Success Story
Avenue Bread
By Ben Nelson and Debbye Omlie
Operating a successful business, much like baking a tasty loaf of bread, requires the right ingredients. It just so happens that Wendy and John Defreest, owners of Bellingham's Avenue Bread know a recipe for both. While the ingredients for its bread are a well kept secret, the factors contributing to Avenue Bread's success are pretty straightforward: a lot of hard work, a little imagination and a dash of support from business partners in the local community.
When Wendy graduated from Western Washington University with her business degree she didn't plan to own a bakery in town. Though she always had ambitions of becoming a business owner, Bellingham was not the locale she originally had in mind. In fact, after finishing college she moved back to Seattle with dreams of opening a cafe on Queen Anne Boulevard. But, it was during a return visit to Bellingham with her husband John that Wendy started to reconsider. While strolling around the scenic trails of Lake Padden, the couple suddenly raised the question, "Why not here?" Locating in Bellingham would be the first of many wise decisions to come.
As the Defreests began looking for business opportunities, Wendy's brother mentioned that the company he worked for, the Avenue Bread Company, was for sale. Purchasing an existing business can be a complicated, and for many people a terrifying, process. Before going forward, Wendy sought advice from the Center for Economic Vitality (at the time Small Business Development Center). After talking through the business and its future potential, the couple decided it was the perfect opportunity.
It didn't take long for Wendy to realize it was the right decision: "Bellingham embraced us. We started important relationships that we still have today. Whidbey Island Bank and the Center for Economic Vitality are two that have helped us immensely through the years."
Aside from the name, the company that Wendy and John took over in 1995 is barely recognizable. What started out as a single location specializing in artisan bread and pastries has been trasnformed into a small bakery empire: three popular cafes serving an array of baked goods and prepared foods; a robust wholesale line supplying local grocery stores, coffee shops and restaurants; and numerous other services including catering and online ordering.
Indeed, while Avenue Bread advertises the excellent quality of its slow rising bread, the Defreests have taken the opposite approach with the company's growth. There is an easy explanation, however, for this rapid expansion, Bellingham likes what they're selling. Recently, Avenue Bread was named "Best Bakery and Best Sandwich in 2010," by Cascadia Weekly and has been the recipient of many similiar awards in the past. In addition to its award winning bread, the company's rise to prominence has been aided by astute marketing.
Wendy listens to her clientele, and has tailored the company to be an engaged member of the Bellingham community. Avenue Bread makes healthy products that are produced in an environmentally friendly manner using ingredients purchased from local businesses. These are qualities that the local community values, and a reason why many choose Avenue Bread over its competitors.
Wendy also norticed that more and more people were seeking gluten-free food, yet it was extremely hard to locate. To meet this market demand, Wendy created the "Almost" line, a variety of baked goodies that are gluten-free but no less delicious. It is this type of creativity which has kept Avenue Bread on its upward trajectory.
Although it has experienced incredible growth, the success of an expanding business brings with it a host of challenges. To address these issues, Wendy has maintained her strong partnership with the CEV. "The CEV isn't just for when you are having a hard time. I use it when my business is thriving. Tom has been my business coach and helped me establish priorities. He asks the hard question, 'what is most important,'" stated Wendy. Tom also meets with and provides guidance to her management team.
Growing pains have certainly been Wendy's biggest stress as a business owner. "We started out as a mom and pop business with twelve employees and now have sixty," she noted. "As we have grown we have become forced to become grown up. We have needed to put policies and procedures in place. It is scary to be a business owner today, but is it great to have someone like Tom looking out for us."
Keeping a close connection with all the employees has been another tough issue. While it is difficult to connect with staff members who are baking in the early morning hours, Wendy still makes an effort to do so.
And Avenue Bread is not done yet. With guidance from the CEV, the company recently received an SBA loan to help with its expansion. A commercial location was added to handle the baking and distribution of its pastry line.
Over the years Wendy has learned many lessons and has useful advice to share with prospective business owners. Wendy mentioned that if she could do things differently she would have had a cash handling procedure in place from the start and cautions others to "be aware that fraud exists and put safeguards in place."
All in all, Wendy feels quite fortunate and knows that working with the CEV has enabled her to work on the business and not in the business, a key element behind the company's prosperity. As the old adage goes, when it comes to measuring success the "proof is in the pudding." For Wendy and John Defreest, not to mention their growing contigent of loyal customers, when it comes to measuring success, the proof is in the bread.