15 yrs ago pastry chef magazine surveyed bakeries , 70% were relying on sandwiches, its probably more now.
So I'm glad I got out even though we were well established.
Then I followed the money into a cafe catering business.
I did that for 5 yrs and sold out, it was more fun working for other people .
All your observations match what I saw , bakeries are dying out, many deserve to, they aren't much better than supermkts anyway. Their time has passed.
Our original location is a cafe now with a bit of baking, thats the trend.
I remember chatting with a french guy , he observed the American food scene is going in various directions, whilst they have impressed with the glamorous food and trends there a distinct lack of understanding "the little tastes".
He described little tastes as a slice of raddish with some butter and a sprinkle of salt.
A sandwich made of baguette, roast beef and butter, no mayo, lettuce, tomato, pepper, onions etc etc.
Just the simple clear tastes.
If you walk into a pastry shop in Paris thats what you get and they're all premade on the counter.
No one is ever going to catch the french, I've been surprised over the years but how educated their palate is, not food professionals , just the average citizen.
A young french girl was working with me and remarked how the fanciest restaurants in America such as the french laundry ruin the food by filling the bread basket with sourdough bread, she said sourdough is great by itself but it "cuts the palate" and interferes with the taste buds..
It would be similar to drinking beer with an expensive meal. Its eating...not dining.
Thats not something I would have thought of but its true.
In France she wasn't a pastry chef, she was a school teacher. Thats what we're up against.
Thankfully, I've yet to see a bakery sell sandwiches of any sort, here. I've seen awful "bakeries", I've seen wonderful bakeries, but none that stoop that low, and I wonder how that survey were run. Panera considers itself a "bakery-cafe". I wonder if they count. I don't know when that dreadful chain will go under. $25 for a mix-made bundt cake? Get real. People love chains and mass production. The new American way seems to be either mass production factories masquerading as boutiques, or little craft shops that charge 10x value but sell "the experience." Honest value was forgotten some time ago. When I look at the relics...the 60's bakeries left over, the value strikes me. Quality, scratch products, deep menus, modest prices. That used to be the staple. Now people want "fancy" for a lot more money, or "mass produced" for about the same price. I imagine that lasts as long as the next recession, though.
Although, I think it's half about supermarkets and chains claiming the mindshare of a fast-consumption oriented public, and a lot of it is that desserts as a whole have been abandoned with current health trends, maybe forever, and Americans
never understood bread. There was a west coast bread revival 15 years or so ago, but it was west coast only, Panera stole it nationally, and seems to have faded in the west as well. It's mostly the death of dessert that's hurting now. Maybe health-wise people are right, but I'd rather live briefly with dessert than have immortality without it.
There's also the problem that the American pace of life is not about enjoying or appreciating anything at all, but about completing as many checkboxes in as short a space of time as possible - operating as mechanically as possible. That informs cuisine. Food is consumed to not feel hungry. If fancier food is purchased, food is consumed to enjoy time with others in a socially honored manner. It's never about the actual food. Now take bakeries where it's about unhealthy non-essential dessert in an unsocial manner, and it's a problem. Restaurants are booming not because people want to enjoy fine cuisine. They're booming because they're too busy to make food and the restaurant fulfills their consumption need expediently, socially, in a luxurious, pampering way. Food is never the point. The pampering and being treated temporarily as a noble while saving time is the point.
The epitome of this is the dine-in movie theater. Why do dinner and a movie when you can do both at the same time, and fully pay attention to neither?
We're up against a lot more than "little tastes." It's a complete cultural meltdown with food as the most obvious casualty. I'd like to think that the bakery isn't wholly dead. When a real one does pop up it seems to do rather well. The apprentice of one of the leftover 60's bakeries (that's still running) opened shop some years ago. It was shaky at first. Product was inconsistent. But he's remodeling now,after only a short time and really booming - and product consistency went up considerably. So did pricing, but that's an aside. I'm envious, if I'm honest.
Compare to the expensive place that supposedly had amazing cake, and was featured on a Food Network star's show once. They served slices of cake for like $7 wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated. I bought one once. It had mold growing on it.
The French are on a whole other plane with food, and I adore the French baker in the area. I wish he were closer, but in reality, my survival probably depends on him not being closer. I'd have to be moved by forklift. Though I must admit, I'm partial to the Italian school of food. They are both as similar as they are different. Compared to the American thinking of food, both are the other end of the spectrum. Both are about purity of flavor. But while the French seek to separate every flavor, the Italians try to marry them in every combination. At least for cuisine. When it comes to desserts, I can't choose a favorite.
Probably if we had the abundance of good bread the French do we'd get used to the "little tastes". Instead we're used to formaldehyde bread dyed teal that doesn't go stale on the counter if you leave it for months. When we dine out we want the best that can be offered. Sourdough, not baguettes. Something special on its own, not a compliment to the other things. (Of course I love baguettes on their own, but I'm a bread obsessive, I'm supposed to be weird.)
The bakery-cafe thing, however, isn't a poor development. It's consistent with the Italian school. Except the American scene follows Starbucks with minimal baking involved. To be truly full service it can't be "coffee plus some baked goods" It needs to be BOTH a full bakery and a cafe all in one, with luxurious decadence and richness in both. That's not an easy task. About as easy as running two unrelated bakeries at once. Coffee may look simple, but what goes into it is every bit as complicated as baking, and the science of it and techniques is probably the one place the American food scene really is developing beautifully. And supplies and equipment make baking look cheap. Just like managing protein and yeasts, and fats, there's managing water composition, bean characteristics, and if a roastery as well, roasting coffee effectively is a form of baking on its own where 1 degree and 10 seconds is the difference between perfect and burnt mess. For me, coffee was the gateway to baking - I started in that realm first, and my heart is fully in both worlds - hard to maintain both worlds at home, but I try! They're both quite time (and money) consuming! Of course most people (ahem) think Starbucks is good coffee. But in the real cafe world, it really is all in the "little tastes" (and I'd never trust the French with coffee
). Although posturing, just like with wines exists with coffee and those that can't taste it as well. Take cooking wine, give it a French name, and charge $100 and people will rave. Same goes for coffee. But like with wines, there's a lot of the real deal out there. Unlike food and pastry.
I'm convinced tiramisu exists solely for me. Coffee & baking all at once.
I used to make a heck of one if I do say so myself. I don't think I see myself with the double boiler these days, but it was sponge cake, meringe, and a marsala zabaglione, with a ricotta cream icing, all soaked in fresh pulled, chilled espresso, I think I pulled half a dozen doubles to soak into the sponges, and topped in grated chocolate. It took hours to make happen though. And you ended up with a tiny cake that took hours to make and cost a fortune in ingredients. Definitely my most intricate cake. I don't see myself making it again...but I'd love to eat it again.
The only reason I don't blend and roast my own coffees at home is a lack of viable exterior ventilation. Coffee roasting throws some serious smoke, and the chaff pans are fire hazards if you can't maintain them well. Roasting is a ton of fun though.
