The last thing Judy Sexton imagined when she confronted a soon-to-be empty nest was starting a business. She prayed, “Lord, what do you want me to do with my time?” and answers seemingly started showing up in a persistent refrain from friends and family — you need to open a restaurant.
“My mom is not a trained chef,” said Sexton’s daughter, Jinayla Bollman, who is her mother’s business partner, “but food has always been her gift. She has always had a way to make it beautiful…not only beautiful, but delicious, too. Her food was always Pinterest worthy, long before Pinterest existed, and it was always her way of loving on people.”
Having worked beside her father in his restaurant when Sexton was in her twenties, she knew what went into restaurant ownership, Bollman said of her mother, and she wasn’t sure this kind of entrepreneurship was exactly
retirement-age territory she wanted to enter. But with encouragement, she decided to take the plunge in 2005 and opened a “tiny lunch and dinner restaurant with wonderful pies and cakes,” Bollman said. And Sexton found her niche. And her joy, especially when Bollman, the youngest of four siblings, joined her in the new family business after graduating college.
In 2011, they moved to a larger building, a 1914 bungalow in Danville, and acquired a staff of 40.
The eatery serves breakfast and lunch Tuesday through Saturday — breakfast all day on Saturday — with a menu that offers vegetarian and gluten-free options. It has racked up its share of accolades, including, among others, 2023 nods for “Top Ten Places for Comfort Food Near Indy,” “Yelp’s Top Restaurants in Hendricks County,” and “Top Places for Pie.”
All dishes, breads, pies, and cakes are made fresh in-house and locally sourced. Bread Basket’s dessert case features delectables with names in their titles, like silks and creams, berries, nuts, crumbles,
and buttermilk.
During the holidays, Bollman said, they fill hundreds of orders for pies and cakes, often from repeat customers, a tradition Bollman said is an honor for their family, “It’s like being a sweet little punctuation on their holiday meal.”
“This is a place where people meet with friends,” Bollman said, “It’s healing when people can be in a place that is safe and warm and welcoming, and that is a big deal.”
Bread Basket Café & Bakery
46 South Tennessee St., Danville
317-718-4800
