I Always Wanted to Come Back - Victor Hodgson
Victor’s Sonoma Journey — I Chose to Stay
This is the second of three stories about Victor’s relationship with Sonoma Valley.
🟩 Born and Raised in Sonoma — Chapter 1
Born at Sonoma Valley Hospital, Victor grows up in his mother’s preschool and his father’s coffee shop before leaving for college and graduate school.
🟥 I Always Wanted to Come Back — Chapter 2 (You are reading this story.)
Once I left, however, I realized that I wanted to come back.
🟦 Making the Family Business My Own — Chapter 3
Click the story title above to continue Victor’s journey as he moves the family coffee shop, gives it a new name, and brings his Swedish heritage into the business.
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Like many Sonoma teenagers, Victor wanted to leave and experience somewhere else. Once he left, however, he realized that he wanted to come back. After earning his master’s degree in Sweden, he returned to Sonoma to help continue his family’s coffee business.
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In high school, I had the feeling that I think almost every high school student has: I wanted to leave. I wanted to get out and experience something beyond the place where I had grown up.
Once I left, it didn’t take long for me to realize that I wanted to return.
I think I had always seen leaving Sonoma as temporary. I wasn’t choosing to live somewhere else forever. I was going away for college, graduate school, and the experiences I needed before coming home.
After completing my master’s degree in entrepreneurship at Lund University, I decided to return to Sonoma. The main reason was my family’s business.
My father had operated Barking Dog Roasters since 1995. I didn’t want to see the business disappear simply because he was ready to step back. Coming home gave me the opportunity to take over its daily operations and let him at least partially retire.
It also made sense because I wanted to own a business. I had studied entrepreneurship, and there was no better place to begin than somewhere I already had a foot in the door.
I came back around 2017 and was thrown into the business almost immediately. I didn’t have much time to recover from graduate school or gradually ease into my new role. I started learning the day-to-day work and the parts of the business that happen behind the scenes.
It wasn’t an easy choice. I have a strong connection to Sweden, and part of me would have loved to build a business there. But Sonoma is a great little town. It’s warm and calm. It isn’t as quiet as it used to be, but the people are nice, and I think it’s one of the prettiest places in the world.
Sonoma may not be the youngest community, but I have always liked it. I also like that it sometimes feels a little forgotten or overlooked. This is the place where California began to emerge as its own state, yet it still feels like a small community.
I was born here. I was raised here. I left to continue my education, and then I came back.
The family business gave me a practical reason to return, but Sonoma itself gave me a reason to stay.
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Leaving Sonoma allowed Victor to recognize how strongly he belonged there.
Returning was both a family responsibility and an opportunity to build the kind of life he wanted.
Taking over an existing business gave Victor a foundation, but it also required him to learn quickly and accept real responsibility.
Staying in his hometown did not mean standing still. It allowed him to apply what he had learned elsewhere.
The coffee shop brought Victor home, but his connection to Sonoma turned returning into staying.
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This story was created from an interview with Victor Hodgson conducted by Don Lundgren. Victor’s words have been edited for length and clarity while preserving his voice, experiences and meaning.
