TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — After a career defusing bombs and serving on the SWAT team, retired deputy Chris Smith has found a new calling — baking treats and brewing coffee for his community at Ground Ops Roastery + Bakehouse, the café he and his wife opened in November 2023, FOX News reported.
Smith, 56, served with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office and previously in the U.S. Navy before retiring just months ahead of the café’s opening, according to the report. Though it seems like a dramatic career change, Smith says his new role is still about public service.
“It all comes back to serving people and being there for the community,” he told Fox News Digital. “Opening Ground Ops was just another way of providing a service to the community.”
His wife, Shannon Smith, says the couple’s story began with a plate of food, according to the report. They met in 2021 when Smith, then a deputy, came to talk with her adopted son, who had gotten into trouble. He brought Shannon a homemade pastry — which would later become the shop’s popular “Hello Cake.”
Smith began baking for the bomb squad and saving up to open a café, collecting equipment and perfecting recipes along the way, according to the report. Today, Ground Ops serves a full menu of baked-from-scratch items and uniquely named coffee blends with a patriotic theme, including “Bravo Zulu,” “War Horse” and “Missing in Action.”
Despite the joy of running the shop, Shannon acknowledges the challenges.
“Law enforcement is hard, but running a business is a different kind of hard,” she said. Chris agrees, joking that waking up early to bake is tougher than bomb disposal.
Though retired, Smith hasn’t left law enforcement entirely behind. His sense of duty, community and service continues — now served alongside coffee and pastries.
