Monday, June 08, 2009

The Challahman Cometh

Michael Dolish’s Four Worlds Bakery will start selling breads, croissants, bagels and other goodies at the Headhouse Square Farmers’ Market next Sunday.

But don’t expect to walk off with one of his loaves cheaply. Dolish wants to make what most other bakers would consider exorbitant, obscene profits when he sells you a loaf of bread. He just won’t sell much bread, or at least not as much as the quarter million hoagie rolls put out a day by Amoroso’s.

It’s all part of his business model. Dolish believes the “high volume, low margin business model is going to very problematic in the emerging economy” because it is undermined by small increases in food prices and other structural threats. He’d rather produce a superior product and make enough money to keep the business going by charging more and selling less. He also sees wider economic, environmental and social benefit in his business model (which includes some interesting distribution aspects), but I’ll let him tell you all about at his Challahmanh’s Bread Blog.

I’ve yet to sample the full range of Dolish’s goods, but based on a chocolate croissant I tried at the recent Fair Food Farmstand benefit, his output may well be worth the premium.

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