Hidden Gems: Meet Brian Evans of On the Rise Artisan Breads

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Evans.

Hi Brian, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My journey in baking started in 2009 while working in restaurants, at the time I became enamored with the notion of bread baking. I approached the owner with a proposal to start an in house bread program, and after talking logistics I was given the opportunity to start experimenting. I often think back to some of those first loaves, while they may not have been the best loaves I’ve ever produced they represented a passion and a style of bread making that very much still exists in my daily production. After about a year and a half of baking and cooking restaurant I parted ways and started a food truck with two of my fellow chef friends. We were the veery first food truck in the city of cleveland. I brought the fresh baked bread to the table in that partnership, I baked all of the bread we used for sandwiches as well as using our truck to set up at various farmers markets to sell fresh baked bread. I learned a lot about what it takes to run a business during this time, but also had many success, and failures in my baking. At this time I was still very much a self taught baker that had never worked in or around professional bread baking. After baking for our food truck I found I was still searching to deepen my skillset in the professional baking arena. It was at this point around 2011 that I joined On the Rise Artisan Breads, the bakery that I now proudly own. At the time I was hired to work in production, getting my first chance to work in a professional bakery utilizing the proper equipment and very classic techniques. Needless to say I flourished, it felt like I had landed where I was meant to be. Over the years I helped expand the small footprint we had, I developed a full cafe menu as we expanded into a neighboring space. That menu focused on locally sourced meats and produce using our amazing bread as a canvas. I helped opened a second retail outlet in 2018 at Shaker Heights Van Aken District. During all of this I continued to develop our breads with a focus on sourcing high quality grains for us utilize in our products. Currently we are working with a few farms throughout Ohio to have different varieties of grains grown that are then milled fresh for us in Columbus and delivered to our bakery bi weekly. This has been the culmination of years of relationship building and is something that I am currently very passionate about. In the early 2020’s I approached the owner of the bakery at that time about a desire to buy the bakery, I had grown so deeply attached to the bakery that I had helped build over my decade long career, that to me it made perfect sense. We were able to come to a deal and I took over ownership at the start of 2025. That also happened to be the year that I had the great honor to represent our country as the head baker in an international baking competition called the Mondial Du Pain. The competition takes place every 2 years in France and gathers 20 plus countries from around the world for 5 days of baking completion. It took place October of 2025 and was an experience I will never forget, since returning I have continued my mission of baking the best quality products I can for our community while trying to source some of the best grain supporting our local farmers.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Over the years there while the growth of our bakery looks steady and smooth, there were and are definitely challenges along the way. While baking has existed in our society for thousands of years, the art of baking is something that fell by the wayside with the invention of mass produced grocery store bread. Finding people to help produce our breads and pastries has always been a bit of a challenge. In recent years it has been easier to find people with an interest but people that have experience is a different story. Over the past 8-10 years I have put in a notable amount of effort in developing a program that allows us to bring in new staff and transform them into amazing bakers capable of producing the types of high quality artisan breads and pastries our customers have come to love.

Another challenge I have had over the years is finding people to perform maintenance and repairs on our equipment. Most of our specialized equipment like our ovens and mixers were produced overseas and calling local repair companies often leads to a lot of head scratching and me hearing the phrase “I’ve never seen and oven this size” being muttered from the repair man who arrived. This has put me in a position to know more than id like about anything and everything having to do with how our machines work.

A third and final challenge I will sight is product sourcing. This is everything from high quality flours to even eggs and butter. Over the years availability and pricing of our ingredients has gotten a little out of hand. This has definitely pushed me to be creative in developing the right partnerships to ensure we have what we need and that it meets our standards. In addition to putting in effort to rebuild and develop the Ohio Grain Economy I also now buy exclusively local eggs. We got through about 225 dozen a week and partner with two local farms to get them delivered fresh weekly.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about On the Rise Artisan Breads ?
Our Bakery was founded in 2001 and its location makes it a true neighborhood bakery. We are situated in the heart of Cleveland Heights and are a walkable destination for many. We specialize in European style breads and pastries with a focus on using local ingredients. One of our mission statements is “everyone deserves great bread”. While there may be many bakeries in the city of Cleveland, we put a tremendous amount of intention into each of the products we produce. While there may be easier ways to make a loaf of bread or a croissant, the sacrifice in the quality of the end product simply is not worth the sacrifice in my mind. Another mission statement of our is “Fresh Bread Daily”. This statement is a promise to our customers that every loaf we sell is fresh baked that day, but also serves a reminder that we are hear every day and that our bread is best enjoyed fresh. We are best known for our baguettes, croissants and sourdough.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
If I had to give any advise to someone just starting in exploring baking as a career it would be patience. Making bread is a labor of love. To make a loaf of bread is easy, to make a great loaf of bread and to be able to recreate that same loaf day after day, week after week, and even year after year, that my friend is where the magic is. It takes years of making mistakes, sometimes small and sometimes large, to build up the deepest understanding of what will make your dough happy. While the ingredient list is often short, sometimes just three ingredients flour water and salt, the list of variables that lead to the proper fermentation and baking are vast. So don’t get discouraged. Bake. Bake Often. Document your successes in detail, document your failures in greater detail. Over time you will have a bread journal that will have you prepared for any scenario giving you the ability to always have the best possible loaves coming out of the oven.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ontheriseartisanbreads.com
• Instagram: ontheriseartisanbread
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ontherise