Ranging from cookies inspired by Heather Schone’s grandmother to intricate woven bread loaves, Schone’s Scones pack a delicious punch with every one of their products. Tucked into a neighborhood in McLean, this family-run bakery creates their flavorful sweets in the Schones’ home kitchen.
“I’ve always loved to bake,” Schone said. “It has acted as a sort of stress release for probably the past eight years.”
Schone’s passion for baking started out with her children, bringing sweets to their sports games and practices. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, she and her family found themselves looking for an activity to occupy their time.
“We were all sitting in the kitchen just staring at each other when my daughter Liliana said, ‘Let’s start a bakery,’” Schone said. “So we put some pictures of a couple loaves of bread up on my Instagram and waited to see what would happen. They sold almost immediately.”
Over time Schone’s Scones has built a community around itself, with each family member taking on part of the workload in order to provide for their growing number of customers.
“It’s definitely a family business,” Schone said. “We used to have pseudo-staff meetings on the patio where each of us discussed our own job for the bakery.”
Schone’s middle daughter, Liliana Schone, plays a big role by running the bakery’s Instagram page, where Schone’s Scones is able to inform their customers on highly anticipated flash sales, special themes revolving around holidays, and answer any questions through their Instagram DMs. Despite being in her freshman year at Davidson college, Liliana still continues to run the page for her mom.
“It makes me so happy that no matter how difficult it is, I am able to help with Schone’s Scones,” Liliana Schone said. “It’s fun because every night when I get home from dinner, I call my parents and we are able to catch up and talk about the bakery.”
Heather Schone’s oldest daughters are away at college, but Liliana’s role in the bakery allows them to stay connected while she is away.
“I think it’s fun because I still feel like I’m a part of the bakery even though I’m states away,” Lilliana Schone said.
Although Schone’s Scones started through Instagram DMs, the family worked their way up to building their own website that receives over 50 orders a week. Their website will drop the flavors a week in advance, usually on Fridays. Usually the orders are sold out within a few days.
“We buy from Schone’s Scones at least every week,” long-time customer Bethany Nguyen said. “We are forever shuttling our kids to sports practices and games and meets, so [Schone’s] protein balls are a necessity.”
Community is a priority for Heather Schone. She enjoys watching the connections between her customers and the bakery grow, seeing what aspects of her life her customers come from.
“It’ll be interesting to see where [the bakery] goes,” Heather Schone said. “But right now I’m super content with just doing it like this, I love the people and community we have built.”
