The bread dilemma: Homemade? From the local bakery? From a baking company?

1. Homemade bread

There is no greater pleasure than artisanal bread and pastry made in the hands of a passionate baker. You can practically taste the craftsmanship in the butter-filled layers of pastry, the moist crumb and crispy crust of bread.

Needless to say, you will get to spoil your guests with the unsurpassable smell of bread fresh out of the oven. A smell that has a magnetic attraction – even to the ones that aren’t hungry. And your guests will be lining up for you buffet as soon as the smell wanders through your hotel.

But unfortunately, this way of making bread is also expensive. Both in terms of raw ingredients and the time your workers spend, but also the need for extra space, time and machines in the kitchen. Top that off with the risk of things going wrong leading to a full batch of bread going straight in the bin. Businesswise this is a big investment potentially going down the drain.

2. The local bakery

If you decide to get a local supplier to make the bread for you, you still get that lovely artisan bread and pastry – even though that seducing smell of freshly baked goods will stay in the bakery and not find its way to the noses of your customers.
It also provides you with a story to tell about where the bread is coming from – and that you support local businesses.

The downside to the business partnership is that even though the local bakery is professional, it is still a relatively small business where things can go wrong – and you have no backup when they do. So, if there is a power shortage, the oven breaks down or the dough doesn’t raise like supposed to – where do you go?

3. A large-scale bakery supplier

Even at the largest baking companies a big chunk of the processes is still handled by people: Developing the recipes, testing, improving, and finally producing the bread and pastry with the right texture, crust and crumb. These are all highly skilled bakers, who still get up early in the morning.

And if you do choose to get your bread from a baking company, you will benefit from the best security of delivery and the lowest risk of failure of all the alternative options. By getting your supplies from a major distributor that is holding a large stock, this company will make sure you are covered if things go wrong. No matter if one bakery fails to produce or a delivery doesn’t make it to your hotel.

Lastly the food waste is being drastically reduced with the usage of bake-off or raw dough. In that way, if you run out of croissants, you can just bake some more. Let’s face it – the bread is no longer handmade, but that enchanting smell will still be a part of the morning scene in the hotel. 

In the perfect world we would make all the bread ourselves. But when you reach a certain size, homemade bread is no longer a viable option – neither for the hotels, nor for the bakeries. The good news is that you can get the best from both worlds:

In your hotel, you can supplement the selection of convenient products – whether it be fresh, bake-off and raw dough – with your own homemade bread and pastries. Some might take pride in making their own artisanal croissant and others want to serve homemade rye bread baked on their own sour dough.

When you pick and choose from both worlds, you get to prioritize what you want to make from the ground up – and what you want to leave in the hands of other professionals.

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