The Truth Shall Set You Free?

I've owned and run Magnolia Bread Company since 2005. I started out with one goal: to make the best-tasting bread I could bake. We've succeeded in baking wonderful breads, but we've made ourselves poor doing so.

I made a promise to myself that 2010 will not end for us the way it started. We will either find a way to survive financially with a moderate income, or I will close the doors.

Here, on this blog, I will bring you with us, every step of the way, as we try to determine if we can make this business thrive in Atlanta.
After five years of keeping close company with the local farmers, the company mission has broadened from simply baking the best-tasting bread we can bake to include:

1. Support for the local farmers. Whenever we can, we incorporate local products into our bread. We bake sweet potato bread, pumpkin sourdough, rosemary potato bread and bread with local dried tomatoes.

2. The belief that good bread is slow bread--that a quality loaf of bread takes time. Our process is a two-day process and despite pressure to speed that up so we can do better in the wholesale market, we don't intend to change the way we make our bread.

3. Financial responsibility. While our bread is not inexpensive, our profits on it are slim because we buy the best organic ingredients we can find, and that doubles our cost-of-ingredients. We can't churn out hundreds of hoagies or hamburger buns because we shape everything by hand and will continue to do so until we can pay cash for molding equipment that will not harm the dough.

4. We believe in the tenet of "Right Action," so we price our bread low for certain wholesale accounts that are trying to uplift their community; we bake bread for nurses and give it to them for free; and we try to never create a job that we ourselves would not want to have. We want the business to nourish the workers as much as it nourishes those we feed.

5. We don't use products that will make people sick. Our breads are made with primarily flour, water, salt and yeast (often in the form of sourdough). While we currently bake some white breads, the proportion of white to wheat breads decreases every month. We use sugar for a holiday roll, but we are considering ridding the bakery of all refined sugar, no matter what the occasion.

So there is our truth, out there for the world to see.

We have  many ideas churning; several projects in the works, and many proposals on the table. I'll take you with me as we decide, step-by-step, decision-by-decision, how to proceed.

It will not be a sad year. It will be a year of discovery and enlightenment, no matter the outcome.

Welcome to our journey....