On some days, Chelsea Annett begins baking at 3 a.m. She needs the early morning time to prepare for the stream of customers that will arrive at her bakery once the clock strikes nine.

From spinach feta scones and cardamom buns to chocolate coconut macaroons and almond cookies, Annett combines seasonal, locally sourced ingredients to strive for the best taste. She opened Table, located in Concord’s Eagle Square, in July after years of selling baked goods at local farmers markets.

“It’s an act of service for me. It’s my way to care for my community. I think it’s my version of art. It’s how I get to express my creativity, and I feel very grateful for the customers that are willing to try things that they haven’t heard of before, or to ask questions and to be curious,” Annett said.

She has loved to bake since high school – and even taught herself everything she knows. Annette, who worked as a special education teacher for over a decade, decided to leave her job in 2019 and pursue baking full-time.

“When I left teaching I was looking for something bigger than myself. This business is about so much more than the baked goods. Looking back at my earliest notes and dreams, the main thread through them all is community. This is about something more than doing what I love; it’s about giving everyone a space at the table,” she said.

She began selling goods at the Canterbury Farmers Market then became a regular at the farmer’s market in Concord, where she built a network of devoted customers and found a community of food vendors and like-minded small business owners.

Initially operating out of a small storefront downtown, Annett took over the Eagle Square location in February and dedicated months to renovating the space alongside her father and husband. Now, she’s running the bakery of her dreams while balancing motherhood, family, and self-care with her desire to offer fresh, flavorful confections with local roots.

“This is the hardest I’ve ever worked at anything,” she said.

Table, open Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., requires Annett to balance time in the kitchen with time serving customers in line. Her father, husband, and 14-year-old daughter also lend a hand behind the counter when they can.

“I value everyone that walks in the door,” Annett said. “I want everyone to feel seen. I want them to feel nourished. I want them to feel cared for.”

Her previous storefront did not have seating, whereas Table now features a variety of cozy tables and chairs by the large windows overlooking Eagle Square.

“I really want this to be a place that people can come and be themselves, where they can sit and have a cup of coffee and you can have a bad day and come here, or you can come here and celebrate successes. Life is so messy, and to pretend that everything is great all the time is just not fair – it’s a disservice to the human condition. People should be able to have places that make them feel good,” she said.

She appreciates the two-day schedule because it allows her to take Sundays off while using the start of each week to get organized and find new recipes. Annett prides herself on changing up the menu on a regular basis depending on the season and her desire to experiment.

The connections she’s made at farmers markets over the past few years have proven crucial to pursuing her goals of baking with seasonal ingredients and helping her customers discover new flavors. Wanting to help educate people about the origins of their food, she sources her produce, grain, and other products from farms in the area and always enjoys talking about ingredients when customers come into the bakery.

“It’s a cool way to see the origin story of our food and how it all comes together in great local products,” said Table customer Elsa Pinkerton, who first tried one of Annett’s baked goods at Revelstoke, where she had sold a batch of scones. Pinkerton then met Annett at the farmers market and became a loyal customer each week.

She’s followed Annett’s baking journey since then and even contributed to crowdsourcing efforts during the renovation of the Eagle Square location. She goes to Table every Saturday morning and enjoys trying whatever new recipe Annett has produced for that week.

“There’s really a community,” Pinkerton said.

She has made friends through Table and often meets up with a group of fellow customers who have gotten to know each other since they began following Annett’s baking.

“It’s become one of my happy places,” Pinkerton said. “I really always feel a sense of being welcomed when I walk in.”

In addition to getting to know her customers on an individual basis, Annett also strives to build connections with other small business owners and those who aspire to start their own businesses.

“People want to be seen,” Annett said. “They want to feel like they are a part of something. I hope they feel that when they are here. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to show up everyday and let people actually see you and to risk failure. I want to encourage others to be brave, to take risks on themselves. Being human is messy but it’s also beautiful and there is so much power in the permission to be yourself.”

She hopes to pay forward the support and resources she’s received from her vendor friends and other small business owners by connecting with those looking to pursue a goal or try something new.

“Once someone shows me that little glimmer of a dream of something that they want to do, I will do everything I can to pour energy into it, because it’s just been such a beautiful journey for me to find something that I love to do and be able to share it with people,” Annett said.

In the future, she dreams of offering farm-to-table dinners, monthly brunches, and evening wine nights through Table. But for now, she’s still settling into the routine of planning recipes, sourcing locally grown products, prepping ingredients, baking in the early morning, and selling goods to customers.

“I think we all have more capacity than we give ourselves credit for,” she said. “I just keep walking in the direction that I want this business to go and continue to add to the knowledge that I have.”

As Annett continues devoting herself to Table, she sometimes reflects on her journey thus far and what baking means to her.

“I really want people to feel cared for. That was sort of the vehicle for me. Looking at the history of baking, it was meant to be shared with people. I have always felt that and wanted to share it with people,” she said. “It does feel personal when you are the one that’s creating the product and offering it. It is a part of yourself that you are giving away.”

Table is located at 5 Eagle Square in Concord. For more information, visit tablenh.com.

Rachel Wachman can be reached at rwachman@cmonitor.com

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