Bread of Life Bakery
In a case of divine inspiration, Glenn Crowther was returning from a religious retreat five years ago when he heard a calling to start a bakery. With no previous baking experience, he put the idea on the back burner until almost a year later, when he noticed a bakery auction in a local paper. He put a bid on a 20-qt. mixer, and before they knew it Crowther and his wife, Kathy, had started Stewartsville, MO-based Bread of Life Bakery, which sells breads, cookies, and rolls made of organically grown whole grains. In January 2006 they launched a Website of the same name.
Prices range from $2 for a cinnamon roll to $6 for cranberry walnut bread, all made from fresh-ground grains. The nutritional value of ground flour is lost rapidly through oxidation, Crowther says. “Because we grind the grain fresh, it’s the freshest bread that you can get.”
The Web developer the company hired proved to be less than heaven sent, Crowther says, so the Website is not as robust as hoped. But a January article in The Kansas City Star has been yielding 15-20 phone calls daily. Crowther also bought keywords on Google, Yahoo!, and AltaVista to spur traffic. Bread of Life Bakery, which delivers baked goods to more than 40 health food stores in Kansas and Missouri, has no plans to start a print catalog.
URL: www.breadoflifeorganicbakery.com Product category: baked goods Website launched: January 2006 Target customer: health-conscious consumers Competitors: Rudy’s Organic Breads, Alvarado Street Bakery Phone: 816-669-1344