How do you make a dream into reality? For Randall and Carla Perkins, a lot of hard work
and a desire for a quality product would be
the answer. Realizing this, Randall and Carla started on a journey to turn their dream into reality.

Randall and Carla’s journey took them down a path that would come to be known as Blackbird Bakery. As they embarked on their journey, Randall knew he was looking for the perfect doughnut and Carla had a passion and heart
for pastries.

In his quest for the perfect doughnut, Randall visited doughnut shops from New York City to Clarksville, Tennessee, to the banks of the Ohio River in Paducah, Kentucky. In addition to visiting all the national chains, Randall knew that small-town doughnut shops could also provide the wealth of knowledge he was looking for.

While Randall was visiting doughnut shops, Carla was busy studying, practicing, and tackling some of the most demanding of pastries, French croissant dough and puff pastry — “all the stuff nobody wants to fool with,” as she says. Today, that arduous croissant dough that Carla so diligently learned to master is rolled around French chocolate, formed into rectangles, painted with an egg wash and decorated with almonds.

The culmination of Randall’s travels and Carla’s dedication to mastering pastries led them to want to share their discoveries with the public. To do this they sold their home, bought the building that the Masonic Temple of Bristol, Virginia was using for its meetings and opened Blackbird Bakery in June of 2008.

With an extensive menu of doughnuts, pastries, and breads, the bakery quickly became a favorite bakery shop for the locals in Bristol, and developed the reputation as one of the finest bakeries in southwestern Virginia and eastern Tennessee. Folks have traveled as far away as Wytheville, Virginia and Dickenson County, Virginia just to try the tasty products that are found at Blackbird Bakery.

One visit to Blackbird Bakery and you will realize the hard work that Randall and Carla put into turning their dream into a reality is worth each and every tasty morsel that goes into your mouth.