The Bakery was first opened on February 14, 1948, by George and Irene Koch. George was a third generation baker and learned his trade under his father’s guidance. He is responsible for many of the formulas (cooks use recipes, bakers use formulas, other than the name it’s mostly the same thing) that are still used today. They started out at 535 Market Street in downtown Chattanooga and moved to South Broad Street several years later. They then moved to our current location at 1900 Broad Street in 1978.

George and Irene sold the Bakery to a gentleman named Tony Fox in December of 1980. Mr. Fox kept the business for a short time and then sold it to Mike Haley, a local businessman. Mike ran the Bakery successfully for a couple of years and then sold it to Lyle and Barbara Davis, the current owners, in July of 1983. Barbara’s son Dwayne Nichols came to work at the Bakery at that time. Barbara’s son, Steve Nichols joined the family at the Bakery in 1989 after serving in the US Navy for 6 years, and after Lyle passed away in 1993, helped to manage the business with his wife Cindy.

Barbara Davis is still the owner of Koch’s Bakery, but after her semi-retirement in 2009, the day to day operations have been handled by her son and his wife, Steve and Cindy Nichols.

The Bakery has always been a small family owned and operated business and it continues to be.