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Modern bakers are competing in a market dominated by extremely cheap mass production. The economy of scale has moved out of the local bakery and into the region
by jzwinck 5y ago
Modern bakers are competing in a market dominated by extremely cheap mass production. The economy of scale has moved out of the local bakery and into the regional bread factory.
People are willing to pay double or triple for artisanal bread compared with mass produced bread. But are they willing to pay 10-20x? If not, and the extreme cost efficiency of modern food factories inexorably lowers prices, the market clearing price of artisanal bread is limited and declining.
- senectus1 5y agoEx-Baker by Trade here. yes even the little shops are effectively mass production factories. Buy the ingredients in big pre-mixed sacks. add the right temp water and yeast into a big mixer and press go. drop that into a machine that cuts the right mass chunks out and shapes it ready for production line style dropping into tins and mounting in the proofer then into the oven. Typically they only have one actual baker, a few apprentices and often just unskilled laborers. actual "Artisan" bakeries are very rare and not terribly profitable unless in highly affluent areas.
- ClumsyPilot 5y agoPropose an alternative comparison for a simple job that does not require a degree and has existed for a hundred years, and tell us - are the results are different?
- OJFord 5y agoAny tradesman job that's existed that long? We could keep it related even - bricklayer, basically exactly the same job (..on a large site cement might be made elsewhere and delivered for you, or on site the mixer might be electric).