by LAURA TABOR
Lifestyles Reporter

A wave of sweet and savory smells crashes over you as you enter the front door of a bakery.

This, a common occurrence, doesn’t cause everyone to create their own pastry, bread and coffee shop.

But for owners Carson J. Coatney and his wife Mindy, walking into a Virginia bakery sent them on a journey that continues today at Stick Boy Bread Company.

“We thought it seemed really cool, and that Boone didn’t have anything like this,” Coatney said. “We went on a tour of North Carolina bakeries and decided what sort of things we wanted to incorporate into our shop.”

The shop is located on Hardin Street, right next to Appalachian State University’s east campus.

It started as half of a building shared with a laundromat, but after two years the bakery expanded into the whole building.

“We basically taught ourselves everything we know,” Coatney said. “We attended a three-day workshop and worked with a baker in Hickory, but a lot of what we got was from cookbooks.”

The desserts, smoothies and espresso bar came after the expansion, but the specialty bread remains a staple for their operation.

Students from Appalachian are both customers and employees of Stick Boy.

Patrick G. Sullivan, Appalachian alumnus and Stick Boy employee, said, “On-campus jobs are cool, but here you are really involved with the community and get to step outside of the university bubble. It’s also a break from the academic atmosphere.”

The job entails everything from keeping a smiling face for customers, to carrying bags of flour and paying close attention to details.
The bread produced by these employees is markedly different from ordinary grocery-store fare.

“We use traditional methods and wholesome ingredients without preservatives,” Sullivan said. “We also listen to what the customers want. If someone suggests an idea, we’ll do the research and find out how to make it happen.”

Junior public relations major Leigh Anna Johnson was hired nearly a year ago during the summer, and has stayed with Stick Boy ever since.

“We put a lot of time into these products. We know the terminology about what these breads are like; this bread’s sweet, this bread’s savory,” Johnson said. “We have a lot of repeating customers.”

To attract more customers, students can receive a 10 percent discount.

As for the best-baked good in the store, there is no consensus.

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