January 7 / 4 - 5:30pm EDT

Are you Certifiable? 

All bakers follow a unique learning path, yet necessary foundational skills are essential to a successful profession. The Bread Bakers Guild of America’s Certification Program was created as a tool to both grow and measure core skills.  

Spend some time with recent candidates and judges to understand the process and benefits of challenging yourself to certification. Our next test is just around the corner: March 14-16, 2025, at Johnson & Wales University.  

Panelists include: Anja Curwen CBB, Ben Garcia CBB, Jen Heide CBB, and Rachel Wyman, CBB, CMB and Melina Kelson, CBB, CVB 

Benjamin Garcia, born in Mexico City, where he went to school in pursuit of a career as an architect, but life circumstances did not allow him to continue that path. He moved to the United States at the young age of 17 where he worked in construction in Los Angeles, CA. and then moved to Las Vegas where he journey worked in the kitchen at one of Chef Wolfgang Puck’s restaurants,  Trattoria del Lupo, for 5 years. After that, Ben worked at Bouchon Bistro in Las Vegas, one of Chef Thomas Keller’s restaurants where he became the bakery Sous Chef for 14 years, thanks to the guidance of Chef Chris Herrin. After Bouchon, Ben went to the Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas as the Assistant Executive baker where he worked for two years working alongside talented bakers and chefs. After Covid hit, the opportunity came to work again with Chef Chris Herrin and helped him open Farmstead bakery in St. George, Utah along with Chris Connors and Li Hsun Sun. He is currently the head baker at Farmstead. 

Jen Heide is the Assistant Pastry Chef at the Everglades Club in Palm Beach, Florida. She is a Certified Bread Baker, Certified Executive Pastry Chef, and a Certified Baker.  After graduating from the Florida Culinary Institute, Chef Jen has worked in pastry kitchens for 15 years, developing specialties in bread, viennoiserie, fine pastry, and chocolate- although she is a baker at heart. She enjoys learning and continuing to develop her craft, as well as helping the next generation of bakers and pastry chefs to achieve their goals. 

Rachel Wyman ‘05 is lecturing instructor in baking and pastry arts at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). She is an award-winning lifelong baker, who learned to write her name in buttercream with a pastry bag before she could hold a pencil. She started her career at Bread Alone, during her time as a student at the CIA in Hyde Park, N.Y. After completing her studies, she went on to manage the night production at Amy’s Bread in New York City. After moving to Montclair, NJ with her family, she opened the Montclair Bread Company in 2012. On a whim, she and her staff began frying up doughnuts one morning, and soon Montclair Bread Co. became known as a bread bakery with a doughnut addiction. It was named Best Boutique Bakery for Best of Essex, 2016–2018. In 2021 she published Will Run for Doughnuts: The Montclair Bread Company Cookbook. Among her many accolades, she was named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Bakers in the U.S., in Bake magazine in 2015, and was a finalist on Team USA, at the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie in 2014.  Rachel was featured on the Food Network’s Donut Showdown in 2014,where her tres leches doughnut took home the top prize. She has an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida, in addition to her associate in occupational studies degree from the CIA. (Hyde Park, NY). Rachel is a Certified Master Baker and a Certified Bread Baker.  

Anja Graf-Curwen is a Certified Bread Baker through the Bread Bakers Guild of America, with a deep love for sourdough breads made with locally sourced grains. She started her baking journey at Brimfield Bread Oven, where she has continued to sling dough for the past 6 years. Before working with fires in BBO’s wood fired oven, she was putting them out as a firefighter and EMT. Through life’s twists and turns, Anja found herself drawn to a new career that tied her love of fire and hard work together. Local grains and fresh produce are her passion. Being in a family of farmers and a home gardener herself, she understands the importance and value of including high quality flours, local produce, and sustainable practices in everything she bakes.

January 13 / 4-5pm ET

The Bakery Leadership Circle is a program designed to support bakery owners and operators in tackling some of their stickiest business challenges through education and peer consulting activities.

If you would like to learn more about the Bakery Leadership Circle, join us for this information session via zoom.

The tools I learned in the BLC will take me through many journeys ahead.  This program far exceeded any expectations that I had. I felt the value of the program was far beyond the monetary investment and I would highly recommend this program to anyone who is looking for a leadership course in the bakery world.  

-Kevin Masse, Small State Provisions

In this cohort-based program, we will meet via Zoom every week from March 5 to June 16 with work and assignments between sessions.  Each session will include a facilitated exercise where members will identify real-life bakery challenges and the group will share insights to spark new ideas and solutions.

Outside of the Zoom sessions, Circle members will have access to a private discussion forum, where they can share ideas, dig deeper into challenges and receive feedback.

By the end of the program, you will develop one or more actionable goals to implement at your bakery. 

Who should participate?

The Circle is for owners and senior-level operators of all types of bakeries that have been in business for at least 3 years and that employ teams of 5 or more employees.

What will you gain from this program?

• Improved business operations and performance
• Leadership skills
• Effective approaches to team management
• Improved job quality
• A supportive peer group
• Clear business goals and a path to achieve them
• Clarity and confidence

Craft • Culture • Careers • Community

January 14 / 4 - 5:30pm EDT

Successful cottage businesses and micro-bakeries create unexpected variables that require creative solutions. This smaller business model leaves room for entrepreneurial agility, but understanding regional laws is critical and can be confusing. Aspiring brick-and-mortar owners have advanced opportunity to establish a customer based, fewer fixed costs and up-front investment than a traditional brick-and-mortar establishment. These businesses can be structured in diverse ways but have unique quirks and characteristics. 

By the end of this class, students will: 

• Understand legal differences and restrictions between states 

• Learn some of the sanitation, labeling, insurance requirements, and other forms of business compliance 

• Explore different models to establish a cottage bakery and to plan for growth
  

Maggie Longo is a highly experienced professional in the hospitality industry with a remarkable career spanning over 30 years. Throughout her extensive tenure, she has consistently delivered outstanding revenue generation and profitability results within prestigious, forward-thinking establishments. Her exceptional skills and expertise have earned her various accolades and recognition within the field. 

Longo, a home-based food producer since 1982, has been a member of a collectively-run community-based bakery in Washington, DC; the pastry chef for numerous restaurants in the RI market while in culinary school at RISD; the Director of Operations of a commercial, scratch bakery, servicing hotels, restaurants, and the general public; and business-owner of RI's first Roman-style pizzeria, which lead Longo to launch a consulting practice, working with local, regional, and national brands. 

In 2020, Longo joined the RI Small Business Development Center, bringing her wealth of experience to help businesses navigate the unique challenges presented by the pandemic. Her role involves providing valuable support and guidance to companies as they strive to overcome obstacles, expand their operations, and pursue growth opportunities. Her areas of specialization include strategic planning, the development of operational systems, and facilitating next-stage growth plans and project management. By leveraging her comprehensive industry knowledge and insights, she has consistently assisted her clients in achieving their organizational objectives. One area where she has focused her attention is the first-stage food maker/manufacturer sector, where she plays a vital role in assisting companies with strategic planning, operational system development, and overseeing project management for their next-stage initiatives. Maggie has recently joined the advisory board for the re-launch of RI's food strategy, Relish Rhody 2.0. 

Longo's career is characterized by her deep understanding of the hospitality industry, her proven track record of success, and her ability to provide invaluable guidance to businesses in times of uncertainty and growth. Through her involvement with the RI Small Business Development Center, she has consistently impacted the success and sustainability of numerous companies. 

Hana Quon began her journey at the University of Maryland, where she studied literature and linguistics, before discovering her true passion for the pastry arts. She honed her skills at L’Academie de Cuisine in the U.S. and further refined her craft in Paris under the guidance of MOF Jean Michel Perruchon at École Bellouet in Paris. Her training continued in Lyon with renowned macaron master Sébastien Bouillet, and she spent two enriching years in Cape Cod at Wellfleet’s PB Boulangerie & Bistro with Michelin-starred chef Philippe Rispoli. 

Following this impressive foundation, Quon co-founded and ran Café Madeleine, an artisanal French patisserie in Boston’s South End, alongside her mentor, Chef Frédéric Robert, who had spent 25 years as the pastry partner to Alain Ducasse. With unwavering dedication, she developed every aspect of this thriving venture, from design to execution and operations. 

Her remarkable achievements have earned her several accolades, including being named one of Zagat's 30 Under 30 chefs redefining Boston's culinary landscape in 2015, receiving Boston Magazine’s Best of Boston for Best Pastries in 2016, winning the prestigious 2020 Boston Rising Star Chefs Award for Best Pâtissière, and being recognized as one of Boston Magazine’s Best Up-and-Coming Chefs in 2021. 

After a successful decade with Café Madeleine, where she created a beloved destination for French pastries, Quon embraced a new chapter in Honolulu, Hawaii. There, she focuses on pop-ups, wholesale, consulting, and teaching, sharing her passion for pastry with a new audience. 

Grace Garay, the founder and head baker of Nomad Bakehouse, a Cottage Law bakery in Orlando specializing in sourdough bread, pastries and special occasion cakes focused on highlighting the seasonal bounty of Central Florida. In late 2018, after over a decade in the hospitality industry working in everything from bakeries, to restaurants, hotels and resorts both in BOH and FOH she settled in Orlando in the hopes of turning her years of experience in kitchens into her own business. Nomad began at the start of 2020 and at the cusp of the Covid-19 pandemic; as supply chains faltered, she began supplying her neighboring community with loaves of sourdough bread. What started out as a few hand-mixed loaves a week has turned into hundreds alongside thoughtfully crafted sourdough pastries using solely stone milled flours sourced regionally from Southern states. In the summer of 2011, Garay graduated with an AAS in Baking and Pastry Arts from St.Philip’s College in San Antonio before graduating from The French Pastry School in Chicago in 2014.

January 21, 2025 / 4:00-5:30 pm ET

A joint webinar by the Retail Bakers of America and the Bread Bakers Guild of America 

The workplace is evolving, and so are the needs and expectations of the next generation of bakers. Join us for a panel discussion with emerging bakers eager to share what they’re looking for in a workplace. This session is designed to help bakery owners and managers understand how to create a workplace that not only attracts but also supports and retains today’s bakery talent. 

Our panelists will discuss the key benefits that young bakers value most—such as flexibility, professional growth opportunities, a collaborative culture, meaningful work-life balance, compensation & more. We hope this session will inspire bakery employers to build an environment that nurtures job satisfaction creating a successful bakery team. Gain practical insights and ideas for making your bakery a place where the next generation of bakers can thrive and elevate your workplace culture 

 Our panelists will discuss: 

• Career goals and professional development expectations 

• Workplace culture and environment preferences 

• What makes an employer attractive to the next generation of bakers 

• Their vision for the future of the baking industry 

 Panelists include: 

Jen Heide, CBB Jen Heide is the Assistant Pastry Chef at the Everglades Club in Palm Beach, Florida. She is a Certified Bread Baker, Certified Executive Pastry Chef, and a Certified Baker.  After graduating from the Florida Culinary Institute, Chef Jen has worked in pastry kitchens for 15 years, developing specialties in bread, viennoiserie, fine pastry, and chocolate- although she is a baker at heart. She enjoys learning and continuing to develop her craft, as well as helping the next generation of bakers and pastry chefs to achieve their goals.

Val Kertesz has been an avid baker since childhood. A Cleveland native, Val started working professionally at seventeen at On the Rise Artisan Breads, specializing in pastry and bread production. Val enjoys playing the bass guitar, gardening, and folding origami when not baking. Val is training as the commis that will support the Mondial du Pain competition in 2025.  

 Taylor Craft is a recent Kendall College's Baking and Pastry Arts program graduate. She earned her associate's degree in baking and pastry at Kendall College in Chicago. Taylor has worked as a pastry cook in professional bakeries and catering kitchens and as a food stylist for both internal and external Food Network productions. She has a special place in her heart for viennoiserie and boundary-pushing flavor combinations within pastry.   IG: @TayloredAndCrafted 

Craft • Culture • Careers• Community

January 28 / 4:00 PM - 5:30 pm EDT

Chocolate lovers are among a bakery’s most loyal customers. Guittard’s couverture line has a variety of styles to meet the various needs of your diverse menu. These recommendations consider viscosity, fat, and flavor—but how does this translate to your tried-and-true formulas? Understanding the versatility of these options can streamline your inventory and make selecting the right chocolate products less daunting. 

In this class, Guittard pastry chef Josh Johnson will share his secrets for enhancing cocoa flavors and creating consistent results as he explores the nuance between distinct types of chocolate products.   

By the end of this class, students will have learned about: 

• the best applications for different chocolates 
  
• emulsions and how to stabilize and fix them
• which types of chocolates can be substituted and the fundamental differences between them  

Josh Johnson, Products Application Director

Josh Johnson is the Pastry Chef of Guittard Chocolate Company, the revered San Francisco Bay Area family-owned chocolate maker, where he brings his celebrated craft, artistry and palate in developing new recipes and ideas with Executive Pastry Chef Donald Wressell.

Josh has competed in and won the National Pastry Team Championship with team captain Donald Wressell and teammates Scott Green and Della Gossett.  The team went on to win Best Dégustation and Silver Medal overall at the 2012 World Pastry Championship in Las Vegas. Josh also competed in the 2015 Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie with teammates Scott Green and John Kraus, coached by Ewald Notter and Donald Wressell, where they brought home the Bronze medal.

Josh started working in pastry as a teenager in his uncle’s pastry shop in Illinois and honed his skills training under the tutelage of mentor Sébastien Canonne, M.O.F., and pastry chefs En-Ming Hsu, World Pastry Champion, and François Payard. He was Executive Pastry Chef at Everest in Chicago, co-owner of Cocoa Bean Fine Desserts in Geneva, Illinois, an instructor at The French Pastry School and, most recently, Head Pastry Chef at Destination Kohler in Kohler, Wisconsin.

He is inspired by chocolate’s infinite variety of flavor profiles and its versatility as an ingredient that can also be sculpted and shaped to delicious and delightful effect.