Ladybird: The Cozy Cafe You Can’t Miss
If Heather Crane could do nothing but make bread, she’d be a happy lady.
“Artisan bread is my favorite thing in the world to bake,” she says.
At its core, she explained, bread is just a few simple ingredients — flour, salt, water and a rising agent. It’s the technique and love that go into each sourdough loaf, scone and snack that make her creations special.
Of course, as the owner of Ladybird at 22 Hotchkiss Ave., Crane does more than bake bread. She’s created a cozy cafe right off the highway where customers can grab a cup of Joe, craft pastry or satiating entree and hang out in an aesthetic joint with views of the San Juans.
Just 15 minutes south of Montrose, Ladybird is impossible to miss for anyone driving on Highway 550 toward Ridgway — not that you’d want to. And, it opens at 6:30 a.m., giving Telluride-bound skiers and snowboarders plenty of time to grab some fuel before a day on the slopes.
“You can come grab a breakfast burrito and a coffee and still get first chair,” Crane says.
Heather Crane has created a cozy cafe right off the highway near Montrose, where she can bake all the time. Photos by Kylea Henseler.
LADYBIRD BEGINS
Crane began baking as a child, and worked her first job and many subsequent gigs in the baking business. Back then, she didn’t know owning her own spot was in the cards.
“It was something I always fell back on,” she says. “But I never knew I was going to be a baker.”
Ladybird came about naturally, due to customer demand for Crane’s handcrafted carbs.
She moved to the Western Slope 13 years ago and started up a side hustle selling her homebaked goods at local farmers markets.
“It was very small-scale, just 15 to 20 loaves of bread,” she says. “I baked it at home in my home oven. And then with each year, it got a little bit bigger.”
Within a few years, Crane purchased Pine Cone Catering, and operating that business gave her more kitchen space and equipment to ramp up the production of baked goods. Eventually, farmers market fans encouraged her to open her own shop, and she gave the people what they wanted.
“A lot of people were like, ‘When are you actually going to open a brick and mortar?’” Crane says.
The answer to that question was early 2024.
PINK AND JAZZ AND BIRDS
Crane’s location, on the route from Montrose Regional Airport to popular Western Slope tourist destinations, makes it a convenient stop for coffee. It once was, before La Zona Colona closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. For several years after, a large roadside sign reading “Coffee” remained — a remnant of what had been.
That was until Crane closed on the building last year and quickly turned it into a buzzing bakery and cafe.
Instrumental music, often swingin’ jazz, greets customers as soon as they walk in the door, and the aesthetic is a mix of cozy accents, rosy hues and vintage touches. “It’s like pink and birds and jazz and baking all made a baby,” Crane says.
The restaurant’s name is a play on “crane,” a type of bird, while the decor and soundtrack pay homage to New Orleans, one of Crane’s favorite cities.
The Big Easy influence runs deeper than the vibe. Crane sources all the coffee from French Truck Coffee, a small New Orleans-based chain. She remembers feeling an immediate connection the first time she visited a French Truck location and later, when she started her business, just knew she had to see if it had a wholesale program.
“The coffee is pretty special,” she says, adding the company focuses on producing a small-batch, ethically sourced product.
It pairs perfectly with the carefully-made pastries, burritos, quiches and more on Crane’s menu, and she noted she also tries to source local and seasonal ingredients as much as possible.
Everything, she says, is made with “a lot of time and a lot of love.”
And Crane has one goal in mind each time a customer visits Ladybird. “I want people to feel naturally cheery when they walk in,” she says.
Originally published in the winter 2025-26 issue of Spoke+Blossom.