There were two big ovens in the kitchen.
The dining room was filled with cooling racks.
The pantry was stacked with boxes of plates.
The garage held commercial refrigerators and freezers.
Susan Carter's home was as much a working bakery as a place to live.
"Neighbors could smell me for miles!" she says.
Cottage industry laws that regulate home production meant she had to do all the baking herself.
Now that she's opening a storefront on Lighthouse Avenue's 300 block in New Monterey starting 8am-4pm Sunday, March 13, she says, “It allows us just to be functional.”
The Crumb started modestly.
Serial entrepreneur Carter used to run a day-care and always made cakes and cookies for the kids.
She fielded all sorts of raving feedback and started to harbor a dream to open her own bakery.
Chocolate chip and snickerdoodle cookies were particularly popular.
Her next business wasn't cookie-centric. But it was so successful Elite Cleaning Service allowed her to fund her sweet dreams.
Building off mentoring from free-of-charge small-business incubator Score, she started with farmers markets.
That allowed her to establish a brand and gauge the market, and she kept adding markets until she told herself, "I can’t do this any more."
By now she does farmers markets in Pacific Grove, Monterey, at Salinas Valley Memorial (Fridays) and Natividad (Wednesday) hospitals in Salinas, in Los Altos (Thursdays, near Mountain View), San Leandro (Saturday) and Blossom Hill (Sundays, off Highway 85).
Now she steps into a sparkling new space with custom cabinets, display cases, lighting and plumbing.
Eaters can anticipate bags of cookies (oatmeal-apricot-raisin, chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, peanut butter, molasses-ginger, macaroons), cupcakes (German chocolate, carrot cake with coconut and pineapple, vanilla), fudge brownies, lemon bars and more.
With her son helping direct coffee traffic as barista and her daughter starring as pastry chef, it's an adorably familiar affair.
Unlike most openings high on stress and chaos, this one will be unique in that it provides more comfort than anything.
“It’s going to be a huge relief,” Carter says.
It's just not gonna smell quite as nice in her neighborhood.
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