Alumni Profile: Michael Thompson of Rollin' In Dough Baking Company

It’s rare that a young person - a high school junior no less - knows exactly what they want to pursue as a career. For Michael Thompson, baking has been a career path for years, starting as a high school student with a passion for baking and developing that interest through Youthentity’s YouthChefs program, becoming head baker at a Glenwood Springs cafe, starting his own baking business, and now, heading off to the College of the Ozarks to pursue a degree in culinary arts.

Michael, a 2018 graduate of Liberty High School, says his interest in baking began as a curiosity about food. “I wanted to know where it came from, and wanted to discover ways to make it healthier,” Michael explains. “Then I picked up a book called Bread Alone by Daniel Leader, and it kind of changed my life.” Michael worked his way through the book, learning page-by-page the fine art of baking artisan bread.

His interest stoked, Michael wanted the opportunity for a deeper dive into the world of pastry and baking, and discovered YouthChefs. YouthChefs (now a year-long hospitality and culinary program called Career Academy) was Youthentity’s high school baking program aimed at high school students interested in exploring baking as a career. “The motivation to take it was to explore baking as a career, so it was a perfect fit for me.” Michael used this career exploration opportunity to determine whether a career in baking was a fit. “After 4 months of baking four several hours twice a week, I still loved it,” Michael says.

And he’s continued on his baking path ever since. After the YouthChefs class ended, he continued to learn on his own, gaining a reputation for baking. He was then asked by family friends to help manage the baked goods at a Glenwood Springs cafe located in the Riviera Supper Club. The opportunity allowed him to create menus, manage inventory, and hone other business skills. When the cafe moved locations and changed their business model, the owners encouraged him to think about wholesale baking. In early 2019, Rollin’ In Dough Baking Company was born.

Even in the early days of Rollin’ In Dough Baking Company, finding customers wasn’t a problem. “I’d already been baking out of my kitchen and posting it on Facebook, where people would ask for deliveries of what I’d made, so I had a customer base.” Word of mouth spread, and soon it became necessary for Michael to rent commercial kitchen space in Garfield County’s commercial kitchen space at the fairgrounds. Rollin In Dough already enjoyed a loyal customer base, which grew as customers such as Misty’s Coffee Shop and Skip’s Market contracted his services.

In January, Michael will put his baking business on hold as he heads off to College of the Ozarks in Missouri. Michael chose the school for its culinary program and tuition-free model, in which students work campus jobs to pay for classes. If all goes as planned, Michael will graduate in four years, debt-free, with a degree in Culinary Arts. Michael gives kudos to Youthentity’s career exploration program for providing the chance to explore the industry.

“Youthentity gave me the experience necessary to get the job at Mountain Momma Roasters. It may not have seemed like more than a class at the time, but it allowed me to consider baking as a career option, and eventually to own my own baking business.”

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