With people working from home, we had a whole new set of people. What has kept me going is the customers, and their need to have a place to go. And I was just thinking, “Is this crazy that we’re even open, exposing ourselves and customers?” It was a hard shift, but I think in another way it was actually good for the business because I had to set up an online ordering system. I was doing pretty much home schooling my kids the whole time, too. We went from four employees to two, and all of a sudden I was back to working 60-80 hours a week and coming home super late and trying to figure out all the new health directives. Last year with COVID, I basically had to create a whole new business within a week. I just never wanted to cut corners, and I think that’s what makes people really trust you as a business owner. I didn’t want to just go to the restaurant depot and buy packaged lettuce because that’s easier and cheaper. That was really hard in the beginning, especially when I started bringing on employees, and it was hard to make payroll and still pay all the bills. When I started, I didn’t have a bunch of investors or money, so I just kind of scraped everything together. What are some challenges you’ve faced as a small business owner, especially since the pandemic? That kind of attention to detail and quality really comes through for people when they try the bread. What I get from Early Bird is the whole grain, so it has all the vitamins. If you buy what you think is the best whole-wheat flour at the store, it’s often different grains from different places that have been milled together, then separated and put back together.
Because they’re milling it right before they bring it to me, the grain is so fresh. He grows organically and is obsessive about good farming practices. I get all of my rye and grains like purple barley from him. The farmer, Drew Speroni, actually farms and mills the grain. I now get most of my grain from Early Bird Farm, near Placerville. They actually can have those ingredients on their sandwich.Ĭan you say more about your grain sourcing and how you work with local farms? I felt I had an opportunity to show people that eating locally is not just for fine dining menus. I wanted to make that high quality more accessible for people. I know they need to pay their employees, but when the consumers have to pay so much, it leaves so many people out. I felt that there was a problem with the food system that I buy the same fruit as the store down the street, but they charge five times as much for it.
I wanted to be able to show people that that you can make high quality food, but it doesn’t have to be super expensive. What values have driven you in shaping your business? I started baking at a commercial kitchen and created a CSA-type bread subscription program, then opened the brick-and-mortar. I began baking at home and giving bread away to neighbors and friends, and at some point, somebody said I should do this for a living, and I thought, “I can do that.” At the time, I had been bartending, and I was looking for a way out of that. Once you end up with a loaf that looks like what you imagined it could look like instead of just a flat brick, it’s pretty addicting. I had made bread all my life, but I never made sourdough before, so I started playing around with it. When my first child was born, I was really into homesteading, fermentation, and making everything from scratch. She never really used recipes, so I think it was instilled in me early on to try to use the best ingredients in the most minimal ways to bring out the flavor. I used to bake bread with my dad, and my mom was a great cook. Xan: The name Fox & Lion comes from my parents’ names, Devoss and Levin.
We spoke with Xan about Fox & Lion’s pandemic pivot, the reverberations of the home-baking craze, and how sour a whole-grain sourdough ought to be.ĬUESA: What led you to start Fox and Lion Bread. Co.? Through it all, Xan remains deeply committed to making handcrafted, nutrient-dense breads accessible, while supporting local farmers. in Bayview-Hunters Point, serving freshly baked whole-grain breads, pizza, and sandwiches, emphasizing the flavor of the grains through a long fermentation process.Ī community has grown around the bakery-café, and when the pandemic forced them to close their doors and do takeout-only last year, Fox & Lion joined the Mission Community Market to widen the circle. In 2015, she started Fox & Lion Bread Co. Xan Devoss had a sourdough starter well before it was hip, and has been baking bread for as long as she can remember.
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