SUNDAY NEWS: At 10 years old, BreadHive cooperative is a successful million-dollar business

*BreadHive sold about $1.28 million in product last year.*

A decade after BreadHive opened its Connecticut Street store, the worker cooperative bakery has become a bonafide community success story: it’s not just making great bread, it’s turning a profit.

Despite all odds and prevailing business climate, this worker-owner bakery model is actually making some real dough.

Founded by bakers who wanted to work for themselves, fueled by community investors, BreadHive got the West Side hooked on its bagels, pretzels, and signature West Side sourdough.

To help fund expansion from its Baynes Street production bakery to a retail storefront at 402 Connecticut St. with bagel sandwiches and coffee, the bakery offered a second round of 40 shares. They sold for $1,000, entitling the holder to a 3 percent annual return and a year’s bread subscription.

Today, BreadHive’s work is in 25 stores, in addition to its Connecticut Street shop, where workers make bagel sandwiches like the Aaliyah (scrambled egg, cheddar cheese, maple syrup, housemade sausage) or the vegan Shania (tofu-tempeh scramble, turmeric, roasted peppers and onions) as fast as they can.

“We can’t meet sandwich demand here,” said worker-owner Allison Ewing. “We make as many sandwiches on the weekends as we can. I mean, you come in here on the weekend, you see it. You’re going to be waiting 45 minutes sometimes, which so far people are willing to do, which we’re so thankful for.”

At BreadHive, the product sells itself by now. “We haven’t paid for advertising, in, I think, 10 years,” said Ewing. “Honestly, we’ve always been good at getting word of mouth here. Word of mouth has been huge. Word of mouth has been good.”

Word of mouth leads to bread in mouth. Last year BreadHive booked a profit of more than $100,000 on $1.28 million in gross receipts, said worker-owner Allison Ewing. BreadHive has 11 worker-owners, of a staff of 25.

*Left to right, BreadHive worker owners Maxine Doyle, Allison Ewing, and Elizabeth Dashnaw*

“After about a year, if things are going well, we ask them if they’re interested in worker ownership,” Ewing said. “It could be either way, and that’s fine. Some of our longest tenured employees are not worker owners and are happy that way.”

A benefit of “having worker owners come in from being staff members is because generally our staff has worked at a good handful of other food establishments in Buffalo,” said Ewing. “So when they sign on as owners, they’re bringing experience that’s informed by the pitfalls of other businesses.”

BreadHive never opened a second cafe location. “It’s always felt too soon,” she said, “and I think that would have overextended us.”

Centering worker needs has led to a much lower turnover rate than most food businesses. “I think a lot of that is because our folks have worked in places that, you know, grind them up,” said Ewing.

“Part of our longevity as a bakery is, we started out from the beginning, doing a long ferment production based, baking system,” she said. “That means that the earliest people generally have to get in is 6 a.m. So we don’t have the traditional baker’s hours. Then people are able to stick around for longer because they can keep a kind of awake in the day, asleep at night, typical schedule.”

“I don’t have to know how to do everything,” she said. “I don’t do the invoicing. I don’t pay the bills. I don’t write our production schedule. We have a team of people who are working together to do all of these things. So I could not imagine people who are working, who are running a business alone, I have so much respect, because I don’t know how they do it. I feel so lucky that I have people to lean on.”

REVIEW: The Fire Spot, Rodney Wilkinson’s soul food restaurant on River Road in Tonawanda, operates in the same space that once held the late lamented Suzy Q’s Bar-B-Que Shack. The ribs are different, but the big picture is remarkably similar: outstanding food at wallet-friendly prices, with a side of welcoming personality. Wilkinson, a retired Buffalo Fire Department officer, knocks out boffo chicken and waffles, cheese grits, cheesesteaks that bite the style of legendary East Side steakhouse Scotty’s, and plates of fried chicken skins served with blue cheese and Frank’s hot sauce. (For patrons, later this week.)

ASK THE CRITIC

Q: The season has started, so I’m wondering if you have any suggestions for good strawberry picking?
– Evan G., Hamburg, via email

A: After a quick look around, here are some places you should check out. Since conditions in u-pick strawberry fields change from day to day, make sure to read websites and social media posts before you head out, or risk disappointment.

Greg’s U-Pick Farm, 9270 Lapp Road, Clarence Center.

Becker Farms, 3724 Quaker Road, Gasport

Coulter Farms, 3871 North Ridge Road, Gasport

Thorpe’s Organic Family Farm, 12866 Route 78, East Aurora

More local food and restaurant stories compiled by Michael Chelus of Nittany Epicurean: