Crystal Berg (left) and Andrea “Annie” Leck stand behind a collection of Barn Door Baking Co. offerings in 2017. The longtime friends and business partners recently opened Barn Door Breakfast in downtown Damariscotta. (Maia Zewert photo, LCN file)
After years of collaboration and the success of their baking business and cafe, Crystal Berg, of Bremen, and Annie Leck, of Damariscotta, have brought breakfast back to a familiar Damariscotta location with their new Main Street restaurant, Barn Door Breakfast.
Berg and Leck met in their Girl Scout troop at Bristol Consolidated School and became lifelong friends. As young girls, they always imagined that they would run a business together.
“Annie and I were always in kahoots … there was never a time where we weren’t doing some sort of a business. As kids we sold pies at yard sales and we started sewing bags that we sold at Common Ground,” Berg said.
Their entrepreneurial spirit and knack for business continued into adulthood, and was combined with a love for delicious food. When Crissy’s Breakfast and Coffee Bar closed in July 2016, Leck, who was the baker for the breakfast spot, found an opportunity to officially collaborate with Berg.
“I had enough orders that I knew we could at least sustain business for three or four months,” Leck said. They were able to stay in the same space, and Barn Door Baking Co. was born. The baking company shared the commercial space with Crissy’s when the restaurant reopened under Heidi Smith’s management in October 2016.
The Barn Door Baking venture snowballed from there, when the cafe attached to Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop abruptly closed down in 2018.
“We jumped on that opportunity to rent a retail space,” Leck said.
The next step for Leck and Berg was determining what to do about the empty restaurant space in front of their bakery, which was up for sale.
“We floated a lot of ideas. We knew we wanted to buy the building, and we knew if we could then we would, and we could,” Leck said.
The space was ideal for a restaurant, and the location on Main Street of Damariscotta was very appealing to Leck and Berg. A large deciding factor in the choice to open a restaurant was the town’s lack of breakfast options after Crissy’s closed permanently in September 2020.
“Damariscotta needed breakfast,” Berg said.
Barn Door Breakfast opened on Friday, May 5, and has already contributed heavily to the community. The restaurant offers full-service dining as
Barn Door Breakfast, at 212 Main St. in Damariscotta. The restaurant opened on May 5 in the building formerly home to Crissy’s Breakfast and Coffee Bar, which closed in 2020. (Frida Hennig photo)
opposed to the counter service offered the Barn Door Cafe.
Berg and Leck hope that both the food and the atmosphere of the restaurant reflect their values. Inspired by the food that they love to eat, their intention for the menu was to keep it simple and high quality. Everything is made fresh, and all the breads and pastries are made in house.
“We took into consideration a little bit what was on the Crissy’s menu before and what people really loved, and tried to keep that in mind but also make it our own,” Berg said.
Berg’s favorite dish, named after herself, is the Monte Crystal, which involves French toast, ham and gruyere, and homemade strawberry jam. Leck loves the classic egg sandwich or breakfast tacos.
In the days since opening weekend, the most popular menu item has consistently been the tot waffle – a tater tot waffle with eggs, bacon, and avocado.
Despite having their favorites, Berg and Leck are proud of everything on the menu.
“Even the fruit plate is something that is fresh and beautiful, and not something I see at restaurants in our area,” Leck said.
In terms of atmosphere, Berg and Leck wanted the restaurant to feel comfortable and casual.
“Part of the ambience that we envisioned and really gravitated towards was coming into our home … we wanted it to feel like a breakfast nook in someone’s house,” the two friends said.
As Berg and Leck still remain busy with the cafe and their custom bakery orders, their main goal for the restaurant is to make it the best that it can be. For the two friends and business owners, this mostly involves training and keeping staff.
“You can’t expand unless you’ve got a solid foundation,” Berg said.
They want to keep the restaurant reliable, as well as maintaining good service and quality at the cafe. In order to uphold the restaurant’s quality, Barn Door Breakfast will be keeping its current hours for the rest of the summer at least. The restaurant is open Friday through Monday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“It keeps everything sustainable — the cafe, the custom work, our wholesale accounts,” Berg and Leck said.
While opening weekend was stressful and busy, “each day we’re open has been a little easier,” Leck said.
The two friends are grateful for the support the community has shown.
“We’ve got nothing but well wishes and congratulations, and lots of repeat faces already, which is just the greatest compliment,” Leck said.
For more information about Barn Door Breakfast, go to barndoorbakingcompany.com or find the Barn Door Breakfast and Barn Door Baking Co. pages on Facebook and Instagram.
