Sheila Healey, a food services director for local businesses, wanted to teach her son leadership and workforce skills. So, she and her husband, a banker, decided the best way to coach him is to show him the bread and butter of a business — literally.
Twice a month, Healey and her family run The Bread Barn, a micro-bakery in Franklin Township. Healey spends about two days baking 10 types of bread, in addition to cookies, cinnamon rolls and rotating items such as bagels, English muffins and biscuits.
“These are items that I like to make, they’re fun,” said Healey, who often bakes until 5 a.m. on Saturdays. “It’s been enjoyable for me.”
Once the bread cools, Healey’s 15-year-old son, Mason, spends Thursday and Friday evenings packaging and labeling the items. Then on Saturdays, Mason and his dad, Brett Healey, monitor sales beginning at 8 a.m. in the barn outside of their house.
The family has recently started training two other teenagers to help with The Bread Barn, and families can contact the farm if their child is looking for employment.
Most items are nut-free, and Sheila Healey is working to provide products for those with gluten intolerance so The Bread Barn can serve more people. But she said nailing a good recipe hasn’t been a piece of cake.
“It’s really hard because the recipes are so different and the outcome is so different,” Healey said. “So I can’t say how long it is going to take me because I’m not going to put out a product that’s not good.”
The family also hopes to sell olive bread soon and cranberry bread in the fall and winter.
Prices typically range from $3 for double chocolate chip cookies up to $15 for a loaf of cheddar bacon sourdough bread or a 9×9 pan of cinnamon rolls.
Cashless, self-serve payments are preferred
All of the items are priced, but community members don’t have to interact with a cashier unless they want to. The Bread Barn has a self-serve payment model based on the honor system. That allows customers to skip the hassle of waiting in a checkout line and instead freely purchase items using Apple Pay, Zelle, Venmo or Cash App. Customers can also place cash or a check in a drop box.
“We’ve had absolutely zero problem with this whatsoever,” said Brett Healey, who said only one customer uses a check. “The only problem we’ve had is maybe everybody is not quite ready for digital payments.”
He said they typically sell out of baked goods by 1 p.m., and any leftovers are given to neighbors or local church members who take the items to people who are physically unable to leave their home. But he suggested community members pre-order cinnamon rolls online since they usually sell out before the stand opens on Saturday mornings.
The Bread Barn is a component of the Healey Farm — a multi-division family business that offers different services such as FarmFresh Vending, which provides vending machines to local businesses; The Trust, a curated referral network for finding contractors; and Faithful Adventures, which sells personalized gifts and ornaments.
Brett Healey said the household business is all about teaching young people and building community.
“People coming onto our property to get their bread, (we’re) interacting with people we would maybe have never interacted with any other way,” he said. “But the bread and the cookies and the cinnamon rolls, all that’s bringing people together. So it really fosters this community environment that we’re going for.”
If you go
Community members can pick up baked goods from 8 a.m. until they’re sold out on the first and third Saturdays of the month at The Bread Barn, 6920 Combs Road. Follow the business’ Facebook page to see current hours.
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Mirror Indy reporter Elizabeth Gabriel covers the south side of Marion County. Contact her at elizabeth.gabriel@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X at @_elizabethgabs.
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