Sourdough Sophia: The Bakery Built on Community, Courage, and Zero Compromise

Most mornings for Sophia Handschuh start early, in and around the bakery. There are goods to prepare, a team to support, and standards to uphold. What began as a small local baking project has grown into Sourdough Sophia, a multi-site business built on quality, care, and a strong connection to its community.

The business began during lockdown, when Sophia started baking sourdough bread and laminated pastries for people in her local area. At the time, it was a practical response to a sudden change in daily life. But as more people came back for repeat orders, it became clear there was something deeper at play. Customers valued the consistency and care behind what she was making, not just the bread itself.

As Sourdough Sophia has grown, that early clarity has remained central. The business has expanded in size and structure, but its core foundations remain the same. A commitment to quality that does not bend under pressure, a strong sense of responsibility to customers and staff, and a belief that growth should never come at the expense of trust.

A Life That Always Came Back to Baking

Baking was always stitched into Sophia’s life, long before “founder” was a title she could imagine wearing.

She had been baking since she was five; her dad trained as a baker, and her grandma baked too. It was the kind of learning that happens quietly, through repetition and routine, through watching and doing, through small hands being trusted with real ingredients. 

Even when she chose a different path on paper, baking kept pulling her back. She went off to study marketing, a world away from flour and fermentation, and yet she still found herself doing what she’d always done: feeding people.

“I found myself baking for the entire office.”

That line lands because it says everything. Even in the “wrong” job, she was still building something with her hands and still creating comfort through baked goods.

The Lockdown Moment That Turned a Hobby Into a Business

For years, baking lived alongside everything else, through hobbies, teaching classes, and blogging. It was something she loved, but not something she fully trusted as a viable future.

The shift came during lockdown. With more people at home and local routines disrupted, Sophia began baking sourdough bread and pastries for people in her area. What started as a practical way to support the local community quickly highlighted a real opportunity.

Her husband, Jesse, played a supportive role at this stage. He encouraged Sophia to take her baking seriously and explore whether it could become a business, even before she felt fully confident in the financial side of it.

They began by producing small batches for local customers. There was no formal plan at the start, just a willingness to test demand and respond to it. The response was immediate and consistent, with customers returning regularly and recommending what she made to others.

“I got super inspired by seeing all of those locals coming and actually buying a loaf from me, that I said, ‘I need to do this properly.’”

That moment marked a turning point. It wasn’t driven by rapid growth ambitions, but by the recognition that there was genuine demand, and that what began as a local initiative had the foundations of a sustainable business.

When the Dream Gets Real: Leadership, Responsibility, and the Weight of Decisions

For Sophia, the hardest part of building Sourdough Sophia didn’t come at the start, it came with growth.

In the early stages, mistakes are your own, and they’re easier to manage. However, as teams grow, so does responsibility. You become responsible for livelihoods, and suddenly every choice carries weight for your team’s security and wellbeing as well as your own income.

“Learning how to be a good leader is the most challenging part of being a founder,” Sophia says.

In practice, that challenge has meant a significant shift in her role. As the business developed, Sophia spent less time baking and more time on planning, numbers, and people management. While necessary, that change was difficult. It required stepping away from the hands-on work that first drew her into the business.

Alongside this came a persistent sense of pressure. The feeling of always catching up, of questioning whether decisions are right, and of carrying the expectations of a growing team. Sophia speaks openly about this reality. Even as the business succeeds, doubt remains part of the job for many founders.

The Reward That Keeps on Giving

“Seeing customers happy, that’s been the most rewarding part so far.”

For all the spreadsheets and staffing decisions, Sophia’s favourite part of the work remains simple: people enjoying what she has made.

Whether it’s the glow on someone’s face when they bite into something warm, or the small pause in a busy day when a customer chooses to say they love what she is building, those moments stay with her.

She makes time for them intentionally, moving between sites through the week, sitting in, chatting, taking it in. That detail matters because it shows what the business is really for - growth is happening, but connection remains at the heart.

Learning the Emotional Side of Growth

Sophia is open about what she underestimated early on: the emotional side of building a business.

She struggled with making mistakes, receiving feedback, and the constant sense of getting things wrong. For a long time, she interpreted those feelings as failure, rather than recognising them as a normal part of the process.

Over time, she realised that most founders experience the same doubts, and that resilience is something built gradually, through experience and repetition rather than confidence from the outset.

“You always feel inadequate. You always feel like you’re doing the wrong thing. You always feel like you’re failing.”

She also emphasises the importance of trusting your judgement. As a business grows, advice comes from many directions, and while experience from others can be useful, Sophia has learned that the clearest decisions often come from listening to yourself.

Leading With Empathy

Sophia speaks about being a woman in business with a refreshing mix of honesty and pride. She doesn’t pretend it is always smooth, but she also doesn’t downplay the strengths she believes women bring into leadership.

For her, being a woman founder is reflected in how she runs her team and shapes the culture. It’s present in her understanding when someone needs to pick up their child, in the compassion she brings to leadership, and in the emotional tone of the brand itself, which she describes as “very feminine” and closely connected to who she is.

“As female founders, you bring that energy, that emotional intelligence, that sympathy, that empathy, and that warmth.”

What’s striking is that Sophia doesn’t pitch this as “soft” leadership in a weak sense. She is clear that she can be tough. The skill is knowing when to lean into warmth and when to hold a line. The point is not to erase emotion, but to lead with humanity while still protecting standards.

Quality Without Compromise

As businesses grow, pressure to cut corners can creep in, whether that’s cheaper ingredients, quicker processes, or decisions that slowly chip away at what customers value.

Sophia is unshakeable about where she draws the line:

“There’s zero compromise on quality.”

She describes quality as a lever you simply don’t pull. Other things can be adjusted; efficiencies can be explored, operational issues can be solved, but lowering standards is not a strategy; it’s the start of losing trust.

She also acknowledges the reality of growth. As systems evolve and teams expand, quality can slip unintentionally. What matters is the response. Sophia’s approach is practical and direct: identify where standards have dropped, fix the issue, and raise them again. A lower bar is never accepted as the new normal.

It’s a values-led approach, but it’s also good business. Customers return because they trust what they’ll receive, and that trust is hard to rebuild once it’s lost.

A Bakery Owned by the People Who Love It

One of the most distinctive parts of Sourdough Sophia’s growth has been the role of the local community as supporters and investors.

Before moving onto the high street, Sophia launched a Kickstarter campaign backed by 600 people. While the funding was important, the response also confirmed something more meaningful: the business mattered to its neighbourhood, and people wanted to help it grow.

That support didn’t stop there. Community members continued to engage through fundraisers and updates. To date, Sourdough Sophia has raised over £3 million, with the majority coming from local community shareholders.

Rather than creating distance, growth has deepened the relationship between the business and the community it serves.

The Bigger Picture: What Holds Women Back, and What Needs to Change

When Sophia talks about what holds women back from starting businesses, she points to practical realities: childcare, family responsibilities, time, money, and the pressure of being the “safe” option in a household’s financial equation.

She also speaks about the cultural side, particularly how women are perceived in business settings. She describes the challenge of being taken seriously before you are seen as an “expert”, and how difficult it can be to hold authority while still learning and building.

Her approach is grounded: make a good plan, talk to other women who have achieved what you want to achieve, and find people who encourage you rather than shrink you.

Underlying it is a belief that we need to change how women in business are viewed, and that women deserve more encouragement to take risks, not less.

Sophia’s Advice: Action Over Overthinking

Sophia’s advice comes through with the energy of someone who has lived the fear and done it anyway.

She talks about risk-taking as a skill you can grow over time. She admits she used to be more risk-averse, and she makes a strong point about overthinking: it pulls you towards negatives that have not happened yet, while progress only happens when you focus on what could go right.

“The more you overthink something, the worse it will be for you.”

Her message is simple: start. Make the first move and take the small step that proves something to yourself. You can adjust as you go, but you cannot build anything from the safety of endless thinking.

One Word for the Journey

Asked to sum up her founder journey in one word, Sophia gives an honest answer.

“Rollercoaster.”

No two days are the same. Emotions shift quickly, challenges arise without warning, and progress often comes alongside doubt.

Even so, there’s a clear sense that the work is worthwhile, not because it’s easy, but because it’s meaningful. Sophia is building something real, alongside people she trusts, for a community that continues to support it.

The Takeaway: A Business Built With Heart, and a Reminder That You Can Start Small

Sophia Handschuh’s story is a reminder that businesses do not always begin with a grand launch. Sometimes they begin with a loaf baked for a neighbour, during a moment when the world feels uncertain.

What makes Sourdough Sophia stand out is not just the product, though that matters. It is the clarity of values, the refusal to compromise on quality, the commitment to community, and the willingness to grow into leadership even when it feels uncomfortable.

If you are reading this with an idea in your head, Sophia’s journey offers something both practical and kind: you do not need to feel ready to begin. You just need to begin, and keep learning as you go.

“What’s the worst that can happen right now? Think about it. If it’s not that bad, why are you waiting?”- Sophia Handschuh.

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