We were lucky to catch up with Evrim Dogu recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Evrim, thanks for joining us today. What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry?

Thats the $81.6 million dollar question (projected cereal grain subsidies in 2023 from Ibisworld.com). Bakeries are at the very end of a very long grain chain, but the vast majority of us have no choice or power when it comes to what, where, and how our main ingredient, flour, is produced. This is problematic on almost every level imaginable: human and land health, taste, waste, economic stability, and diversity (of genetics and flavor). “Corporate America” is utterly uninterested at best–actively hostile at worst–in moving our current food system away from the commodities market and from massive industrial monocropping. There is a direct correlation between the need to create robust regionalized infrastructure for human grade cereal grains and the lack of excellent bread, pastry and overall grain culture.

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

My name is Evrim Dogu and I am the son of Turkish immigrants who moved to the US between 1950-1970. I grew up running around my father’s pizza joints( in Baton Rouge when I was a kid) and eventually working in his restaurants in D.C./Northern Virginia when I was a little older. We also grew up with the deep and diverse cuisines of Turkey, visiting many summers throughout my life. Turkish cuisine is actually a beautiful mosaic of dozens of other distinct cuisines so I think that really influenced my palate to taste widely. I rambled through my twenties thinking I would probably end up in the alternative education sector but start baking bread at home as a hobby. The hobby turned into a business when I teamed up with my friend Rick Easton (who now owns Bread & Salt Bakery) to create a bread subscription business; we called it Sub Rosa. For those who don’t know ‘sub rosa’ is a latin term (literally ‘under the rose’) denoting secrecy and confidence. As we started our business as a word of mouth only subscription “club,” it seemed fitting. We quickly found ourselves with an epic waiting list of customers. After Rick left Virginia to pursue a bakery elsewhere, I approached my sister, Evin Dogu, to see if she would want to open a brick and mortar storefront with me. She now says that it was “the bread that convinced her.”

After a couple of years or trials and tribulations, we opened the bakery in December of 2012 with one guiding principal: create the kind of dream bakery that we would want to walk into as customers. Although this led to some rather romantic notions of business-building, it worked for us, in no small part because we had help from my father and we found a building where the overhead was low enough to allow us to take risks.

Two big decisions set our course ever since: to stone mill our own flour and to bake everything in masonry wood fired ovens. The ability to work directly with farmers, procure an array of different grains and highlight the flavor and feeling that comes from freshly milled flour is singular. We want it to become the norm! And while it can be difficult and painful working with the limitations and struggles of a direct fire oven, it is a process that immediately connects the baker to the oven in an unforgetable way.

I am happy that we have been able to provide really excellent breads and pastries while remaining true to ourselves. We took some of the flavors we grew up with and put them in the French pastry context. And we created a menu of breads that does its best to highlight the unique taste of each grain that we mill: especially wheat, rye, and corn.

To sum it all up we are doing what we do to help create a new food culture, inspire people to take a moment and enjoy something deeply with all of their senses, as well pass on the timeless aspects of this craft.

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We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Hardwork isn’t everything. My wife always tells me: “Process is power.” There are so many instances where I feel we made up for lack of process with sheer force of will. It is ok for a little while, but a surefire path to burnout. So, as much as society or our peers may tell us that hardwork is the key to success, I’ve found that in terms of running the actual business, planning and processes are most essential.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Less than four months after opening our shop our bakery shuttered due to a fire that burned a substantial part of the building (due to a smoldering cigerette, rather than our oven!). I used to tell people it was like preparing for a marathon only the slip on a banana peel on your second step. However my sister and I received an outpouring of support from our community. Everywhere we went people wouldn’t even take our money when we were buying a coffee or lunch. Neighbors and fellow business owners raised money for us, close to $30,000! This helped us remain steadfast in our vision. We took advantage of the time and worked at other bakeries around the country and even started doing bakery pop ups at a restaurant around the corner from us. While it was certainly a trying time it proved to us that community is EVERYTHING.

I believe that this also prepared us when we switched to online ordering only, allowing no customers inside for over 2 years (April 2020-June 2022). Our flexibility with our processes and our connections within the community kept us sane and afloat.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.subrosabakery.com
• Instagram: @subrosabakery
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdzXMs8EKj8&t=75s

Image Credits
Greg Antrim Kelly. Kate Thompson.