Good for all the right reasons
We’re on a mission to nourish our community with good food, local grains, and inclusive careers.
Good food.
Artisan dough made from freshly milled, local, nutritious grains just tastes better than highly refined ingredients from far away. Our chewy, toasty, mild sourdough crust consistently stands out from the rest.
Local grains.
We use 100% Maine-sourced, sustainably-grown grains, so we can help revive our local grain economy, support Maine’s farmers and millers, and take care of the land we live on.
Diverse jobs.
We help Mainers with unique needs to enter the workforce by offering purposeful, paid training opportunities, and an inclusive workplace culture tailored to every team member’s strengths.
Add locally grown, artisan dough to your school nutrition program
Dozens of K-12 schools, colleges, and universities use The Good Crust to offer locally sourced, whole grain, from-scratch pizza to their students—and the kids are loving it.
Together we’re striving for equity in the food system by making high-quality, chemical-free, nutritious, and delicious food options more accessible for kids of all economic backgrounds.
Invest in local ingredients, local people, and a shorter distance from farm to table
We believe in our community’s ability to feed itself — and we’re proud of the fresh, flavorful foods we can grow and cook right here in Maine.
Our choice to use all local, freshly-milled grains is deliberately to support Maine’s farmers and millers. Because we know that investing in locally grown, healthful ingredients has a positive ripple effect across our entire community.
When we use the land beneath our feet to feed ourselves, together we …
Strengthen our regional economy, and grow businesses that provide purposeful jobs for local people
Support small family farmers who value and implement sustainable practices
Eat and delight in more nutritious foods.
Decrease CO2 emissions, because we reduce the distance that food has to travel from farm to table
Build a more resilient supply chain that’s less vulnerable to faraway events, and share food security abundance with our employees, local non-profits, schools, and food pantries.
85,000. The number of pounds of freshly milled, Maine-grown grains purchased by The Good Crust in 2023.
I’m Heather Kerner, CEO and Founder of The Good Crust.
I’m an organic grower and home baker at heart, and I’ve been an Occupational Therapist for over 26 years.
I believe that good health is achieved when people have access to wholesome, healthy food, and purposeful, paid work.
I founded The Good Crust to cook more nourishing pizza, support Maine’s farmers and millers, and create more meaningful, inclusive work opportunities for Mainers with unique needs.
I love to source ingredients that people I know have toiled to grow, spent careful time preserving, and that have traveled a very short distance from farm to table. And I’m proud to help others do that too.
Along with every single member of my team, I’m on a growth trajectory. I am seeking to use my strengths and engagement to make an impact. It is my privilege to use The Good Crust to nourish our community with wholesome food, local grains, and inclusive careers.
We believe in the healing potential of our purposeful, paid work.
We’re on a mission to help people with unique needs to enter the workforce. That’s why we provide paid, custom workforce development training tailored to each team member’s strengths.
Our workplace development program was founded on the core belief that — with the right support — we ALL have something to contribute.
At The Good Crust, when we say we offer workforce training to folks with “unique needs,” we mean we welcome people of all different cognitive and physical abilities, and personal life circumstances.
In collaboration with community vocational rehabilitation providers and schools, we use our dough operations for work-based learning experiences, so apprentices can grow into strong employees, team players, leaders, and community members.
Joe
Started as an apprentice in 2020 and used his experience and skill set learned at The Good Crust to launch into a full-time restaurant job closer to his home.
“It’s gotten me adapted to being in the workforce… I never was really introduced to working towards a career, so this has gotten me used to the value of teamwork and actually being able to problem solve, and know what it’s like… Like a sapling and a little mighty oak — you can’t just go from a sapling to a mighty oak in less than a week without experience. It takes time.”
Maya
Started by working 15-30 minute shifts and now works a 12-hour work shift at The Common Ground Country Fair (where we serves customers around the clock).
“Since starting work at The Good Crust, I’ve gotten a lot stronger. I couldn’t even lift a full tray of dough when I first started here, and now I’m able to work a 4-hour shift picking up trays, putting them back down, and putting them in the freezer. It also makes me multitask, which has been a hard thing since the accident. It’s getting me back on my feet, and back into the workplace.”
Sam
Our first workforce apprentice in 2020, Sam has steadily increased job responsibilities from pack associate to production associate, peer training mentor, and flour delivery assistant.
“The Good Crust was honestly a miracle for me. When I first discovered them, we were still in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, so it was honestly a shock that I was even getting an opportunity to work. It’s given me more work experience. We’re like a second family to all of each other.”
Good for all the right reasons
Talk to us about how locally sourced, high-quality dough can benefit your community and your bottom line