ABOUT ZOE
“Then it dawned on me—Zoe’s Gone Bananas! Anyone who knows me will know how fitting that title really is.”
Zoanne was born and raised in Roseville, Minnesota. At 18, she escaped the Midwest hoping to seek a new adventure. Her big adventure came, but not in the tropical paradise she’d hoped; rather, in the oven of her small Minnetonka home 30 years later. What started as a hobby of baking for friends and fundraisers, turned into the discovery of a life-long passion: spreading love through her bread and the beginning of Zoe’s Gone Bananas.
“I needed to come up with a way to not only work around my 3 year olds schedule but get my 17 year-old to Scotland for the Fringe Festival that his High school was chosen to perform in. Then it occurred to me … why not sell my banana bread? I’d been baking it for friends for years, why not share it with everyone?”
Zoe proceeded to enter her product in her local market, and just in time for it’s last weekend, she rallied her son, and close friend to help, and thus it began.
“I will never forget that first baking weekend … up to my elbows in bananas. Between that and my girlfriend who came to stay I would ask, ‘how many bananas, and flour did I just put in?’ it was to say the least, quite comical and quite a weekend. I was so proud of those-what appeared to resemble bricks-banana bread loafs. My son, my friend and I wrapped and tied and labeled the bread packages til all hours of the night, only to have my first day at the market be raining. There I was, up to my ankles in water with a table I took from the end of someone’s driveway that said ‘FREE’, and a lavender borrowed umbrella from my girlfriend who helped me all weekend, who continues to be my number one fan … thanks Michelle!”
After that day of rain, Zoe wondered what it would take to bring her business to new heights. “I was talking about my business to a girlfriend of mine and remember thinking that I’d go bananas before I figured it all out. Then it dawned on me—Zoe’s Gone Bananas! Anyone who knows me will know how fitting that title really is.”
Since then, Zoe has gone bananas, and made us all go bananas for her bread. Selling at local fairs and farmers markets, she’s presented the greater Minnesota area with a variety of flavors inspired by her signature monkey logo.
Zoe is now ready for her next big adventure—Zoe’s Gone Bananas food truck!
Zoe continues to do what she does best—brighten peoples’ day with her lovable personality. One can taste the love and passion she has for her company in each bite of her bread. And each bite, we assure you, will drive you bananas for more.
