From screen to sourdough
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Patrick Duffy, left, and Linda Purl launched Duffy's Dough at Kroger Marketplace in Farragut. They are pictured with Kroger patron Dennis Beal, right. - Tammy Cheek
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Patrick Duffy, left, and Linda Purl launched Duffy's Dough at Kroger Marketplace in Farragut. - Tammy Cheek
TV icons Patrick Duffy and Linda Purl made their mark in Hollywood.
Now, they are focused on leaving a legacy.
That legacy brought them to Kroger Marketplace in Farragut on Monday, Feb. 23, for the launch of Duffy’s Dough, a ready-to-bake sourdough bread line sold at Kroger, with 100 percent of profits donated to hunger relief organizations nationwide.
Earlier that day, the couple partnered with Knox County Community Action Committee in Knoxville, delivering meals and supporting hunger relief efforts in Knoxville and Nashville.
The bread traces back to a 70-year-old Alaskan starter given to Duffy’s mother when the family lived in Alaska.
“Many people may remember Patrick from ‘Dallas’ or ‘Step by Step,’ and Linda Purl was Fonzie’s girlfriend on ‘Happy Days.’ She was also on ‘Matlock’ and ‘The Office,’” said Lauren Bell, head of communications and public affairs for The Kroger Co.
After 50 years in entertainment, Duffy said the couple began thinking about what came next.
“A friend told us he was in the legacy portion of his life and career,” Duffy said. “He didn’t want to do things that didn’t have a lasting impact. That made perfect sense to us.”
Around that time, Duffy had been bringing homemade sourdough rolls — made from the longtime family starter — to dinner parties.
“So we thought, maybe that’s it,” he said. “Let’s try a small bread situation and donate all the profits to charity.”
They began baking out of Purl’s garage but quickly outgrew the space. With advice from business friends, they created 200 all-in-one kits with dehydrated starter and sold them online.
“And we sold out,” Duffy said.
The story went viral, but demand soon exceeded what they could produce.
“With the starter, once people have it, they never have to buy it again,” Purl said. “So we knew we needed to find a bakery effort willing to take us on.”
They were introduced to Kroger, whose charitable mission appealed to them.
“We knew something about their Zero Hunger | Zero Waste policy,” Purl said. “They are serious about giving back in each community they serve.”
What they expected to be a 20-minute pitch in Cincinnati turned into a four-hour meeting with Kroger’s board and a comprehensive licensing agreement.
“They liked the bread,” Duffy said, “but more they liked that our goal was to give away 100 percent of the profits.”
During their Tennessee visit, the couple learned that one in seven adults and one in six children face hunger in the state.
They toured local efforts, such as Meals on Wheels and Knox County CAC, where workers begin at 5:30 a.m., preparing thousands of meals and delivering more than 1,000 meals daily to seniors, schools, Boys and Girls Clubs and others in need.
“It’s not always who people assume,” Duffy said. “It’s the homebound, veterans, college students — people from every level of the food scarcity spectrum.
“This has been a journey,” he added. “We thought we’d start a company and give away the profits. Finding where the profits go and who we can trust to help us do that — Kroger fulfilled that dream.”
