Amy Lund
Co-Founder & CEO | Dough Lady
What emerging market trends or disruptions are you preparing your company for?
While much of the food industry is racing toward faster convenience, I see a growing desire for something very different: connection.
In a world that begs for our time from every angle, consumers are craving spaces and experiences that feel human, familiar and meaningful. At the Dough Lady, we’ve intentionally built a brand that invites people to settle in — whether that’s baking our frozen dough at home with loved ones or lingering in a bakery designed to feel cozy and welcoming.
We’re always evolving what we make, but never why we make it. The Dough Lady exists to help people gather and be present, no matter how fast the world moves around them.
What are you most looking forward to accomplishing in 2026?
After an intense year opening our brick-and-mortar and building the plane while it was flying, all while becoming a parent for the first time, 2026 feels like a year of refinement. I’m most excited about turning rapid growth into intentional growth — refining our systems and building a company that can thrive long-term. This means improving operations, strengthening our team and continuing to build a brand our community feels deeply connected to. It’s a shift from being run by the business to truly leading it.
Describe the growth of your company in recent years. What other major achievements did the company accomplish under your leadership?
The Dough Lady began in November 2020 in our 1,300-square-foot townhome with two menu items — frozen cinnamon and orange rolls. Orders came through Instagram DMs, and customers picked up from a cooler on our porch.
As demand grew, we expanded the menu, partnered with local shops for pop-ups and became a regular vendor at the Downtown Salt Lake Farmers Market. We continually said “yes” to opportunities that stretched us and built momentum. From the beginning, social media and storytelling were used intentionally to grow an audience, turning customers into loyal supporters long before a storefront ever existed. In December 2024, we transitioned from a commercial kitchen lease to our first brick-and-mortar bakery in Millcreek. This included designing the space, tripling our team in the first year, implementing new operational systems and maintaining a workplace culture centered on kindness and connection through rapid growth.
The Dough Lady has been named Best Cinnamon Rolls by City Weekly three years in a row, and on our busiest days, we now generate more revenue than we did in our first two months combined. What started with two founders in a small home kitchen has grown into a neighborhood gathering place with more than 20 employees and tens of thousands of visitors each year.
