In early 2025, John Goncher knew it was time to get out of his living room.
That’s where the ex-CFO and Rosemont resident was singlehandedly baking some 700 loaves a week for his sourdough startup, Wild Yeast Bakehouse. Between mixing and proofing dough, packing all his product, working weekend markets, and dropping bread at a couple hundred subscribers’ doorsteps, Goncher was running on fumes. Even his smartwatch knew it.
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“My little watch told me, ‘You’re averaging more sleep this year.’ I went from three hours and 10 minutes to three hours and 20 minutes over the year,” Goncher said over a recent interview at Wild Yeast’s newly opened brick-and-mortar bakery in Wayne’s Eagle Village shopping center.
Sandwiched between two well-established Main Line restaurants (Autograph Brasserie and The Silverspoon), Wild Yeast officially opened July 18. It joins Wayne’s burgeoning food scene: Notable newcomers include the splashy Maison Lotus, Main Line darling Johnny’s Pizza, and boutique wine bar Nature’s Vin.
The bakery is open Wednesday through Sunday, selling a variety of sourdough loaves, from kid-friendly cinnamon-raisin and sandwich bread to olive herb and oat porridge boules. You can also score Gryphon coffee, whole-grain Castle Valley Mill flour, and Wild Yeast’s own sourdough focaccia, cookies, and scones for now. (More discard-fueled pastry projects are in development.)
With crown molding picture boxes, a cozy-chic sofa, and a sunny window seat, the bakery has a living room vibe — perhaps not surprising given Goncher once dreamed of baking out of his living room forever.
It was in early 2025 that Goncher first started looking at spaces to move his cottage business, which he started in 2021 after leaving a career in finance. Thanks to a combination of farmers market traffic and media attention, his business had ballooned. He was baking bread for half a dozen wholesale clients and nearly 250 monthly subscribers, plus a sell-out crowd at the Media farmers market.
Keeping up with that demand meant maintaining a brutal schedule seven days a week. Goncher would roll into his living room shortly after 2 a.m. and bake until 6 a.m. The meat of the day consisted of readying and making deliveries (or working the market), followed by afternoon and evening dough prep. Most nights, he went to bed at 11 p.m. Meanwhile, he was turning away new business.
“I said to my wife, ‘It either has to contract or it has to really grow,’” Goncher remembered. “We have to move out and do something with it.”
Goncher initially considered spaces in Bryn Mawr — “I was looking close to home, because [I had a] 10-second commute, I figured under 10 minutes would be ideal” — but shifted his sights elsewhere when he learned Malvern’s Buttery would be opening a new location there. He looked at leases in Ardmore as well before landing on the bustling Eagle Village complex, which numbers home and clothing boutiques, a florist, a barre studio, and Main Line Mahjong among its varied tenants.
“This place [gets] constant traffic,” Goncher said.
Goncher inked the lease on the stone-faced storefront at 503 Lancaster Ave. last November. He spent six months renovating it, working with the same architect and builders who renovated his own home. The 1,500-square-foot space features a retail counter and small seating area, and is subdivided by large picture windows that overlook a roomy, well-lit kitchen destined to be used for evening baking classes.
Offering classes is one aspect of growth the brick-and-mortar space allows for, Goncher said. But it will also enable him to take on more subscribers and wholesale accounts in the near future, expand Wild Yeast’s offerings, get more involved in the Main Line community — and, hopefully, reclaim a whiff of work-life balance.
Wild Yeast now has six employees, including an operations manager, a delivery driver, and three other bakers besides Goncher.
The additional hands have already helped Goncher get a little more sleep — “my goal is [to work] 5 [a.m.] to 6 [p.m.], I’m 3 to 9:30 as of yesterday” — not to mention most of his living room back. He’s looking forward to what a new chapter holds for Wild Yeast.
“I was ready to have this stop being about me,” Goncher said. “I want it to to be something that starts to have a life of its own.”
Wild Yeast Bakehouse. Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday; 503 W. Lancaster Ave., Suite 1105, Wayne; 610-314-6760; wildyeastbakehouse.com
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