Meet Sadie Stutzman | COO [Chief Oven Officer] Full Stop. Bakery

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sadie Stutzman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sadie, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?

I was knee deep in a PhD program when I realized that I needed to UNHURRY my life and reset my priorities (aka I needed to FULL STOP.) I needed to step away from all the things that were consuming my time and reinvest that energy into something I was excited about and more importantly, into PEOPLE. So, I graduated with a Master’s degree and started Full Stop. Bakery. Because I for one, know no better way to love on people than through food, so here I am, over a year later, still making crackers!

If you look at the Full Stop. logo, you can see a bike with some skid marks behind it. THAT is a full stop. Sometimes we just cruise on our super speedy bike all day long (aka, we pack so much into our day) and never stop. I want to change that, even if just a little. I want to encourage people to slam on the brakes, make some skid marks, & eat some crackers.

It’s “simply” the art of unhurrying life (I’ll let you know when I’ve mastered it, it’s a tough one).

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am trained as a mechanical engineer (ME). After graduating from UNLV (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) with a ME degree, I spent 2.5 years as a graduate researcher at CU, Boulder studying combustion chemistry in internal combustion engines (studying how fuels burn). I worked primarily as an experimentalist but did sprinkle in some computation/theory as well. This time was invaluable. I learned how to do hard things and that I could do hard things, I met some of the most intelligent people I think I will ever meet (and I’m lucky enough to call some of those people either my friend or my mentor), and, perhaps less importantly, I was inspired to put a random quote on every bag of Full Stop. Sourdough Crackers. Yes. Every bag! (Email me if you want the full back story on this.) 

My baking career, unofficially, started years ago. I grew up baking and cooking with my family; my sister says that she remembers a little, 7-year-old Sadie making eclairs. I think I’ve always enjoyed it for a couple of reasons. One being that it’s such a transformative process. You can literally start with flour, water, salt and magically make a loaf of bread. I think that is very cool. Secondly, *everyone (*most people) enjoy a baked good of some sort. They have a way of making people smile, lift spirits and come together. Also…very cool. 

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

Oh yes, this I can nail.

My friend flies into town on a Thursday night (we are playing hooky from work on Friday). We both LOVE being out and about but we need some time to catch up, chill, and…full stop….before the weekend of activities. So, we stay in on Thursday night, chat over a charcuterie board, sparkly waters, and subtle background jazz music.

Both of us live for slow mornings, so on Friday we wake up and have some breaky & read before hitting the peaks…we bag a few summits and then go to Lucky’s Bakehouse for a lunch that consists of treats (I know, I own a bakery….but I have to give it to em’ they have great treats)! We have a show at the Boulder Dinner Theatre later that night, so we head back to the house to get all dolled up.

Saturday morning to afternoon looks oddly similar to Friday, but followed by hosting a game night instead of going out. To make things easy we ordered a few pizzas from Barchetta (yum yum yum).

Sunday consists of walking down to church and having to leave a few minutes early to make it into Denver for a hockey game!! In an ideal world, the Vegas Golden Knights would be in town that weekend and we could cheer the VGK to a victory (this is a hot take when I’m surrounded by Avalanche fans) followed by a dinner at The Odyssey.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer is what started it all!

I would say my inclination is towards a hurried life (typical of most people), so naturally when my friend, Cory, recommended this book to me, it took me over 8 months to agree to read it. Based on the title alone, I knew it was going to make me rethink where and what I am investing my time in. It did. My career pivot began VERY shortly after finishing it.

Far too many people have been a part of Full Stop. to list them by name, but huge thank you to the Boulder community for eating up Full Stop. sourdough crackers, to the Mechanical Engineering graduate department at CU, Boulder for the support and understanding throughout the transition, to my “old” and “new” friends that continually build me up, and, of course, to my incredible family for always being there. Oh, and to Full Stop.’s first unofficial employee, my sister, Meg. She is the Full Stop. CMO (Chief Meddling Officer) which means she has the rights to meddle in any aspect of the business. 

Website: https://www.fullstopbakery.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fullstop.bakery/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FullStop.Bakery/?ref=pages_you_manage

Image Credits
SŌLUS1 Photography Madeline Westman Me