Conor O’Neill: Prioritizing local foods for the community

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 1, 2026

This is one of 12 finalists for The Herald Business Journal’s annual Emerging Leaders awards for 2026. The winner will be named at an event on April 7.

Conor O’Neill, 31

Owner, The Cottage, Community Bakery

Conor O’Neill’s interest in local food started at 17 years old when doctors diagnosed him with low-grade bladder cancer.

As one of the youngest people in Washington State to receive this level of bladder cancer, he took an interest in his eating habits and the roots of where his food was made, he said. In college, he became passionate about cooking and came across a no-knead bread recipe.

“Just stir together water, flour, a little bit of commercial yeast and some salt, and by dinnertime, you’d have a fresh loaf of bread hitting the dinner table,” he said. “Something about this process just really took over me, and ever since, I’ve just been so inspired by the bread-making process.”

Around his junior year of college, he saved up for a trip to Paris with his friends, where he got to see firsthand old-world bread-making techniques.

“Not only was I enamored by the processes and techniques of bread baking,” he said. “But I was also really inspired by how connected they were to their food.”

When he returned home, he was determined to explore what opening a bakery would look like. In 2018, he built a micro bakery in half of his parents’ garage. The following year, he opened a pop-up bakery. O’Neill would show up at 10 a.m. with sourdough bread and small treats.

“My neighborhood would just show up in droves to come support this little guy who was baking bread out of his garage,” he said.

The bakery had two years of pop-ups, one of which was in a rented kitchen. During the week of Thanksgiving in 2021, The Cottage, Community Bakery moved into its storefront at 7530 Olympic View Drive, No. 101 in Edmonds.

“I think we live in a pocket of Snohomish County where there really isn’t a great source for good local bread that utilizes local grains,” he said. “Moreover, it’s sourdough. It’s naturally leavened. And so this was a really unique thing to have here in Edmonds that people have really grown to appreciate.”

Now, the bakery employs more than 55 people and has expanded into wholesale bread production for restaurants and cafes throughout the region.

“We’ve been able to scale and grow our wholesale department,” he said. “bringing more bread and treats to our neighbors in a more broad understanding, and we’ve been able to maintain that quality that makes me really proud.”

The bakery regularly participates in farmers’ markets, community events, and charitable initiatives, including bread donations, fundraisers, and collaborates with local nonprofits and schools, O’Neill wrote in his application.

“Conor is an example of doing what it takes and hard work in a world that does not honor this generation for working hard,” a nominator wrote.

Outside of work, you can find Conor playing golf, on the hunt for a great cup of coffee and spending time with his family.

Jenna Millikan: 425-339-3035; jenna.millikan@heraldnet.com. X: @JennaMillikan