Disappointment’s inevitable, but that’s exactly how Dough Lady started.
Founder Amy Lund was constantly disappointed by every cinnamon roll she ate (dry, tasteless, never enough filling), and because her expectations were lofty opposites (she wanted them gooier, more flavorful, topped with plenty of cream cheese), she started tinkering with a recipe. She started baking her own.
“I’d been baking them for years when [my husband] Eric and I saw a gap in the market,” Amy says. “Nobody was doing frozen dough.” Besides, their kitchen was too small for baking in large quantities. Together, they decided to create and sell frozen cinnamon roll dough.
For most of 2020, Amy worked remotely for a healthcare company and was going more than a little stir-crazy at home. Then in mid-November, she and Eric launched their business at a nephew’s basketball game, publishing their first Instagram post from the parking lot.
It was uncomplicated and unattached to much of a strategy. They figured it’d be a way to provide sweet treats for friends and family, while allowing Amy to get her occasional baking fix. It’d also give the newlyweds an extra income stream, a side hustle fueled with passion.
Their fast success with frozen dough gave way to baking them fresh at home. Amy and Eric would finish their jobs at 5 p.m., bake for hours on end (often until 2 in the morning), then proceed to do deliveries around the time the sun came up.
As they adapted to that rapid growth, additional change was inevitable.
“We replaced our dining room table with industrial tables,” Eric says. “We emptied our home freezer and filled it up with frozen rolls. [We bought] a garage freezer, and filled that with rolls.”
Eventually, it allowed Amy to leave her desk job, and Eric followed a short while later. Their side project quickly evolved into one that entirely supported their family. Now, instead of existing largely as an online phenomenon, they have their own brick-and-mortar location in Millcreek, which Amy considers the realization of a dream.
Waiting to exhale
Getting to do this most days of the week feels like being allowed to exhale, Amy says — and that’s despite the many 80-hour workweeks and added stress of managing a 20-person team of makers and bakers. The evidence they’re needed is clear from the long lines of customers winding through the parking lot and around the block, and selling out in under 90 minutes during the holidays.
In the days leading up to Christmas, the demand for their wares — a short list including cinnamon rolls, cookies, bread pudding, cookie and dinner roll dough — outweighs what’s normally their maximum capacity.
“To put it into perspective, everything we made and baked in the entire 2020 season, we made that same amount in a day this past season, even double that some days,” Amy says.
As it’s grown — surpassing even their own projections — so too has their pervasive online presence. Dough Lady recently surpassed 30,000 Instagram followers eager to hear the surprise weekly specials or learn that a sell-out is imminent. Customers also like sharing their own stories of what Dough Lady means to them, both online and in person.
For instance, their cinnamon rolls remind some customers of the same ones their grandma used to make. One woman who lost her mother shared that the rolls are the only treats that come close to her reliving those memories. Hugs are often shared. Tears are often shed.
“Besides incredible cinnamon rolls, what Amy’s done really well is create a brand,” Eric says. “Utah loves to rally around something homegrown, and that’s been really impactful.”
Dough Lady’s connection to the community extends well beyond earning repeat customers. Other businesses took an interest in the bakery early on, including Roots Coffee & Co. owner Ginalen Soto. Since Dough Lady’s first pop-up experience at one of its three locations, cinnamon rolls have been a regular addition to its offerings, and they sell out regularly.
“Their cinnamon rolls have been such a meaningful addition to our business,” Soto says. “They elevated our pastry offerings early on and quickly became something customers looked forward to.” Soto adds that it took just one taste to know Dough Lady had created something special. “Beyond the product itself, working with Amy and Eric created an organic, community-driven connection that reflects all we care about at Roots. We love supporting local businesses, especially when they’re run by people as hardworking and kind as they are.”
Roots never charges vendor fees, because Soto says it’s about “building each other up and watching our community grow together.”
Your lab is your kitchen
Growing up, Amy remembers Sundays being set aside for baking, which naturally led to experimenting. As the middle child of three sisters, Amy became accustomed to exploring the kitchen, a space her mom, Janene Southwick, likened to a lab. With a wheat grinder on hand, they made everything from scratch, whether it was bread, pancakes, graham crackers or muffins.
Cinnamon rolls came later, Southwick says — a creation Amy came up with on her own.
“At this point, [Amy] certainly seems to have found her passion, but her years in the corporate arena gave her valuable experience,” Southwick says. “Now she’s just channeling her positive energy in a different direction: her own.”
While the goal isn’t to expand to a second location just yet, there’s a reason for that: Being the only neighborhood bakery in town means they won’t lose the warmth that people feel when visiting. They remain local. They become familiar faces.
“I think cinnamon rolls are starting to have a moment. There’s a lot of other bakeries like ours popping up, many in New York, but they’ve yet to make it to Utah,” Amy says. “Utah has such a talented baking scene, and I have so many favorite bakers here. This state has a very underrated food scene. So many favorite treats, and so much talent. As for me, I’m just a girl trying to do my best.”
One thing’s for certain — as long as Dough Lady exists, nobody will have to face cinnamon roll disappointment again.