The Katy News
Wholesale Bakery triples production, expands into pop-up bake sales, pop-up markets, and
H-E-B
HOUSTON (March 27, 2020) – Houston’s favorite local wholesale bakery is tripling production since adding pop-up bake sales, partnering with restauranteur pop-up markets, donating to affected hospitality, and growing within the H-E-B family.
Bread Man Baking Co. announced their expansion into H-E-B stores and plans to deliver to nine more locations throughout the Greater Houston area, beginning Friday, March 26.
The Bread Man Baking Co team quickly launched into crisis support mode to provide to communities and feed hospitality professionals who have been affected by the coronavirus crisis, many of which have lost their entire source of income, all around Houston.
“I want to do everything I can to support the people; the hospitality industry is like a family and they embraced my bakery with open arms when we started. It’s my turn to support them,” expressed Tasos Katsaounis, Founder and CEO of Bread Man Baking Co. “The best way I know how to show my love and support is through the gift of baking, so we immediately kicked off pop-ups, which we haven’t typically done in the past. We’re excited to host pop-ups in the Memorial area at White Elm Bakery & Cafe and have since added Dandelion Cafe in Bellaire and Whiskey Cake in Katy.” Katsaounis went on to say, “I’ll keep delivering to the communities through our retail partnerships and reach as many people and hospitality professionals as we can.”
Katsaounis is a Texas native and first-generation Greek American. As the eldest in an immigrant family, he was taught by his mother at the age of 10 how to bake his Yiayia’s bread recipes in their home kitchen. The family established their roots in Dallas, Texas where they owned a Bar and Grill and Katsaounis had an initial taste of the hospitality industry. While helping with the family business, he began his career in business consulting, tailoring his focus on learning and development. Nostalgic family conversations about his father in law’s fresh-baked Greek bread inspired Katsaounis to step back into the kitchen and re-invigorate his mother’s recipes. A single loaf of bread evolved from a hobby to an obsession. The company, named by his then 6-year-old daughter, exploded organically among the community and relocated from a home kitchen to a commissary kitchen to produce for customers. Katsaounis left a 21-year consulting career, recently at Accenture, to build the company into an independent wholesale business.
A new partnership with H-E-B and the local bakery launched less than a week ago and the support from America’s favorite grocery store came with impeccable timing. After Bread Man saw a 78% decrease in business due to restaurants taking a painful hit, H-E-B President Scott McClelland made a lifeline phone call asking the bakery to join the H-E-B family. “They came as a savior to us, to be honest, said Katsaounis. “It’s a bittersweet time but I’m filled with gratitude and hope from this new union. Scott McClelland and H-E-B saved my business.”
Bread Man’s breads will be available at H-E-B stores in the areas of Galleria, Greenway/West University, the Heights, Sugar Land, Cinco Ranch, Spring, Tomball, The Woodlands, and Kingwood. The bakeries will offer specialty handcrafted breads: Pain de Mei, Country Sourdough Batard, and Whole Wheat Sourdough Batard, which uses local Texas grains sourced from Barton Springs Mills. The natural artisan breads are also delivered daily to more than 11 Whole Foods markets around Houston. For information on where to buy, visit www.breadmanco.com.
