Meet Peter Dargis,

Owner of Bread Poets.
Located at 106 E Thayer Ave, Bismarck, ND.
Open 7a-3p, Mon-Friday.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Peter and hear about the happenings at Bread Poets. As the company celebrates it’s 26 year anniversary, it’s great to see the same consistent high quality that we have come to enjoy here.

In this interview, we cover everything from the brand refresh, healthier breads, and a new menu item. This is a great look behind the scenes of a staple in the Bismarck-Mandan community.

I was excited to hear that they’ve phased out high fructose corn syrup from the majority of their products, with the remaining to follow suit shortly. It may seem like a small thing, but the little wins add up in life - especially when it comes to what we eat.

If you haven’t tried Bread Poets, don’t wait! And if you’re not sure what to order, just get the Studebaker on grain. You’ll be thankful you tried it!

—Phil, Phillip On Food

Phil— Hey, Peter! It’s good to sit down with you again, what, 20 months later? What’s life like these days?

Peter— Yeah, somewhere around there! Life is pretty similar, my girls are just a little older, so they’re both in preschool now. That’s a bit different, but otherwise life is pretty much the same at home these days. There’s not a ton of time when you run a business and have kids! Time is short in the evenings and the weekends are spent as a family doing as much as we can together. I love spending time with my wife and our two girls.

My wife, Jess, was recently named CEO of Enable Incorporated, which does services and housing for people with development disabilities. So now we're essentially running two businesses together and parenting. I'm running the show here and trying to improve things here, and she’s running the show and improving things over there. It’s never a dull moment!

Phil— Wow, congratulations to Jess! That’s awesome. It sounds like you’re a busy bunch.

You’ve owned Bread Poets for over two years now, is there anything that you didn’t expect when you took over?

Peter— The amount of work! The amount of hours you have to put in. I knew it was going to be a lot, but I was a bit naive to how much is needed. It’s a 24/7 job, a lifestyle really.

When we’re not here at nights, on weekends, or after we put the girls to bed, we’re still always thinking about it. Trying to think of new ideas or what we can do differently, or just the stress of the business or handling bills. All of that stuff is always on your mind as a business owner, you know? Your business is an entity that you care for in its own way.

Phil— You’re not alone! That’s something that many business owners can relate to, I’m sure.

What brought on the brand refresh?

Peter— It is something I’ve had on my mind since I bought the business. I wanted to do something to refresh the brand, put our mark on the business and help push us in front of the community. I just think it was time for something fresh!

We are hoping the community is as excited about the new look as we are, and we have received a lot of amazing feedback so far on the colors and the logo. The logo adds back in “Baking Company” to bring that back to the forefront of our name, because that is what we are!

The icon is fun and features wheat on one side and a feather quill pen on the other, which of course align with the two elements of our name, the Bread and the Poets. We worked with The Good Kids, another local business in Bismarck, on the brand refresh and think it really turned out great!

We wanted to refresh the look of the business without losing the core of what makes Bread Poets a staple in Bismarck-Mandan.

Phil— I completely understand that. The community knows the business, but you also need to make it your own, too.

Peter— Exactly. Bread Poets has been around a long time, we’re hitting 26 years this September. It has a wonderful name, and we certainly want to keep that. We’re just reiterating the baking side of things, focusing on our bakery products and the sandwiches underneath of it. It’s important that we maintain the recipes, but we also want to add our twist on things.

Phil— 26 years?! That’s incredible!

Peter— People grew up on our products. They have enjoyed our products for years, and now their kids are trying and enjoying our products. We’ve crossed a generational line it seems, and we absolutely love that.

That’s part of why we wanted to do a refresh, too, and add some more excitement. We want to bring people back to our bakery who maybe haven’t visited in a while, and also attract new folks as well. We recognize that there are many new people and new food options in Bismarck, and we want to remind people that we have the same delicious products as always!

Phil— So the brand has been refreshed, but what about the menu? Any changes we can expect to see?

Peter— We have all the same sandwiches, I know people have their favorites!

One of the changes people can expect is healthier breads. We’ve removed the high fructose corn syrup from all of the breads, and replaced it with a bit more honey than previously used. The cinnamon logs and pecan logs still have the syrup, but we’re phasing it out of those items as well.

High fructose corn syrup is something I wanted to remove from the start, but I wasn’t comfortable touching the recipes right away. We really want to serve healthier options because we try to eat healthy at home. We want to pass that on to the amazing people who support us.

Oh, and something I’m really excited about is Mary Jo cookies! It's my mother-in-law's monster cookie recipe that she makes all the time, and we make those on Wednesdays. Those are my personal favorite cookies.

Phil— Wow, that’s incredible! Congratulations on removing the high fructose corn syrup, that’s something to be celebrated.

What spurred on the idea of healthier eating?

Peter— A little over a decade ago, I changed my eating habits and began paying attention to the ingredients in the food I was eating. I cleaned up the way I was eating in general and tried to stay away from ultra-processed foods.

I make a lot of my food at home. When we go out, we try to eat healthier options. We still enjoy fried food, we still eat burgers and fries. It’s all good. There’s a time and place for that. But, making good choices in your overall life and what you’re eating and putting into your body is always a good thing.

If I don’t feel comfortable consistently putting something in my own body, why would I serve it to someone else? That’s why I wanted to remove high fructose corn syrup from the recipes. I want to eat healthy, and I want my customers to eat healthy, too.

I think there is something to be said about food that is made by hand, too, and that is made local, made fresh. It just gives a different energy.

Phil— I couldn’t agree more. Local, clean, fresh food is a wonderful thing.

What’s the next frontier for Bread Poets?

Peter— We are looking to expand our distribution of our bread. We’ve added new Cenex locations that carry our breads, along with our grocery stores.

I think it’s important to get us out there for people who can’t get here during our regular business hours, that way they can get our products while grabbing groceries or gas.

Other than that, still being a part of the community. Many of our customers are part of different nonprofits, and we love to support them. When there are new events we can be a part of, we enjoy supporting them back how we can. It’s a great way to stay connected with our community and give back.

Phil— Is there anything else you’d like to say to the BisMan Eats community before we wrap up this interview? The floor is yours!

Peter— Once again, thank you for supporting us over these last two years since we took over ownership. We really appreciate your continued support. As a small business, we need the community to continue to support us and we want to continue making amazing bread products for the community. We enjoy making fresh, local handmade bread and sweets that people can continue to enjoy!

As I mentioned earlier, Bread Poets has been enjoyed for 26 years now. it’s crossing generations and we hope now under our ownership that we get to introduce a whole new generation to our products, to our bread. I love it anytime people come in and they’re brand new to Bread Poets, I love that. We get to share what we make with someone and have them try it for the first time. It’s awesome! Thank you!