Ellyn Hopper: Fat Rabbit

Eat It, Virginia!

Fat Rabbit bakery owner Ellyn Hopper transitioned from working for others in Richmond to becoming a full-time business owner near the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

"I had been doing wedding cakes along the side of working a full-time baking job for other companies," Hopper, who previously worked at Richmond spots like WPA Bakery and Stella's Market, said. "When the pandemic hit, I was less comfortable working in a huge kitchen setting. So I pulled back and I decided to invest a little bit more in Fat Rabbit, and it just seemed to work."

In the early months of the pandemic, Hopper was baking out of her home kitchen and making cake deliveries all over town.

"There were some days where I was making 10 to 15 deliveries daily, of different orders," she said about the early days of her business. "I just got into this weird little at-home rhythm where I'd wake up really early, bake like crazy, and then around 4 p.m. just head out and drive to people's houses and drop off."

"I think the time was right. People were home. They wanted comfort food and things that were going to make them feel happy."

Fast forward two years and Hopper has opened a standalone Fat Rabbit bakery in the Church Hill/Union Hill neighborhood.

The Venable Street bakery's soft opening earlier this summer created long lines down the block.

"It was personally one of the best days of my life. The neighborhood came out. Richmond came out to support us. We open the doors to a line down the block. We planned to be open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and I think we sold out by 11. So it was really quite an incredible day," Hopper said. "I haven't fully wrapped my head around it yet just how wonderful it was. We felt so much support from neighbors all over."

We hope you enjoy this episode of Eat It, Virginia!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.