La Brea Bakery facts for kids
The original La Brea Bakery location in Los Angeles, which closed in 2012.
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| Founded | Los Angeles, California January 1989 |
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| Founders | Nancy Silverton and Mark Peel |
| Owner | Aspire Bakeries |
La Brea Bakery is a well-known company that makes and sells fresh bread. It also runs restaurants. The company started in Los Angeles, California, in 1989.
From a small shop, La Brea Bakery grew a lot. It now has two much larger bakeries. These are in Van Nuys, California, and Swedesboro, New Jersey. These bigger bakeries help make bread for many stores. You can even find their bread in the United Kingdom and Ireland! La Brea Bakery is one of the biggest sellers of fresh bread in the United States. The company has changed owners a few times. Today, it is part of Aspire Bakeries.
How La Brea Bakery Started
La Brea Bakery was started by Nancy Silverton and Mark Peel. They first wanted to open a restaurant that served amazing fresh bread. Nancy Silverton found that making bread for just one restaurant was not easy. It was better to have a special space and sell bread to many places. This way, the business could make more money.
In 1998, the company got US$10 million to build a new factory. This factory was in Van Nuys, California. It helped La Brea Bakery become the largest special bread bakery in the United States. The factory makes "par-baked" bread. This means the bread is baked about 80% of the way. Then, it is quickly frozen. This allows stores to finish baking it later. In 1999, about 100 people worked at this factory. La Brea breads are now sold in many supermarkets, especially in Southern California.
Awards and New Locations
In 1990, Nancy Silverton won a special award. It was the James Beard Foundation "Best Pastry Chef of the Year" Award. She has also written several books about cooking. The company's website shares articles written about their famous breads.
In 2008, La Brea Bakery was chosen to open a new restaurant. This restaurant was at Los Angeles International Airport.
The first La Brea Bakery store and the Campanile Restaurant closed in 2012. But a new La Brea Bakery and Cafe opened nearby in 2013. It was in a building that used to be a flower shop.
In 2014, La Brea Bakery celebrated its 25th birthday. For this special event, they changed their logo and packaging. The old burgundy logo with a big "B" was replaced. The new logo has a small "b" on a bright red background. The main bakery location also got a new look inside.
