Getting Started and Creating our Mission

Frank: We baked our first Bakehouse loaf on September 13, 1992, but the idea for the Bakehouse germinated many months before. In early 1992, Ari spent a couple of weeks in San Francisco. At that time, while there were essentially no hearth-baked artisan bread bakeries in Michigan, there were many thriving bakeries in the Bay Area. During his trip, Ari was in heaven: one day he could enjoy a loaf from Acme, the next a baguette from Semifreddi’s, followed by olive bread from Metropolis, and then Italian bread from Grace Baking. Near the end of his trip, he made a mental decision to find a way to start baking for Zingerman’s Delicatessen.