Why is bread so expensive??

If you’ve found your way to Folk Bread, there’s a good chance you are already familiar with paying higher than average prices for local food. (If not - welcome! We’re glad to be in food community with you) When it comes to eating locally, many of us are used to seeking out apples, greens and carrots grown nearby and we’re so lucky to have many wonderful vegetable farms in our area. We’re also rich in local beer and cider, incredible dairy and meat and berries all Summer long! And all of these local goods often come with a bit higher price. And bread is no different! The loaf you buy from Folk Bread or another local baker will certainly cost you more than a Trader Joe’s pre-sliced loaf and there are two big reasons for that - scale and stewardship.

The first is the simplest - a small farm, dairy processor or bakery pays more per product for their ingredients, equipment and facility than a large factory does. I buy flour in a few 25 and 50 pound bags at a time, whereas a loaf from a grocery store is mixed in a factory which uses 1000+ pounds of flour per batch. The economy of scale is on their side.

I’ll pause here to say that I will not claim not to judge some bread better than others - making excellent bread that tastes delicious and nourishes our bodies is my passion - but all food is valid and every person deserves to have as much food as they need. Whether folks are eating local, artisan bread or your favorite grocery store brand - I’m glad you’re fed.

Now the second reason for higher costs is more complex and for that I’m using the umbrella term Stewardship. This certainly includes that land stewardship - utilizing local, organic and sustainable ingredients and practices in order to leave the land healthy for many generations. But it also means stewarding our community - many local food producers do this through their progessive employment practices, local charitable giving or partnerships with other local businesses. ALL of these forms of stewardship take more time than simply buying commodity goods, paying minimum wage and working on our own. In my own tiny business, staying up to date on the farming and processing practices of the suppliers I use takes effort, as well as building and maintaining relationships with farms and other potential partner businesses. It can also be more labor intensive to work with local, whole ingredients - most baking recipes are written for commodity white flour. It takes time and knowledge to develop delicious food out more interesting local grains.

All of this to say, there are great reasons why the extra dollars you spend on local food are truly an investment in our community. When you buy a bag of carrots from Rising River Farm, or chevre from Lost Peacock Creamery or a loaf of Pain au Levain from me, not only do your dollars go into stewarding our community, those same dollars DON’T go toward shipping a products across states or countries using fossil fuels, or spraying farmland with harmful chemicals or paying billionaires.

I know many of you needed no convincing that buying local food is worthwhile, but money doesn’t go as far as it once did and I believe all of these reasons bear repeating.

Now all that’s left is to take a real left turn and let you know that Folk Bread will actually be LOWERING our prices. As I have spent the last few weeks preparing to bake bread again, I’ve thought a lot about the accessibility of local bread. While I need to cover my costs and make a certain amount to continue this business, I’ve decided to lower the cost per loaf to hopefully include more folks in who is able to buy. You’ll see the price changes reflected right away, with loaves available to order this Sunday!

Thank you for breaking bread with me.