 Michelle Nicholson wanted to learn how to make sourdough bread, and in 2019, she started to teach herself in her kitchen. Learning a new skill always includes trial and error, and soon, Michelle found herself with more bread than she and her family could possibly eat in a week. She began to give it away to friends, sharing posts in a small Facebook group and leaving loaves on her front porch, free for the taking. Michelle had no idea that her hobby would soon turn into much more than casual social media posts and bread on the doorstep.
Neighbors, family, and friends started to say that they would be willing to pay for Michelle’s sourdough. In December 2019, she acquired a food license that allowed her to sell products out of her home, and Michelle started taking orders. By the time the pandemic hit in March 2020, she was up and running and had a small, regular customer base that only increased when people were stuck at home and the sourdough craze took over social media. “We went from 30 people to 60 people to 120 people. We ended up closing the Facebook group and making it a public page eventually, but it was at 500 people when I shut it down,” explained Michelle. Her weekly sign-up sheets to order bread started selling out, and she realized she needed a way to manage her growing business. During her marketing career, Michelle used Constant Contact, so she knew the digital marketing tool had everything she needed. “I was using Constant Contact almost immediately because it was my go-to. I had been using Constant Contact for most of my career.” |
It’s Bread Week To manage the demand and create excitement around her new bread each week, Michelle implemented a lottery system where people could enter to win–and the prize was getting to purchase bread. Every Friday morning, she would randomly pull 70 names from the hundreds who wanted her sourdough. Through Constant Contact, Michelle would send the lucky winners an email saying “Congratulations! It’s Bread Week!” and include a discount code that allowed them to order one item. Michelle Nicholson, Owner of The Flour Girl Bakery & Cafe and Connecticut Small Business Person of the Year in 2025. The community of Hebron, Connecticut could not get enough of Michelle’s baking, so her biggest challenge was keeping up with the orders. She quickly moved into a church kitchen to give herself more space, but even that wasn’t enough, and when there was an opportunity to buy a building on Main Street, Michelle knew she had to make it happen. Using the momentum of her community, she ran a crowdfunding campaign that raised $14,000 in 48 hours, which enabled her to take the next step for The Flour Girl in 2021–opening a bakery that she would later expand into a cafe. The buildings were especially symbolic of her community-driven mission because the bakery used to be the town parsonage, and the cafe used to be the general store. The main ingredient is community From the start, Michelle’s business was founded in her relationships with neighbors. Even though her day-to-day looks very different than it did when she was baking every day, the spirit of embracing the community stays the same. “The community built my business,” said Michelle. “The community runs my business. My business runs off the community and they give back to it.” With such passionate hometown support for The Flour Girl, Michelle relies on word of mouth and hyperlocal marketing opportunities, like sponsoring the T-ball team, instead of investing in paid advertising campaigns. Alexandra Salimi |
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