CHESTER, Vt. – A fresh, Michelin-level culinary experience is coming to town, and residents of Chester are abuzz. The Alder Bakery and Eatery is scheduled to open during the first week of 2026.
Owners Miguel and Kirsten Calderon have taken over and revitalized the space of the former Heritage Bakery on Route 103. For the young, talented, and determined husband-and-wife team, the bakery represents the culmination of a hard-won dream they share and worked for years to bring to fruition.
For the past nearly eight years, the dynamic duo has owned and operated Calderon Dining, a private-chef service that has earned rave reviews and quickly become a local favorite. Recognized for designing intimate, elegant dinners for two, creative, family-style meals, and boutique weddings and events, Calderon Dining delivers well-presented plates, impeccable service, and a memorable experience.
Once Miguel made the decision to pursue a career as a chef, there was not much that could have stopped him. After graduating from culinary school in Florida, Miguel obtained a position with the best restaurant in Jacksonville, a French bistro called Orsay. From there, Miguel secured spots at Michelin Star restaurants in Chicago, New York City, Spain, France, and Italy.
The couple traveled the world together, often struggling, but always resolute. They found work at wineries and restaurants, nearly froze to death in Iceland, and shared a cramped studio apartment with two other couples in New York. Miguel’s persistence and passion was what kept moving them forward, and Kirsten’s staunch support and belief in Miguel’s talent and drive held them up.
Miguel said he would reach out to the top restaurants, and “if they didn’t email me back within 24 hours, I was there knocking on their door.”
“The goal was to always open up [our own] place,” relayed Miguel.
But was it his idea to take over a bakery? Not exactly. Miguel’s initial vision had been of owning a fine-dining restaurant, but he came to realize that the number of hours and workload that job required was unsustainable, especially if he and Kirsten were going to start a family.
“Working from 8 in the morning, leaving at 1 in the morning,” described Miguel. He also recalled the high-stress, competitive environment that comes with striving for perfection, and working in a fast-paced, upscale restaurant. Miguel mentioned the sabotage that would take place behind the scenes, and the insults and abuse he experienced while working as an unpaid intern, via an apprenticeship called a stage (pronounced “st-AH-zh”). Stages offer up-and-coming chefs the opportunity for immersive, on-the-job training and experience assisting senior chefs. In other words, free labor for the restaurant.
Ultimately, the Calderons started to burn out from the grueling lifestyle and unsupportable income, but Miguel wasn’t quite ready to give up yet. “We are in New York City,” he felt at the time. “The dream is here.”
But when Kirsten’s sister, who lives in Andover, Vt., contacted them and suggested they check out the area, Kirsten was persuaded to visit. Miguel recalled, “Once she got on the train, something inside of me was like, ‘you should be with her.’” After failing at trying to get himself fired, Miguel quit his job in New York City, and joined his wife and in-laws in Vermont. That was in 2017.
Kirsten’s sister and her husband run a nonprofit organization called Abundance Acres, and when Calderon Dining first began hosting pop-up dinners, they gave most of the money they made back to the farm.
It was a freak wakeboarding accident and a broken knee that put Miguel out of work for five months, and gave him rare time to think. The couple had just welcomed a new baby.
When Kirsten asked, “What’s your dream?” he considered the question.
Suddenly, his vision became clear. “We need a space. We need staff so we can take on bigger events.” They had been looking at commercial properties for almost three years, and had seen the Heritage Bakery in April with their realtor Susan Starr-Adams.
“The bakery had the perfect footprint,” Miguel reported. “We almost took it as a sign.”
Miguel felt a strong connection to the space. “I was like, I like it, I knew I wanted it, I saw the vision. To be real, I started praying, and I felt like this is it.”
He told Kirsten, “I would love to have a pavilion with wood-fire ovens so we can cook on fire, and a bakery, so it would be conducive to having a family, set it up as us, and eventually it could run itself.
Kirsten encouraged, “If you want that bakery, you go get it.”
Things moved quickly at that point, until they didn’t. It took less than a day and a half for Miguel to raise the capital, for which he is eternally grateful to his friends and community.
“All the dominoes fell into place,” said Miguel.
Initially the couple hoped to open in October, but they spent several months deep cleaning, doing construction and redesigning, and installing new floors donated by Vermont Hardwoods. The owners, Rebecca and David Waldman, met the Calderons through their private chef services, and became huge fans of Miguel’s food, creativity, and professionalism, and of the couple themselves.
The name Alder exists within the last name Calderon, of course, but is also the name of a tree, common throughout North America. Alders are durable, versatile, and strong, and after meeting Miguel, the name seems perfect.
Miguel is a self-taught baker, and is looking forward to creating French-style pastries for the new eatery. He hired two additional bakers, who will make pies and cookies. A minimal breakfast and lunch menu will offer French style with Latin influence. Miguel admits he is very picky about his coffee, and has built an amazing partnership with the award-winning Intelligentsia coffee roasters, whose owner recently moved from New York City to Chester.
After 5-6 months, Miguel wants to start offering dinner several nights a week, which should prove to be an incredible addition to the expanding Chester restaurant scene.
Miguel said he hadn’t even advertised for open staff positions, but had a lot of amazing, qualified applicants show up anyway. Miguel’s staffing philosophy stems from his time training with the chefs in the kitchens at luxury restaurants, learning from both the good and the bad.
“The staff is an amazing foundation for what we want to create,” explained Miguel. “We want to offer genuine hospitality, for customers to feel like any employee [could be] the owner of the place. [I want to] give people a good experience [starting] the minute [they] walk in the door.
“If the culture is off, the customer can sense that. You can’t teach kindness…I can teach somebody how to cook.”