KANSAS CITY, MO — Dog Tag Bakery is the result of a partnership between two people who loved baking and advocating for military veterans and their families. Founded in 2014 by Father Rick Curry and Constance Milstein, Dog Tag is not only a 20-person staffed bakery but also a “living business school.” As an organization, it is classified as non-profit, while the bakery operates as a for-profit business with all revenue feeding into the Fellowship Program.
In addition to receiving bakery and business training, program fellows are also automatically enrolled in the Wounded Warriors program and can access a broader network of specialized assistance. While Dog Tag Bakery provides practical skills, the fellows can receive more personal and mental health resources through Wounded Warriors.
“It can be challenging to define your purpose — and redefine who you are — outside of the military,” said Hillary Richonne, director of communications for Dog Tag. “That tends to be an emotionally and mentally rigorous process, and those are resources we don’t really have. But with a direct line to Wounded Warriors, we can refer fellows there for support with a fast turnaround.”
A safe space
Dog Tag is, above all, a safe space. The building has been retrofitted to be fully compliant under the Americans with Disabilities Act, including the installation of an elevator to the second floor. Additionally, design upgrades were made in consideration of PTSD specific to military combat.
“The building was redesigned in partnership with the Paralyzed Veterans of America to be one of the most ADA compliant buildings for disabled veterans,” Hillary said.
The bakery maintains full visibility from the automatic-door entrance to the back, ensuring no possibility of hidden threats, and all the lights were replaced and dimmed after the first cohort identified the original bright lighting as too harsh.
The warm, welcoming environment also invites customers to spend time there, knowing their patronage is itself an act of good work.
“Many members of the community know Dog Tag as a peaceful place where they can pick up their coffee and croissant,” Hillary said. “And they know they’re also supporting veterans and their families, so it becomes very personal.”
Making connections
Dog Tag also provides opportunities for Georgetown community members to take an active role, whether it’s volunteering to package products or participating in learning lab partnerships where other small businesses can share their journeys with the fellows.
“It creates this connection between the neighborhood, the bakery and the fellows,” said DeAngelo Gamble, director of bakery operations for Dog Tag.
Underneath its mission, Dog Tag is, at its core, a bakery. That means bakers show up at 5:30 a.m. to get production underway. The team creates staple items every day, including brownies and blondies — Dog Tag’s signature products — as well as mini pies, cupcakes and other menu items that are driven more by seasonality and those new products developed by fellows.
Brownie and blondie production ranges from 300 to 700 per day, while the bakery also makes close to 300 cookies per day to be sold from the case or shipped in gift boxes nationwide. Production typically requires five or six bakers working in the kitchen at any given time. Depending on the cohort size, fellows can be working in the main kitchen with bakery staff for in-person baking in the post-R&D stage. Otherwise, they are usually in the classroom or extra kitchen on the building’s second floor.
From the cohort fellows to the bakery staff and volunteers, the Dog Tag mission is threaded throughout.
“For all of us, it’s always about the mission,” DeAngelo said. “It’s about providing service and support for the community and for those who, in some cases, have made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Based on that principle, Dog Tag takes great care in its hiring process for bakery staff. This isn’t a typical bakery, and that requires bakers who are willing to give a little more.
“Baking skills and the creativity to come up with new products and recipes are important,” DeAngelo said. “But we are also very programmatic. Everything revolves around the program, so our bakers also need to have a passion to teach, develop and coach.”
The right hires
In that regard, Taylor McCullough, Dog Tag’s pastry chef, greatly exemplifies what it takes to be a Dog Tag baker.
“She has that passion for training people,” DeAngelo explained. “And she’s also patient with the fellows when she’s walking them through the R&D process and helping them bring an idea to fruition.”
Finding bakers like Taylor is the result of a careful vetting process that places equal emphasis on technical baking skills and those soft skills that the fellows have come to learn.
So far, Dog Tag Bakery has graduated 20 cohort classes. Roughly 32% of those alumni have followed an entrepreneurial path, and about a third of those have stayed within the baking and foodservice industries.
No matter what path they take, the journey doesn’t end there. Upon program completion, Dog Tag cohort fellows become part of the alumni network that offers resources for professional development, engagement opportunities and mentorship programs … all without expiration.
Even after they graduate, the fellows live on at Dog Tag. Alumni receive two dog tags: one to wear and another that hangs from a chandelier (designed as a replica of “Above and Beyond,” a Vietnam veterans memorial at Chicago’s Pritzker Military Museum) beneath a skylight in the bakery’s seating area.
This is especially meaningful to fellows who are military spouses or caregivers and have shared the journey of service without a dog tag of their own.
Looking to the future
As Dog Tag Bakery grows its presence and evolves the program — cohorts have now started in Chicago — it’s leaning on industry organizations such as the American Bakers Association to discover new resources and tap into the broader baking industry community to achieve a goal of expanding the overall reach.
With growth on the horizon, supporting veterans, spouses and caregivers, and serving the community remains at the heart of Dog Tag, no matter where it goes from here. One look at the chandelier is all it takes to remember the mission.
“We’re never done,” DeAngelo said. “The chandelier reminds us of that. It’s symbolic of the community we create. And that’s not just a word; we live by it.”
This story has been adapted from the December | Q4 2024 Craft to Crumb mini-mag. Read the full story in the digital issue here.
