{"id":914,"date":"2026-05-31T08:06:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T08:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=914"},"modified":"2026-05-31T08:06:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T08:06:19","slug":"the-sweet-smell-of-a-second-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=914","title":{"rendered":"The sweet smell of a second chance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Movies love to portray the bruiser with a soft center. <\/p>

A tattooed tough guy, who at first may look rebellious and intimidating, but actually has a passion for being in the kitchen, creating tasty baked goods. <\/p>

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That\u2019s the reality of Casey Vanderhoef.<\/p>

Prior to his incarceration, Vanderhoef spent 18 years in the restaurant industry. While serving time in prison, he took culinary and business programs to better learn his craft and started tinkering with the idea of opening a doughnut shop. <\/p>

But when he was released to a halfway house in Ogden, there was no fryer to cook his dough. <\/p>

So he used his dough to make cinnamon rolls.<\/p>

\u201cI just fell in love with the process,\u201d he said, making cinnamon rolls almost daily for six months for the guys at the halfway house.<\/p>

\u201cIn prison, the thing I connected with is just wanting to make people\u2019s days and lives better through food, and there hasn\u2019t been a time in my life where I haven\u2019t been happy eating a cinnamon roll.\u201d<\/p>

Rising from the ashes<\/h3>

The most special aspect of his business, he\u2019d say, is that it allows him and those he employs the opportunity of a second chance. <\/p>

Vanderhoef explained how difficult it can be for people with felony backgrounds to find meaningful work \u2014 or work at all \u2014 after serving time.<\/p>

\u201cSometimes, as someone with a felonious background, we end up waiting in the back of a lot of lines for things like employment, housing,\u201d he said. In interviews, they\u2019ll say \u201cwe love you, we just don\u2019t love your background, you know, which is fair and understandable. … So one thing that\u2019s nice about being a startup is that we just get to skip the line, we just start working.\u201d<\/p>

While developing his recipe, he secured his first wholesale opportunity with Beehive Meals. When he presented his rolls, the wholesaler asked if the dough could be frozen and cooked later.<\/p>

From that interview emerged Rize Sweet Rolls, a name Vanderhoef drew from the image of a phoenix rising from the ashes, reflecting both his personal journey and the mission behind the business.<\/p>

His goal with his company is simple: he wants customers\u2019 homes to smell like his kitchen when they bake his cinnamon rolls.<\/p>

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He agreed to produce 5,300 cinnamon rolls for Beehive Meals despite never having made anything close to that volume. At the time he had only produced about 60 rolls in one go.<\/p>

Initially, it took him and his two employees four days to make 1,000 cinnamon rolls the first week. They were able to cut it down to 1,000 cinnamon rolls in three days the next week.<\/p>

With the help of his wife and a significant quantity of energy drinks, they were able to produce the 5,300 requirement, making 900 cinnamon rolls in 14 hours on their last day. <\/p>

The contract provided the capital to rent a public kitchen where he and his team now operates. They have since added two local grocers to their clientele.<\/p>

As he continues to grow his business, Vanderhoef said there are still struggles with reentry after serving time, and that adjusting to freedom can be unexpectedly difficult. <\/p>

\u201cPart of the challenge of reentry is I hadn\u2019t had a lot of time to be alone with myself,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s terrifying sometimes, and so obviously building community with the people that I met in prison has been a big resource.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThere\u2019s some days too, where I\u2019ll stand here, and just have that moment of, man, it\u2019s so great not to be in prison.\u201d<\/p>

For people in similar situations, he wants them to know there\u2019s a path after prison.<\/p>

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to wait in anybody else\u2019s long line. … If you have an idea, just go do it. And it\u2019s messy, it\u2019s hard, but it\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>

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For Casey Vanderhoef, a cinnamon roll business became more than a source of income \u2014 it became proof that life after incarceration is possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-utah"],"yoast_head":"\nThe sweet smell of a second chance - American Movers Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=914\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The sweet smell of a second chance - American Movers Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For Casey Vanderhoef, a cinnamon roll business became more than a source of income \u2014 it became proof that life after incarceration is possible.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=914\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Movers Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-31T08:06:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=914#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=914\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b68c8483906c0d2987f271455f0177af\"},\"headline\":\"The sweet smell of a second chance\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-31T08:06:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=914\"},\"wordCount\":706,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=914#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a11b7bb2101f9d65a967a7049b871478.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Utah\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=914#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=914\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanmovershub.com\\\/?p=914\",\"name\":\"The sweet smell of a second chance - 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