About the Owner

Chris Girardot is the founder and head baker at RavenHook Bakehouse (previously known as Girardot’s Crumbs). Born in Ohio, raised in Texas, he has made DC home for more than 30 years.

Chris’s passion for bread making was discovered later in life, soon after the company he had been working for unexpectedly went bankrupt. Recently married and with a baby on the way, Chris needed to make some money quick. So, he took what was meant to be a short-term job as a driver with Uptown Bakers. The job quickly transformed into an avocation, where Chris realized he loved working with his hands, being creative, and experiencing the grounded feeling of baking for others. 

Chris moved on and worked for popular D.C. businesses including Whole Foods Market, Upper Crust Bakery, and Occasions Caterers. At each new kitchen job, Chris pestered the more experienced bakers and learned everything he could from them, until he had acquired the experience and skills of a master bread baker and pastry chef.

In 2006, Chris started his farmers market bakery, then known as Girardot’s Crumbs, in Brookland. It was originally a weekend side job but, when other markets began to ask him to sell his breads at their locations, Chris realized an important truth: his bread was in demand. In 2012, Chris quit his 9-to-5 job and started selling his bread full time. Since then, RavenHook Bakehouse has become a beloved bread provider at many D.C., Maryland, and Virginia farmers markets.

You could say Chris’s passion for bread was always there, unrealized. The seeds were planted during Chris’s childhood, on family road trips where his dad made a point to stop at every bakery they passed. These small town bakeries were essential parts of daily life and beloved by their local communities, a standard that is preserved in RavenHook Bakehouse today.

In 2018, the name Girardot’s Crumbs was changed to RavenHook Bakehouse- a reference to the family’s love of poetry and bread. The RavenHook Bakehouse logo was inspired by a raven and dough hook sculpture found on the front porch of the Girardot household.