Business

it takes a Bakery

changing lives, one sweet treat at a time

Kendra Williams is a self-described “closet baker,” but it it’s not her sweet tooth that is motivating her plan to open It Takes a Bakery - it’s the at-risk teens that she works with daily.

Earlier this year, Williams, a marriage and family therapist who specializes in working with atrisk youth, was exposed to a Los Angeles-based organization called Homeboy Industries. The nonprofit, which rehabilitates former gang members by providing them with jobs and counseling among other things - such as free tattoo removal - had representatives at a SLO County-sponsored symposium that analyzed the root causes of gang activity. Williams was intrigued so she made a trip down to Homeboy Industries to have a look for herself.

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For a taste of the sweet treats, check out her recipes in Local Food by Local People on page 44.

“Somebody asked me, if it was just about the bakery - if I had just inherited a bakery, would I do it. And the answer was, ‘No.’ ”

She came back to San Luis Obispo with the beginnings of a business plan for It Takes a Bakery (as in “it takes a village”) as a way to provide jobs and job training to local at-risk teens, many of whom have been convicted of a crime and have limited options for traditional employment. “I want to show them that there is something different than what they have been exposed to and to help them transition on to another job, or to Cuesta College, for example,” explains Williams.

To get things started, Williams knew that she first needed a great product, so she began creating and perfecting her baked goods at home. Each Thursday afternoon, after she finishes her workday, she turns her kitchen into a “sweets laboratory” where she bakes late into the evening. She has also launched a Facebook page inviting her “fans” to come by her house the next morning to pick up a sweet that she leaves at the front door before she heads back to her day job. The treat is free to the taster, but they are asked to leave their email addresses in a logbook. Williams then follows-up with a questionnaire inquiring about what the taster liked or did not like about the recipe.

This process has gone on since May, and Williams has now developed a set of recipes that are receiving consistently rave reviews from an eager and growing group of taste-testers. The next step in the bakery’s evolution is for Williams to hire her first teenage employees and to begin selling their products at local farmers’ markets. For that purpose, she has been searching for a commercial kitchen that holds a special license that will allow her to take the food off-site to be sold.

Williams, who admits that, “business is the other side of the spectrum from the type of work I have been doing,” shares that a permanent storefront in San Luis Obispo is the ultimate goal. “I see this as an opportunity to give back to these kids who have given so much to me. I have learned so much about life and resiliency through them.”