5 ms·

I spent some time post-college working as a baker; our primary output was bread (with some cookies, cakes, and brownies etc as well), but the vast majority of o

I spent some time post-college working as a baker; our primary output was bread (with some cookies, cakes, and brownies etc as well), but the vast majority of our bread was sold to local restaurants. If you're running a bakery that's selling direct to consumers, I can imagine that it would be pretty hard to make ends meet on bread alone. This had the curious result that when I was in Carmel-By-The-Sea a few weeks ago, I went in to what was ostensibly called a "bakery" and tried to buy a baguette, only to be told that they only sold pastries and cookies and didn't make bread at all. I was extraordinarily put out by this.

ceratopisan 9y ago
Selling to restaurants is reliable but low-profit, because you're selling in bulk. Selling direct to consumers has a much better margin. Margins are not high in baking to begin with, so it helps. The direct demand can't be scheduled as easily, though, and baking bread is always at least hours of prep. This is something that is a balance for any bakery - front end and back end operations; I have yet to find someplace that didn't do both.
smacktoward 9y ago
Was it a French bakery, by chance? The French have traditionally distinguished between bakeries that bake breads and rolls (which they call a boulangerie) and bakeries that bake pastries and sweets (a pâtisserie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A2tisserie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A2tisserie). I dunno how much that distinction still holds in modern France in the era of the supermarket, of course. But it wouldn't be surprising to a see an upmarket French-inspired U.S. bakery using it as a way to signal authenticity.
- CocaKoala 9y ago
  It was called "Carmel Bakery", so it didn't label itself as either a boulangerie OR a patisserie. It was very misleading.
  - schoen 9y ago
    About 400 miles to the north, there used to be a palindromic bakery (the Yreka Bakery): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yreka,_California#Palindromes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yreka,_California#Palindromes

ceratopisan 9y ago

Selling to restaurants is reliable but low-profit, because you're selling in bulk. Selling direct to consumers has a much better margin. Margins are not high in baking to begin with, so it helps. The direct demand can't be scheduled as easily, though, and baking bread is always at least hours of prep. This is something that is a balance for any bakery - front end and back end operations; I have yet to find someplace that didn't do both.

smacktoward 9y ago

Was it a French bakery, by chance? The French have traditionally distinguished between bakeries that bake breads and rolls (which they call a boulangerie) and bakeries that bake pastries and sweets (a pâtisserie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A2tisserie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A2tisserie). I dunno how much that distinction still holds in modern France in the era of the supermarket, of course. But it wouldn't be surprising to a see an upmarket French-inspired U.S. bakery using it as a way to signal authenticity.

CocaKoala 9y ago
It was called "Carmel Bakery", so it didn't label itself as either a boulangerie OR a patisserie. It was very misleading.
- schoen 9y ago
  About 400 miles to the north, there used to be a palindromic bakery (the Yreka Bakery): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yreka,_California#Palindromes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yreka,_California#Palindromes