Bread Poets - News

This is the thirty third installment in our series entitled, ‘Local Spotlight,’ which aims to highlight local businesses and the owners, staff, and community members behind them. New posts are scheduled for the first of every month.

We hope you enjoy!

Meet Peter Dargis,

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

I was excited to sit down with Peter the other day and hear a bit of his story. He spoke about his transition from IT project management to business owner, the hardships of losing a dear family member during an exciting time in life, and the importance of growing together as a family through the ups and downs of life.

Peter is another community builder; someone who intentionally fosters growth around him and wants others to succeed. I think he is a welcome addition to our Bismarck-Mandan community.

I’m excited to see what the new year has in store for them, and to see how Peter & Jess put their mark on Bread Poets.

If you haven’t been to Bread Poets yet, stop in ASAP. You just don’t know what you’re missing!

P.s. Get the Studebaker. You’re welcome!

—Phil, Phillip On Food

Phil— What’s life like, man? What keeps you going?

Peter— I’m a father, a husband, and now a business owner! My wife and I have two girls, a 2 and an almost 4 year old, so we’re pretty busy between everything. We like to take the girls to the Dakota Zoo when we can. At home, we do a lot of cooking and reading with the girls. Going out to parks, too. We do a lot together as a family! It’s not like when I was single or when my wife and I were dating; your hobbies kind of shrink a bit when you have a family and take on a business. And, that’s okay, too. Having a family is a great thing, you’re taking responsibility for another human life and there is nothing bigger than that.

I think becoming a father made me want to take on the responsibility of owning a business, too. I don’t think I ever wanted to do that before I was a dad, because of the level of responsibility that comes with being a father. Everything else pales in comparison to the responsibility of being a father, a parent. It made me want to do more; to own a business, to manage people, to take on that level of responsibility.

None of this would be possible without my wife, Jess. She’s so important, I wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for her. She gives me so much confidence and always supports me, and supported me when we were jumping into this. I wanted to take this crazy risk, and she was 100% behind me. She has an accounting background, she’s a CFO currently, so she really helped make this happen, the bulk of it. I had a lot of the vision, I knew what I wanted to make happen, but it’s also a lot of, “how do we actually make this happen?” And she dragged me along the whole way to actually make this a reality. That was so important.

Bread Poets is really important to her, too. She grew up on it, growing up here in Bismarck. She grew up with the products. Being owners of Bread Poets is so significant for her, and for her family and friends. It’s such a big deal, you know? We’re really, really honored to be the owners of this. She’s been such a big support for myself, and for the business. She does so much behind the scenes, a lot of the accounting stuff and a lot of the community interactions with other businesses and things.

She’s part of a lot of disability advocacy groups also, she sits on a few different boards. Our daughter was born with a birth defect and has developmental delays, and my wife is so involved with everything around that. She’s involved with a few organizations, and that’s part of the community building, too. We want to be involved, to have a positive impact on Bismarck-Mandan.

It’s like you said earlier when we weren’t recording, our personalities should shine through our businesses; they shouldn’t be separate, they are intertwined. This is a huge part of our life now, of our family. It was a huge part of Jon Lee’s life and his family’s, too. His kids grew up here. That’s such a big part for me as well, to have our girls grow up here with the bakery. They see us here and love coming here to daddy’s work. It’s a huge source of pride. When Jess’s dad passed away, we started to ask “what are we trying to build? What are we trying to leave behind for our girls?” It’s legacy.

Phil— Wow, that is absolutely incredible! What would you say to other couples parents who are interested in starting their own business? Maybe it’s a restaurant, a store, or even a single product that they believe in.

Peter— You can do it! You just have to do it. I think people are more resilient and can take on more than they realize. That’s a message I’ve been taking in a lot over the last few years especially. I think people are pursuing their passions more, and wanting to do things that make their life purposeful, rather than just having to pay the bills or just getting by. There’s opportunity in this country, and in this state and community especially, I think. There is opportunity in Bismarck, and I’m very thankful to be here. We moved from Minneapolis, and I don’t see us in this position of owning a business in Minneapolis.

With anything that you do, you’re always going to have challenges in life. I like what Jordan Peterson says, that you’re always going to have challenges and painful moments in life, but you can pick your challenges. You might as well pick a challenge that will give you purpose in life and go for it. That’s what we’re doing with Bread Poets!

Phil— Choosing our challenges is one of the best things we can do. We are stronger than we realize.

How has your life changed by taking on the responsibility and leadership that comes with owning a business?

Peter— I don’t think it has too much. I don’t feel any different, I just try to be consistent in who I am and not let anything change me. I’m just busier, which I like. It’s changed my life in a good way, it’s given me more purpose.

Phil— What were you doing before you took over Bread Poets?

Peter— I was in IT, I was doing IT project management for medical software companies for over a decade. I always knew that I didn’t want to be in that forever, but it paid the bills. I did well and I was moving up, but it was never for me.

Once Covid hit and I was fully remote, just that disconnect and disengagement of everything with the lack of human interaction. It wasn’t the same as it was, it was purely email and no real interactions with co workers or customers. All they were was a name on the email, and it was sad. Even in the video chats, it’s just not personable and engaging. I missed the human interaction and socialization. I think that’s going to come to a head with a lot of people who’ve been remote for a while. People are going to start feeling that more and more. I had already worked remotely when we had moved here 5 years ago, and I didn’t like remote work then either. So, once I got thrown back into it because of Covid, I knew it wasn’t for me. That was a driving force behind wanting a change, and I knew for the past 4 years that I wanted a change.

For a while, I was just dreaming about it; I’d look at companies for sale or thinking about going back to school for this and that. I wanted to reinvent myself. I went back to school for an EMT class, and I was thinking about becoming a physicians assistant and going back into medical, and Covid threw a wrench in that so I gave up that idea. I always wanted to be a business owner, and I always thought about it, but it always seemed like a pipe dream, you know? Like a fantasy.

It was so amazing when we started going through the process of owning this. It was actually becoming real. It was really, really surreal that my wife and I were taking the steps to make this happen. It’s an incredible feeling.

I was speaking with a woman earlier who was sitting right where you are now, and I was telling her about when I heard that Jon would be willing to listen to an offer for this [business], I quit my job that day. I knew that this was it. I did question myself the next week, thinking, “Am I really doing this? Is this too soon? What am I doing??” There was nothing finalized, no guarantee or anything. But when I do something, I have to be all in. I can’t just dip my toe into it.

I had such a strong feeling that this was it, that this is what I was looking for in the last four years of trying to figure out what I wanted to do in my career. What I wanted to do next, basically. It created a lot of anxiety for me over the years, trying to figure out what I’m doing and just knowing that I don’t want to do what I’m doing now. Once this came about, I had this feeling of knowing. Knowing that this is it, this is what I’ve been waiting for.

I’ve had that feeling of knowing only couple times in my life, and one was when I was dating my now wife. I just knew.

Phil— Human connection is one of the most important things in life. We just don’t function well without it, I agree. Those feelings of ‘knowing’ I don’t think those are a coincidence, either! There’s something to be said about following our stomach’s, especially when reinventing ourselves and deciding what’s next.

So, I have to ask, why food in particular? Why did this industry stand out from the other businesses you considered?

Peter— I was talking to my hair dresser a while back, and I think that was the first time I said it out loud, that I wanted to buy a business. She asked what industry, and I said probably something food related. Saying it out loud has a way of making things happen, I think.

It’s something tangible, you’re creating something. We’re baking bread and creating products, it’s an art form. I really like that, and I love the customer interaction. When I was younger, I worked in a grocery store and I thought I’d do something with my hands, and then I worked an office job for the next decade. So, that was another piece of it; to be able to be on my feet, do something physical, interact with people, all of that. It checks all the boxes. Just getting out from behind a desk and doing something in the real world.

I really wanted to be part of the community more, too. I was working for a large medical company and I was the only one in North Dakota, so you feel disconnected and isolated. We moved here from Minneapolis about 5 years ago in 2017, so I never felt like I was connected to the community that much, working a remote job. I wanted to be connected to the community, to have a platform to have a positive influence in the community and on the future.

Take responsibility, really. Once again, being a father I want where my kids are growing up to be a good place. I want to be part of that solution, too. I want to have a positive impact on the community where my girls are going to grow up.

Phil— I couldn’t agree with you more. It’s very important to contribute in our own unique ways, and to be a part of our communities making a positive difference. It seems like you’ve learned this through your own experiences.

What are some of the hardships you’ve faced on the road to owning Bread Poets? What brought you here?

Peter— That’s exactly it. The challenges in life, and big life events in general, they are so difficult when you are going through them. Yet, so much good can come from them too, and growth.

The week of our wedding, my father in law passed away. It was five days before. We had a wake, a funeral, a rehearsal dinner, and a wedding all in one week. It was one of the hardest periods in our lives, not even a question. It changed the course of our lives. We were driving back to the cities and realized, we have to move back to Bismarck. I just felt like we had to do that, to come back and be with her mom and help her through it.

I knew it would shake up my life and I knew that it would be what my wife wanted, what she needed. Like I mentioned earlier, I had that knowing about the bakery, and in that moment I had a knowing that we had to move back to Bismarck. I know I have to follow when I have those types of feelings, because, you just have to.

The other knowing that I had was when I was dating my wife, Jess. I knew that I was going to be with her. There’s actually a Japanese phrase, Koi No Yokan, and it means, a knowing that you will fall in love with someone. Not love at first sight, but a knowing that you will grow together and fall in love and become one. That’s how I felt; those types of knowing’s.

So, moving back to Bismarck, that really changed the course of our lives. It was such a difficult situation my wife and her family, and my mother in law especially, but we wouldn’t be where we are at now. We have two beautiful girls.

Once you have kids, you can’t wish away anything in your life because they might not exist. Everything that happens to you, it had to have happened for you to get to where you are at.

Phil— Wow, that is absolutely incredible. I’m very sorry for the loss of your family. Losing a parent is extremely difficult. I’m happy to see that you were able to pull together and survive the storm.

What plans do you have for the future? What are you looking forward to?

Peter— In my personal life, just continuing to see my girls growing and developing more. Spending as much time as I can with my wonderful wife. Continuing to be a dad; helping them is big, they’re at that stage where they’re going to grow and change so much.

The business is also a big part of my personal growth, too. Learning how to be a leader and a mentor, because that’s important to me, too. I don’t want to just be a manager for my employees, but a leader and a mentor. That’s a big part of my personal growth, and is what I really want to focus on.

Phil— Alright, let’s switch to the business side or else we’ll sit here and visit all evening.

What is Bread Poets to you? How do you plan to leave your mark on the business?

Peter— Bread Poets to me is a really good product that people love, and it feels like a home baked item that you would grow up with. I think people really like that, that it’s not that overly process store bought stuff that we are getting too accustomed to overall.

My mom made a lot of homemade products when I was growing up. We would make applesauce and jellies, and lots of food all the time. We never ate out at fast food restaurants, that type of thing. What I eat and consume is always very important to me, so I try to make good choices about what I put into my body and eat. That’s always been important. From the product standpoint of the business, that is important to me, too; high quality products.

To me, Bread Poets is such a staple in the community. There’s a few places in town, and this was one that just stood out to me. Once I started dating my wife, who grew up here, it was everything Bread Poets. Her mom always had Bread Poets stuff at her house. Bread Poets is Bismarck to me. Bread Poets is such a local commodity, it’s a staple.

That was really important to me, I didn’t want to own a franchise or a national chain. I wanted something that was very local, and connected to the community, and that people grew up with. I want to continue that, and be engaged with the public, and be engaged with other small businesses, too. I want to collaborate, that’s something I’ve always envisioned. My wife and I want to do a lot more of that in the future, it’s part of the community building that we were talking about earlier.

We don’t see anybody else as competitors, either. All of these other local businesses, we’re all in this together. We succeed if they succeed, and we can all help each other. I’d like to use the platform that Bread Poets has to help other people. Jon has done that a lot in the past, been a part of the community.

Phil— What’s your favorite thing on the menu?

Peter— For sandwiches, it’s the Emerson right now. Chicken salad and candied pecans that we make here. For bread, probably the Maah Daah Hey Trail grain bread. That’s like everyone’s favorite bread, though.

Phil— Do you have any new items coming?

Peter— I’m trying to develop a new grain bread called ‘Peace Garden’ using purple wheat flour, too. We’ve put it out there a few times but we’re still tweaking it. I wanted to do something unique, and there’s just not another bread that is similar to the Maah Daah Hey grain bread that we offer.

Hopefully we’ll have that out soon!

Phil— Where do you see Bread Poets in the next 2, 3, maybe 5 years?

Peter— Doing a lot of the same that we’ve been doing, since it’s worked for 25 years! We’re doing something right. I want to continue to get the products you love, and continue add new products for you to try as well. We added caramel bites to the menu, which is something my mother in law makes still for the grandkids, and they’ve been accepted well.

I see us becoming more involved in the community, too, as we have time. It’s a lot to run a business and still find time for those things. I’d love to do a LOT more of those things but it’s tough. We’re just planning to keep things moving!

Phil— Is there anything you’d like to mention that we didn’t talk about? The floor is yours.

Peter— Just keep supporting local, whether it’s Bread Poets or any other local business in town. The push is always to shop local, and it is really important because these business owners are local individuals, and employees are as well. Shopping local and spending money locally really has a positive effect on the community. The money stays local.

You’re always going to have to spend your money on things that are part of larger corporations, but I hope people are at least making conscious efforts to spend more locally, at these local businesses. It’s so important for them.

Phil— As we close out the interview, is there anything you’d like to say to the BisMan Eats community?

Peter— Since we’ve owned the bakery, the continued support that we’ve gotten from the community and all our customers has been really awesome. I’ve been so grateful for that, that we’ve continued to have the support and that people still believe in us.

They still want to see Bread Poets continue, even with the change in ownership. It’s awesome to see and hear, I just really appreciate that!