It started with a loaf of bread.

Well, technically, it probably started a long time before that.

I grew up on a multigenerational family farm just outside of Elizabeth, IL, where working with your hands, making things, and figuring things out for yourself were just part of life.

I've also always been creative. I studied graphic design and thought for a while that might be my career. It wasn't. But that part of me never went anywhere. It just needed somewhere else to go.

Eventually, I found sourdough bread… and I got a little obsessed.

I'm completely self-taught, which mostly means I've spent an unreasonable amount of time reading, studying, experimenting, screwing things up, and trying again.

Better fermentation.

Better crust.

Better flavor.

Better ingredients.

Better rise.

Better fermentation. Better crust. Better flavor. Better ingredients. Better rise.

There was always something else to figure out.

Then people started asking if they could buy my bread, and they came back for more.

Somewhere along the way, baking stopped feeling like a hobby and started feeling like the thing I'd always been looking for. A way to work with my hands, be creative, obsess over the details, and make something people genuinely enjoyed.

The hard part was that choosing Charm Type meant leaving a job, and people, I genuinely loved working with.

For years, I worked at a local family-owned hardware and lumberyard right here in Elizabeth. I had the kind of bosses you feel lucky to work for and a job that gave me the chance to know what felt like half the town. I helped people with their projects, heard their stories, learned their names, and got to be part of a local business people relied on.

Turns out, that taught me quite a bit about the kind of business I wanted to build myself.

In July 2026, with a lot of gratitude for what I was leaving behind and excitement (and a healthy dose of nerves) about what might be ahead, our family decided to go for it.

I traded lumber for loaves, hardware for hydration percentages, and made Charm Type Bakery my full-time work.

Different counter. A lot of the same faces.

And somehow, it feels a lot like exactly where I'm supposed to be.

Maybe we were always going to build something together.

My wife, Chelsea, and I met as juniors in high school. We were in graphic design class together in 2003. We became friends and stayed in touch through college. We started dating in 2008 and got married in 2014.

Looking back, it's kind of funny. Two kids who met because they liked making things ended up here, building something together.

And we were both raised for it in strangely specific ways (almost like the plot of Slum Dog Millionaire).

I grew up on the farm. Chelsea grew up in the Chicago suburbs.

She had the best of both worlds growing up with a dad who traveled all across the country to art and craft shows where he sold barnwood birdhouses and handmade wooden pop guns (who had a larger-than-life personality and could talk to pretty much anybody) … and a mom who had a career in corporate accounting, a head for details, and a knack for making all things beautiful.

Chelsea also brought her own background to the mix. She studied graphic design and has worked in graphic design, corporate communications, and training and development in the finance industry. In other words, she knows how to make things look good, explain things clearly, and keep people moving in the same direction. She can also turn a pile of ideas into something that actually works.

Today, I make the bread. Chelsea makes sure there's actually a business around it.

She handles the branding, marketing, and operations. She also manages approximately 900 other things between “I have an idea” and you being able to buy it.

Twenty-three years after meeting in that graphic design classroom, we're still making things together. They just happen to be edible now.

Our three kids, Macy, Miles, and Madden, round out the operation. They're taste testers, occasional helpers, brutally honest focus groups, and frequent visitors asking if something is ready to eat yet.

More than anything, we want them to grow up seeing what both of us did.

People making things. Taking chances. Working hard.
Building something together.

We're just getting started.

Right now, Charm Type is small, local, and personal.

We bake in small batches and sell directly to our neighbors. We know many of the people who come back week after week. Every bake gives us another chance to experiment, learn, and get a little better.

We don't know exactly what Charm Type will look like five or ten years from now.

But we know what we want it to feel like.

Creative. Thoughtful. A little unexpected. Locally rooted.
And really, really good.

We want to be the kind of bakery people are genuinely excited to have in their community.

Something our family is proud of. Something our kids can say they watched grow up alongside them. Something that still feels unmistakably like us years from now.

For now, we're making bread, raising three kids, and building something together.

We're also seeing just how far this thing can go. So, thank you for being here this early.

Every loaf you buy helps us keep building. So does every friend you send our way and every Saturday you show up looking for carbs.

We're just getting started.

Troy
Your Friendly Neighborhood Carb Dealer

Charm Type Bakery is a family operation.

  • Troy Potter

    BAKER & DREAM MAKER

  • Chelsea Potter

    MARKETING & OPERATIONS

  • Macy, Miles & Madden

    QUALITY CONTROL