St. Cloud Area Chamber Honoring Great Harvest Bread Co. Owners

WAITE PARK (WJON News) -- The owners of a bread company in Waite Park are being honored by the St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce.

Great Harvest Bread Company's Mike and DeNae Hiltner are the chamber's 2025 Small Business Owners of the Year.

Mike says they have evolved quite a bit since they opened a little over 25 years ago.

We started out as this little neighborhood bread store. We literally started out with making five breads and one cookie a day. Twenty-five years later, we are up to 30-40 breads at different times, and our entryway is just full of different products that we have added and continue to add.

Great Harvest Bread Company launched a catering service in 2015. They say they've also become a popular lunch option for school sports teams.

They have about 12 employees throughout much of the year, but get up to about 20 employees during the holiday season.

The Hiltners say their Honey Whole Wheat bread is their most popular staple bread. They bake a range from about 36 loaves a day to hundreds of loaves in December.