Change is afoot at Camp Meade in Middlesex where Red Hen Bakery and Café is moving its café to Montpelier, and Woodbelly Pizza is taking over the café on May 1.
Red Hen will continue to bake bread at the Camp Meade location while its new facility at Welch Park in Middlesex is under construction. Café operations will move to 60 Main Street in Montpelier. Once the new Middlesex facility is open, it will house the bread baking and a café with the Montpelier café remaining open.
Red Hen has been operating at Camp Meade for the past 18 years. The company was founded in 1999 by Eliza Cain and Randy George and outgrew that space in short order. Red Hen employs 60 people and its bread is widely distributed daily throughout Vermont.
“It’s been a pleasure to see Red Hen grow and thrive during its almost two decades on the Camp Meade campus. We are excited to see them take this next step with their new Welch Park facility and Montpelier café,” said Russ Bennett, Camp Meade owner.
“We’re also excited to welcome and begin working with Woodbelly to help their business thrive here in this busy crossroads of community, food, fun and arts,” he added.
Woodbelly is a central Vermont farm to table pizza producer and caterer whose owners grow, harvest and source local and organic ingredients for their fare. They make their dough from flour milled in Elmore and the team has been making woodfired pizza since 2008.
Woodbelly will be open early in the morning, seven days a week serving coffee, pastries, donuts, and breakfast fare which will slide into the lunch, with sandwiches and pizza. Woodbelly will be open for dinner to add to the evening offerings in Middlesex.
Red Hen Bakery and Cafe has been working for more than a year to establish a new home in Middlesex. After an extended process of planning, permitting, and financing, construction began earlier this month at the new site at Welch Park. Cain and Randy George expect to move bakery production there in September, with plans to begin construction of a new cafe shortly after.
“While we had originally hoped to keep our wholesale and retail operations together in one place, this transition will mean operating across multiple locations for a period of time,” George said. Cain noted that Red Hen has had a long business relationship with Woodbelly and that “we are grateful to have worked out a plan with them that allows Red Hen’s baking operations to remain at Camp Meade until we move to the Welch Park space in the fall.” Red Hen will continue to bake and deliver bread to local stores and restaurants seven days a week as they have been since 1999.
The couple acknowledged that this was not their original plan. “We are sad to be leaving Middlesex. This community has been very good to us, but the opportunity to occupy a larger space in downtown Montpelier is very exciting. Many customers have asked for years if we would ever consider opening a cafe in Montpelier... and now we are,” said George. “There are so many possibilities that exist with this transition, as well as opportunities to further build up and support the local community through both cafes,” added Cain.
Red Hen will open its Montpelier cafe seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. with extended evening hours for creemees in the summer season.
