Kyle Chavira picks up pieces of shortbread while serving customers at The Village Baker on Thursday in Bend. (Joe Kline/The Bulletin)

For nearly three decades, Lauren Kurzman has kneaded her way into the fabric of Bend’s lifestyle.

As the owner of The Village Baker, Kurzman says it’s time to hang up her rolling pin and try her hand at painting or growing irises.

“I have other passions and I am ready for someone to be inspired like I was to take this on,” Kurzman said. “I have a lot of creative energy in different places.

“Owning a bakery is a fun dream. People are always happy in a bakery.”

Kurzman wants to sell the business on SW Knoll Avenue in Bend for $800,000, said Ken Streater, Aligned Commercial Real Estate principal broker.

The 4,000 square-foot bakery has a hearty lunch menu of soups and salads that it sells during its Tuesday through Saturday hours. The sale only includes the business, not the space, which is on a lease that expires July 2026, according to the sales documents.  The landlord has agreed to work with the new owners on a lease agreement, Streater said. 

The sale includes any business wholesale accounts in effect at the time and the proprietary recipes, Streater said.

Well-known for its rustic breads that can be found on shelves in local stores and restaurants, customers can also purchase take and bake items. A point of pride for Kurzman’s is the bakery’s reputation for consistency and quality.  

“People want consistency and people want what they had the last time,” Kurzman said. “Our staff is trained in that. The quality we put out is very important.“

The bakery employs 15 people who work on everything from counter sales to baking bread. 

Over the years Kurzman has fielded questions from customers seeking to buy her business. But the time never seemed right, she said. Now it feels like it’s time to move on and cultivate new interests.  

In business, there’s an evolution that occurs with ownership, said Georell Bracelin, chairman of Opportunity Knocks, a Central Oregon non-profit mentoring program for businesses. Transitions are part of that process, Bracelin said. 

“The Village Baker has played such a valued role in our community over the past 20 years,” Bracelin said. “It’s a reminder of how much our community embraces local businesses and  inspires the community  to continue to support them whether they are just starting, growing or transitioning.”

With any business that has been around as long as The Village Baker, there are ups and downs from economic recessions and pandemics. When Kurzman started leasing her space, there weren’t many businesses around the area. Today it can be a challenge to find a parking space in the lot or on the street near the bakery.

The town has grown up around it, she said. And through all that change, the bakery thrived, Kurzman said. 

“When I started back in 1996, the idea was to bake for the people around us,” Kurzman said. “At that time there was no Google. No internet. You had to write to the state to see if a name was taken.”

Reporter: 541-633-2117, suzanne.roig@bendbulletin.com