Ben the Baker's story of trading MMA fighting gloves for oven mitts
WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. -- A White Bear Lake man is known for dishing up delicious pies. He's also a man of other surprising talents.
If the kitchen is the heart of a home, you'll have to head to the Nuemann's garage. Ben Neumann transformed it into a commercial kitchen about six years ago, where he now runs his bakery.
"It's pretty small, 450 square feet or so," he said. "It's kind of perfect for what I need right now."
He returned home from deployment with the Minnesota National Guard in 2007 and was hit with two very different passions that somehow came together.
After years of MMA fighting and teaching martial arts, he traded gloves for oven mitts.
"You are in the face of your opponent trying to be tough and intimidate them and I would just bring a slice of pie and hand it to them," Neumann said, laughing.
His bakery sells a variety of sweet and savory take-and-bake and thaw-and-serve pies. While out back, he's experimenting with growing ingredients himself.
The real apple, however, is of his eye: his adopted baby girl.
"She was premature and at the Mayo NICU for a month and a half, so she's used to the sounds and beeps, and so she hangs out in here with me," he said.
People can order Ben the Baker's pies online to pick up. He also specializes in holiday pies. He will be open on Friday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and again on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
