LEWISTON — For a decade-plus, they’d been bartenders, servers, catering managers and you-name-it at area restaurants. When they met five years ago, Sarah Farrell and Meaghan Braun quickly decided they should open a place together.

“Nothing ever seemed to be the right time,” Braun, 41, said. “So we’d meet up or see each other, ‘We should really get on that,’ or talk about it and have that little dream vision of what we would want.

“Right after Christmas of last year, we saw each other again and we were like, ‘OK, are you ready?’ and we both said yes.”

Bakery Barn opened in June at 892 Lisbon St. in a former barn-shaped tattoo parlor.

They set out to be a little different, mostly abandoning the idea of always-available staples.

“Everybody does doughnuts,” Farrell, 40, said. “Truth be told, we like to come in here and cook what we feel like cooking for the day.”

So depending on the day, it’s mini lemon meringue pies. Maple apple bourbon cupcakes. Apple slices dipped in chocolate and toppings. Spinach squares similar to a quiche but with more spinach than egg. Cheesecake-stuffed apples dipped in chocolate.

Bakery Barn on Lisbon Street in Lewiston offers a variety of sweets. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

“We just thought something different would be appealing to the public, and I think we’re finding that it is,” Braun said. “We take what our kids used to like, that we baked for them, and go from there.”

Breadmaker Eric Goode, Braun’s boyfriend, also provides the shop with sourdough bagels and artisan breads with hearts, stripes and other designs.

While it’s find-what-you-find daily, anything can be preordered for pickup.

“When the weather starts to change, we’ll start incorporating our hot chocolate bombs, our coffee bombs, our tea bombs,” Braun said. “We constantly add things. Football season has started now, so we introduced jalapeno corn muffins.”

Eventual plans call for a daily breakfast and lunch item, dips, meat pies to go, salads and takeout meals.

Though it wasn’t their original plan, they’ve recently started wholesaling to local eateries.

Farrell has three children, ages 2 to 10, and Braun four, ages 7 to 16. Farrell said their initial connection came from being working moms who both loved to cook and bake. Part of that shared dream was being their own bosses and having the flexibility to catch a child’s game or step out when they’re needed at home.

“The kids have been amazing,” Braun said. “They’ve all been all hands on deck helping out where they’re needed. Finding that balance between home life and work life when you’re passionate about both of them is hard. We’re getting there.”

Bakery Barn is open Tuesday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Bakery Barn at 892 Lisbon St. in Lewiston. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

They’re both working 70 to 80 hours a week, and for Farrell, some of those hours are still at an Auburn restaurant.

She said the community support has been amazing, with one customer recently bringing in flowers to simply say, “welcome to the neighborhood.”

“I’m a day-by-day person,” Braun said. “I think we both have this vision of being our own bosses, to be financially stable, to provide for our children and our families. However we’re going to get there is what we’re going to do. We love baking for people and I think people can see how much passion goes into what we put out. That’s rewarding and I think we want to see how far we can take that.”

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