Batch in Saxonburg celebrates 10 years of business
Meghan Pohl and Jessica Brewster, owners of Batch in Saxonburg, can trace the origin of not just their business but also their friendship back to a baby shower that happened just over a decade ago.
The duo had met briefly a few times before that day, Pohl said, but after talking at that party, she knew their business interests could be the start of a new path for them both.
“Jessica was doing the food, and I was doing the decor,” Pohl said. “I told her what I was trying to do, and she told me she was experimenting with different jams and canned goods to maybe start a business with that. I messaged her the next day.”
That was in January 2014. By March, they had formed a limited liability company for Batch.
Now, the business operates as a small-batch food maker at 230 W. Main St. in Saxonburg with a daily rotating menu, featuring soups, breads and an assortment of other items — all made from scratch.
“We do soups on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” Pohl said. “We do stuffed breads on Wednesdays. Friday is always a meal; like this week, it’s pulled chicken. Then, Saturday is always quiche.”
One of the more popular products are the jams, which Brewster has been mastering for much of her lifetime.
“Cooking and baking were a huge part of my childhood,” Brewster said. “I come from a big Italian family on one side and just a big family on the other side. Our traditions always involved bringing people together with food, and my mom would make jams and breads and give it to people.
“It always made people so happy, and in my head, that is what I always wanted to do,” she said.
Pohl said Batch also carries products from other small-batch makers from the area, such as handmade bath salts, candles, pottery and soaps.
Early on, funding was an obstacle the pair had to overcome, Pohl said.
“We didn’t have any businesses prior, so finding a loan was hard,” Pohl said. “We had to buy all the kitchen equipment, which is expensive. I had to find out the exact costs, and the bank did cut us a check for that exact amount. That really got us on our feet.”
Brewster and Pohl said they worked the business on their own for about a year and a half before they hired some help, and now they have grown to six total employees including themselves.
“I feel we have never gone beyond our means,” Pohl said. “We have always grown together within the community at a good speed.”
The cost of materials and ingredients today are among the biggest challenges Batch faces today, Pohl said.
“It can be hard to make money off of what we do, and you don't want to raise the prices too much because your customers are in the same boat,” Pohl said. “Dairy and eggs are probably the most expensive.”
This hikes the cost going into producing the quiche.
Brewster is the main brain behind the operations in the kitchen, Pohl said, while she takes care of the more business-related issues.
“We always joke around that we are work wives,” Brewster said with a laugh. “Meghan is my chosen family. It's been a crazy 10 years, but I wouldn't do it with anyone else for sure.”
Pohl said the business would not have survived without the support of the community and their fellow small business owners on Main Street.
“We have had some of the same customers that come in at least once and week, maybe twice,” Pohl said. “They are just such champions of small business. Same with the other business owners. Some have came and gone, but for the last few years, we have had a solid group of business owners who support each other.”
