KANSAS CITY, MO — When customers cross the threshold of Moxie Bread Co.’s flagship location, a historic 19th-century home in downtown Louisville, CO, the significance of the bakery’s name probably isn’t top of mind. After all, they’re there for bread, pastries, coffee and community.
But could there be a more perfect name for a bakery? The word “moxie” epitomizes the very essence of bakers: courage, resilience, hard work, perseverance, guts, heart. Believe it or not, the name came about in a last-minute, off-the-cuff sort of way, but it aptly defines how the bakery got to where it is today, as a newly minted Certified B Corp with three locations supplied by a 5,000-square-foot commissary kitchen.
From the beginning
Moxie began as a neighborhood bakery, serving European-style, from-scratch baked goods to locals. While community and clean food were always at the core, the bakery has focused its 10 years in business on becoming a force for good in every way, supporting local farms and businesses, educating consumers about heirloom grains and regenerative agriculture, and finding ways to weave sustainability into nearly every aspect of its operations.
About those heirloom grains … Moxie is known for using more than 10 different varieties of 100% heirloom grains — sourced from family farms in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota — in its baked goods.
“We didn’t start the business with heirloom grains,” said Phillippa (Pippa) Clark, who, along with her late husband, Andy, opened Moxie in 2015. “Andy was a master baker, and we were both passionate about organic, clean-ingredient food. He was really passionate about bread and baked goods, but bread especially … it was his heart. We started to get plugged in with local farmers and learn more about farming and made the switch to be an heirloom bakery a few years after opening.”
When the Clarks opened a second location, the Moxie Feed + Seed in North Boulder, CO, they saw an opportunity to expand their support of local restaurants and bakeries by offering on-site flour milling. They opened The Mill Site, a non-profit 501(c)(3) wholesale stone mill, next door to the new storefront.
“The idea behind opening the mill was to have it be a community place where people could mill their own grains,” Pippa said. “The community aspect was — and still is — the intention. We’re always thinking about how to help grow the communities we serve in different ways, and milling was just another avenue for that.”
By the end of 2021, Moxie had added a third location: the Moxie Mercantile in Lyons, CO. Between grinding grains to supply flour to Moxie’s bakers, local businesses and store customers interested in using freshly milled flour at home, the original milling equipment was struggling to keep up with demand. The Clarks invested in a New American Stone Mills mill with a 48-inch stone and a hopper that can hold up to 400 pounds of grain.
“We added the new mill in 2022 with the goal of increasing production,” explained Carlos Castro, the mill manager at Moxie. “The larger, heavier stone can handle a lot more grain and mill it a lot finer while retaining all the nutrients in the right proportions and percentages that are also in nature.”
Investing in growth
Even though Moxie was growing, bakery production remained centralized at the Louisville location. Capacity was at a premium, and the logistics of getting fresh inventory to three different locations were complex.
“Every day, our bakers were standing shoulder-to-shoulder making bread, pastries and sandwiches,” Pippa recalled. “The pastry equipment was in a tiny former bedroom. We couldn’t produce fast enough and kept running out. Eventually, we moved the pastry equipment to North Boulder, so we were making pastries in North Boulder and kitchen items and bread in Louisville. It made sense to find somewhere right in the middle of our locations and put everything together.”
Moxie moved into a 5,000-square-foot commissary kitchen in Longmont, CO, in January. The bigger space has given everyone some breathing room and increased production by 20%. The next step will be to relocate the milling equipment from North Boulder to a dedicated space in the centralized facility by year’s end.
“It was a really big move for us,” Pippa said. “Now we can make more bread and pastries and have a better working area for the team and some excess space.”
This story has been adapted from the December | Q4 2025 Craft to Crumb mini-mag. Read the full story in the digital issue here.
