Smuggled Almonds, Burger King Cups & a 26-Year Costco Card: Jana Fitzgerald of That Foreign Chick's Bakery

If you've been to the Cartersville Farmers Market any time in the last 12 years, you've probably stood in Jana Fitzgerald's line. Jana (pronounced "Yana") is the baker behind That Foreign Chick's Bakery, selling European breads and pastries at markets, festivals, pop-ups, and catering events across Georgia. She's been in the U.S. for about 27 years, moved to Cartersville from Cincinnati 12 years ago, and has lived in America longer than she ever lived in the Czech Republic. Logan and Jana have probably crossed paths for years without knowing it — his wife Catherine stood in that same long farmers market line the first summer they lived here.

Growing up in "Bohemian Paradise" — and on the wrong side of the border

Jana grew up on a small farm in the northern Czech Republic, in a region called Bohemian Paradise, surrounded by her grandparents and animals and not many kids her own age. "I was so lonely," she said — mostly outside by herself, riding her horse. She was born in Czechoslovakia while it was still communist, and some of her sharpest childhood memories are of shopping trips across the border into Poland and East Germany because stores at home were empty. Her mom made her wear three pairs of jeans so the border guards wouldn't confiscate them, and hid money inside a hollowed-out marker. All of that, she said, just to bring home chocolate and almonds for Christmas baking — or a pineapple. "People don't know what they have here." (And for the record: she will not be calling it "Czechia.")

Baking with a baby on the counter

Here's the twist: Jana never baked growing up. Her grandmother baked with a wooden spoon on weekends — plum cakes from the trees out back — but Jana was outside tending the animals. She only started baking in Ohio, when money was tight and she wanted to stay home with her kids instead of handing them to strangers (one in-home sitter ended that experiment by mowing the lawn while the kids were inside). She signed up for a tiny, brand-new farmers market in Goshen, Ohio, mixing dough with her infant son sitting on the counter. "Even if I made back then a hundred bucks, I'm like, I'm gonna take this hundred bucks and go buy groceries." Because European flour isn't sold here, she had to rework every recipe for American all-purpose flour — and her chickens ate very well during the testing phase.

Owning the name people were going to call her anyway

When Logan first saw the name That Foreign Chick's Bakery, his reaction was basically "she can't call it that." The story behind it is the best part of the episode. When Jana first arrived in the U.S. she barely spoke English, and when people asked "Hi, how are you?" she'd only answer "Hi" — so they couldn't tell she was foreign. Eventually she figured people were going to call her "that foreign chick" anyway, so she might as well lean into it. It's a branding lesson Logan couldn't stop praising: nobody would remember "Jana's Baked Goods," but everyone remembers That Foreign Chick's Bakery. Even the logo has a good story — after one design firm quoted her $2,500, two college students made it for $150 over coffee at Starbucks.

Burger King cups, Applebee's happy hour, and a 26-year Costco membership

A good chunk of this conversation is pure food talk. Fast food didn't exist where Jana grew up, so when she got to America she proudly walked around carrying a Burger King cup so everyone could see it. In her early twenties she genuinely thought Applebee's was an upscale restaurant. Today her favorite fast food is Chipotle, she'll occasionally get a Big Mac but refuses the fries, and she orders her wings at the hottest heat level available. Then there's Costco: Jana has been a member for 26 years, owns a Costco hat, buys her KitchenAid and her sheets there, and makes the drive to Kennesaw, Woodstock, or Dallas regularly. She and Logan made a joint on-air plea for Costco to open a Cartersville location — and to send them both free memberships. Her local favorites include Main Street Coastal (the chicken with lemon and capers, which she's tried to recreate at home), Jefferson's, Table 20, and Appalachian Grill, and Logan made the case that Largo's has the best burger in Cartersville.

Why the farmers market means more than sales

Jana describes herself as genuinely shy — fine one-on-one, intimidated in groups — but the farmers market is where she gets her energy. With her whole family still in Europe, the regulars are her community, and she got emotional thanking her customers and fellow vendors for carrying her through the hardest season of her life this past year. One comment from a customer stuck with her: just talking with her each week at the market had helped him settle in after moving from Atlanta to Cartersville. "You just never know what people are going through," she said. Her best sellers, if you're making a list: the Czechoslovakian strawberry shortbread, her dense European-style sourdough, and ginger snaps. And someday, she'd love to host real farm-to-table dinners at her home, teaching people the canning and preserving she grew up with.

The second Evening in Europe

Since market season ends in September, Jana created Evening in Europe last year to keep seeing her customers through the fall. People loved it — even if she sent so much extra food home on plates that she barely broke even. The second one is Friday, October 23, from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Goodyear Clubhouse, with hot European food, appetizers and desserts, a DJ and singer, raffles donated by local businesses, and a photo station styled after Prague's Charles Bridge and Prague Castle. Tickets are $75 and include one alcoholic drink. This year they're paper tickets only, so there are no online fees — buy them from Jana at the farmers market, or reach her through That Foreign Chick's Bakery on Facebook or Instagram. Local businesses interested in sponsoring can reach out to her too.

Listen to the Full Conversation

This recap only scratches the surface. Jana also gets into why Americans are friendlier than people think, her two-hour brainstorming phone call with Big Rich, the time she fell for Logan's hammerhead shark prosthetic-foot story, and a rapid-fire round covering Forrest Gump, Guns N' Roses, AC/DC, and the Czech punk singer she named her son after. Catch the full episode below.