Kevin Masse has all the time been drawn to the kitchen, the place the rhythm of cooking and baking was on the coronary heart of his upbringing. Rising up in Syracuse, New York, the kitchen was a energetic place each night time because the household gathered across the desk, with high quality substances all the time on the middle of their meals. His Italian grandmother, too, performed a key function in igniting his deep love for meals. It was by her aspect that he first realized to bake with recent dough, as she lovingly crafted her selfmade pizzas for the household to take pleasure in.“I believe the primary time I cooked dinner for my household, I used to be in all probability 10 or 11 years outdated,” Kevin recollects. “It has all the time been part of my life.” His love for the precision and methodical nature of baking grew in highschool, although he by no means imagined it might flip right into a profession.
For years, baking stayed a cherished pastime. Even whereas he labored in advertising and media in New York Metropolis, Kevin discovered time to bake for dinner events and workplace gatherings. A serendipitous shift into meals media reignited his ardour for baking. Throughout this time, he labored with Bake from Scratch, creating content material partnerships with most of the manufacturers that proceed to collaborate with the publication at present. This additionally led to him contributing the duvet recipe to the Could/June 2017 situation, a second that foreshadowed his future within the baking world.
In 2019, Kevin’s journey took a pivotal flip. After relocating from New York Metropolis to the Hartford, Connecticut, space together with his husband, Michael, a professor at Trinity School, Kevin secured considered one of West Hartford’s first cottage meals licenses—simply because it turned authorized for house bakers to promote on to shoppers. About the identical time, he was gifted a sourdough starter by his buddy cookbook writer Terry Walters. This starter—and the sourdough strategies she shared with him—turned the muse of Small State Provisions.
“I began making a few loaves per week,” Kevin says. “I used to be baking in Dutch ovens at house, promoting on a subscription mannequin.” Prospects signed up for eight-week periods, throughout which Kevin delivered recent loaves straight to their doorways. It was a small, sustainable operation—till all the things modified in March 2020.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, contactless supply turned a necessity, and Kevin tailored rapidly, baking and dropping off loaves at clients’ properties. “I had this second the place I assumed, ‘I can both cease doing this or lean in and make it work,’” he says. He selected the latter, and earlier than lengthy, Small State Provisions outgrew his house kitchen. He transformed a part of his home right into a bakery, organising a shaping desk, a bread oven, and a 40-quart spiral mixer.
By the tip of 2020, it was clear this was now not only a aspect mission. With a number of full-time staff counting on him, Kevin made the leap to full-time bakery proprietor. The bakery’s first retail location, a comfortable 200-square-foot house, opened in July 2021. It rapidly turned obvious they wanted extra room. In July 2023, Small State Provisions moved into a bigger house, increasing right into a full café expertise and elevated manufacturing.
Behind this success is a real household effort. His husband helped get the bakery off the bottom, whereas his dad is Chief Know-how Officer, his stepmom is Chief Monetary Officer, and his stepdad is his accountant. “It actually does take a village to open a bakery and develop it,” Kevin says. “And I’m so grateful for mine.”
However Small State Provisions isn’t nearly making nice bread and pastries—it’s about creating an area the place clients really feel seen and valued. “We greet each buyer as in the event that they have been household,” Kevin says. “We get to know them, their youngsters’ names, their orders. It’s not only a transaction; it’s about connection.”
That sense of hospitality extends to his group as properly. Kevin created a set of core values—his personal model of the Ten Commandments—to make sure his staff really feel supported. “Household comes first, second, and third,” he explains. “I need my group to know that their private lives matter, that we respect their time and commitments outdoors of labor.”
From the beginning, Small State Provisions has centered on high-quality, natural substances. “Whenever you’re solely working with flour, salt, and water, you need to take note of the main points,” Kevin says. His group sources natural grains at any time when doable, together with domestically milled rye flour from a small producer in Hadley, Massachusetts. “We attempt to work with small, native suppliers first earlier than turning to nationwide ones,” he says. “It’s about supporting our neighborhood.”
Kevin’s dedication to high quality extends to his different baked items, too. The bakery began with simply two forms of cookies and one scone, however at present, the pastry case overflows with butter croissants, chocolate croissants, almond croissants, banana bread, and extra. In the event you go to the bakery, three must-try objects are his chewy gingerbread cookies, signature sourdough, and never-too-sweet blueberry scones.
Now, Small State Provisions has two places and employs greater than 30 folks, a mixture of full- and part-time employees. A few of them are highschool college students getting their first style of the working world—one thing Kevin likes to assist, impressed by his personal teenage job at regional grocery store Wegmans. “I really like that we are able to supply an area the place younger folks can be taught the artwork of hospitality,” he says. “They’re a part of one thing larger right here.”
Whereas Kevin nonetheless spends time within the manufacturing kitchen, his function has advanced. A management course with the Bread Bakers Guild of America launched him to the idea of working from “the balcony”—stepping again to supervise operations reasonably than being hands-on in manufacturing. “It’s a transition I’m working by way of,” he admits. “However I really like main the group and ensuring they really feel supported.”
By way of all the expansion and success, Kevin’s love for baking stays unchanged. “It’s nonetheless magical to me,” he says. “Taking one thing uncooked, placing it within the oven, and pulling out one thing utterly reworked—it by no means will get outdated.”
His private favorites? The bakery’s sourdough baguettes, which remind him of his travels to Paris. He additionally loves the focaccia, baked in a sq. pan with extra-virgin olive oil, rosemary, and sea salt. “That one’s actually particular,” he says. “It’s easy however good.”
Connecticut, the third-smallest state within the nation, impressed the identify Small State Provisions. Whereas the identify displays the state’s dimension, the bakery itself represents one thing a lot larger: a enterprise that has grown from a small cottage operation right into a cornerstone of its neighborhood, constructed on the values of high quality, connection, and care—one thoughtfully crafted loaf at a time.
