Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Arben Gasi. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Arben, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Ever since I started my baking journey some 10 years ago now, I’ve always wanted to be able to bring to life a bakery like we have in France. Very community oriented obviously, but also playing an educational role when it comes to baked goods. Bread as we know has been broken for such a long time. Industrialization and access to cheap, heavily processed bread lead to many people being incapable of properly digesting and enjoying bread. By bringing the slower, unaltered sourdough fermentation and using Jersey grown whole grains such as whole wheat, rye, spelt and buckwheat, we are able to nourish ourselves and place bread back on the table. For many cultures and many centuries, bread has been (and still is at times) the only food available. The more whole grain, the more vitamins, fiber, minerals and protein we’re able to get and sustain ourselves. This is why we keep educating our customers of the benefits of our method and why it matters to use locally sourced ingredients.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Bread making started out as a hobby but a 10 year journey turned it into a passion, obsession even. I set out to read every book and article related to bread, sourdough in particular, while experimenting with local, organic flours to make bread at home. Eventually I took the next step by working at a friend’s bakery in France. I was immediately impressed with what I saw. The commitment, precision and intensity the bakers put into a day’s worth of work was inspiring, and I wanted a part of it. Today, seeing my customers walk away with a smile on their faces as they pick up their daily baguette or croissant is a great reward to me. By using carefully selected, non-GMO, natural and organic and available local ingredients, our goal is to become part of a healthier and responsible community.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Our business was a mere year and a half in existence when Covid hit. To be fully transparent, we were not doing good. I’ve taken over an existing business that was more of a café and serving food, definitely not a bakery. Most of the customers didn’t understand why I was no longer offering crêpes, omelettes and serving breakfast. And in March 2020, Covid has arrived. I had two options, either give the key to my landlord and walk away, or keep making bread. When I saw the huge disruption in the distribution chain happen, I knew I had to be able to provide the most basic food to our community. Luckily, we already had partnerships and local distributors in place so getting access to locally grown and sourced ingredients wasn’t an issue. For the next three months, we were able to put together a list of items we could provide such as bread, eggs, milk, flour, sugar, staples that were hard to come by. As a lot of people were stuck home, we had the word of mouth work for us and people who would usually buy their breads or croissants at work were coming to us. And discovered what we do and how we did it. We kept working with food pantries and organizations to help where we could. We always had extra bread for people in need, with nothing in return but a smile and a thank you. Despite all the difficulties related to the abrupt model change and restricted menu, I was able to focus on what I do best and make people happy.
Flash forward today, we’re still not out of the woods but we have become that community bakery I’ve always envisioned thanks to this difficult period.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

What helped tremendously is the quality and consistency of our baked goods. I believe in transparency and total honesty not only towards our customers but internally as well. We sometimes miss the mark on a given bake day and make sure to correct ourselves and do better the next. We all do mistakes, it’s the way we handle and correct them that people remember.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lefrenchdad.com/about
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lefrenchdadboulangerie/