Great Harvest Bakery Co. became known for scratch-made, whole-grain bread tied to Montana tradition. The company began in 1976 when Pete and Laura Wakeman, Cornell University students, created bread to help pay tuition, then opened the first bakery in Great Falls after hiking across Montana. The headquarters are in Dillon, Montana, and the bakery cafes are largely franchised and independently owned with deep community roots. The brand emphasizes consistent standards while avoiding a generic cookie-cutter identity. Each location uses handcrafted loaves made from the same Montana wheat sourced from family-owned farms in Montana’s Golden Triangle, with testing for chemical residues, GMOs, protein levels, and moisture.
"The flour-dusted story of Great Harvest began when two Cornell University students, Pete and Laura Wakeman, had the idea of baking scratch-made, whole-grain bread to help pay for tuition. After getting married, the couple set out hiking across Montana, subsequently falling in love with Big Sky Country and opening the first Great Harvest bakery in Great Falls. That was 1976, and they're still going strong 50 years later, with more than 200 locations across the U.S."
"Company headquarters now tuck inside the small town of Dillon, Montana, a community of roughly 4,000 people that still reflects the warmth of old-fashioned neighborhood bakeries. The largely franchised bakery cafés are independently owned, many with deep roots in their own communities. A big part of Great Harvest's appeal and regionally specific success is that it doesn't carry a bland cookie-cutter persona. It does, however, have specific standards for the bread and food, with each location carrying the tradition of handcrafted loaves made from the same Montana wheat that's defined Great Harvest throughout the years."
"For decades, the bakery has purchased premium wheat from Montana's Golden Triangle, grown by family-owned farms. In rigorous testing, the company checks for chemical residues, GMOs, protein levels, moist"
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