Little Notch Bakery in Southwest Harbor

When Kate Jacobs looks back, she can pinpoint the moment it all began. Her husband, Arthur, was catering in Massachusetts and constantly sourcing bread from a bakery he admired in Brookline. “They just had amazing bread,” she says. “He started buying it for all his catering events, and then he decided he wanted to learn how to bake it himself. That became his passion.”

Arthur had gone to culinary school, worked in restaurants, and traveled widely, but when the idea of returning to the island where he grew up took hold, it stuck. In the early 1990s, he and Kate made the move, ready to open a bakery of their own. The first Little Notch location at Hinckley’s Marina was small but bustling, selling fresh bread, muffins, sticky buns, and not much else. “Arthur didn’t really want to do a lot of sugar,” Kate remembers. “So it was mostly bread in those days.”

Pizza came next, almost by accident. “We just decided to test it,” Kate says. “We made the dough, stored our ingredients in a cooler, and only offered veggie, cheese, and pepperoni, and it took off.” That early experiment led to a downtown café where the bread and pizza recipes were joined by a full menu that still reflects the Jacobs’ original commitment to quality.

Over the years, the business grew to include a busy wholesale and retail operation and became a first job for countless island teens. But the heart of Little Notch has always been family. Kate managed the customer-facing side while Arthur ran the bakery, and their three daughters grew up in the business. Today, Sam is stepping into her mother’s role in operations and customer service, while Rachel has followed in her father’s footsteps as a baker.

More than 30 years in, Kate still sees the bakery as a community anchor. “This is a year-round town,” she says. “We’ve always been here for the people who live here, not just the visitors.” That spirit, along with the smell of fresh bread coming out of the oven, keeps customers walking through the door season after season.

FAMOUS FOR:
Their signature chicken focaccia sandwich, fresh-baked breads, and handmade pizzas that locals swear by, all crafted with the same recipes and care that have defined Little Notch since 1993.

ADDRESS:
340 Main St in Southwest Harbor, ME

WEBSITE:
littlenotchcafe.com

photos by Peter Logue