three and a half years. I became the sous-chef there, and that's where I met Emma.
We moved to Nashville. I was the executive sous-chef at Jonathan Waxman's place called Adele's. Then we moved to Chicago, and that's where I realized I was a little burnt out from being in the kitchen, the long hours…
Emma:
He was working like 90-hour weeks!
Sean:
I had gotten into butchering whole hogs and goats at the Stag here, and Emma was like, “Maybe you should try to find a butchering job in Chicago.” I agreed and got a job at Publican Quality Meats.
Emma:
In Chicago I worked in Floriole Bakery and Pleasant House Bread which is where I switched over to sourdough breads, particularly. We were doing all wood-fired bread and milling flour, so I feel like that's where I got an appreciation for grains and the techniques that go into it.
Then we moved to Portland, Maine together, and I worked at Scratch Baking Company.
Sean:
I worked at a small butcher shop there, so I kind of got the sense of what it's like to be a huge mass production in Chicago and what it’s like to be the neighborhood place where everyone comes in everyday for their meal. I kind of got both sides, which helps us envision this place a little better to best fit the neighborhood.
“We were doing all wood-fired bread and milling flour, so I feel like that’s where I got an appreciation for grains and the techniques that go into it.”
3) Where does the name come from?
Sean:
It comes from our time in Maine because they're the pine state and it's evergreen.
Emma:
It really is because we just kind of want to be steady and stable for everyone's lives and households. We don't think bread or meat should be some luxury item. We think you should be able to have access to good quality items to take home and feed your family. We want to be able to stay constant in people's lives.
4) Since you guys got started here, how have things been going for you so far?
Emma:
It's been going really great.
Sean:
Yeah, we couldn't ask for anything more.
Emma:
It’s also been overwhelming because we didn't really expect the reception that we've been receiving, so that's really nice.
Sean:
Yeah, we had confidence that what we were doing would be well received, but everyone seems to really love it, and we're just trying to keep up right now.
Emma:
We can't quite make enough bread for everybody.
“It’s also been overwhelming because we didn’t really expect the reception that we’ve been receiving, so that’s really nice.”
5) Why Kirkwood?
Emma:
Kirkwood kind of fit exactly what we really needed because of our vision for being a specific neighborhood place where everyone can easily come here and buy what they need.
Sean:
It's so easily walkable, and parking is at a premium in the city already anyway. Just knowing that there was already a built-in base here in this neighborhood was great because we're not trying to get anyone driving in. I mean, we'll take that, too, but our whole idea was that we could just survive with a neighborhood.
Emma:
And the best part already is that we have customers that we already recognize and know their names and they come in every week. That's the best part about it. That's what we wanted.
6) Why this building?
Emma:
We were like, this would be perfect. It was an empty shell, and we could make it exactly what we needed, but it was just hard to feel like we deserved such a great opportunity. We’ve been moving around for the last 10 years of my life, so it was kind of a big thing to be like, we're here and we're staying for good.
Sean:
With this whole building, our whole dream of being able to live above our workspace was easy to accomplish.
Emma:
The low was waiting an eternity for all of the zoning and permitting and everything when we had just moved back from Maine and we were living with my parents, so it was a process. It felt like it took forever.
Sean:
Yeah, we definitely learned patience, I think. That was the worst part. We really wanted to get back to work.
Emma:
We were definitely out of our comfort zone learning how the whole process works. I don't want to do it again.
7) Since you guys have been open, what's been the biggest hurdle for you to overcome?
Sean:
Getting our production down so that we're not spending every waking hour here.
Emma:
I mean, we expected a lot of hard work obviously. Twenty-hour days is a little much though, but we're willing to do it. It’s just, I didn't expect to need so many extra hands, especially with the pastries.
Sean:
We thought we could handle it but ….
Emma:
Yeah, we made numbers based on the maximum number I could produce alone. I hit 400 pastries and 75 loaves of bread a day, and that was selling out in 2 hours, so now I need more hands because people are buying boxes of pastries at a time.
Make sure to check out Evergreen Butcher + Baker.
PRO TIP: Get there early because they sell out of the good stuff fast!
