Catherine Bunand - Crepe and Brioche

How long have you been a baker?

Roughly 25 years. My husband Jean Claude has been baking for 40 years, non-stop, I think.

What inspired you to become a baker? Any family history?

Basically I married a baker. But my great-grandfather was baking; his family was supplying bread to the entire Champagne region where I come from in France.

How long have you been selling at farmers markets?

We’ve been in business five years.

How did Crepe and Brioche get started?

This is not our first bakery. This time our children were older so we could put 100% of our energy in to it. We started at the Farmers Market on 4th Street in San Rafael with crepes. Then we added several others around the Bay. We were renting kitchen space from Donna’s Tamales, three hours a week. After four or five months we took over a lease and jumped full time into the bakery business.

What is required to prepare for a day at market?

The first bakers arrive around 10 pm the previous night and basically they work all night. The previous day we have made the cookies. During the night we bake all the breads. And then right before market, we bake the croissants. That’s why we’re always late, there’s always one more thing waiting to come out of the oven.

A bakers schedule is very long hours. It’s not really a schedule because it’s the bread that determines what your schedule is. If the bread is not finished you have to stay. Sometimes people ask me “what time do you close?” and I don’t know what to tell them. I close when it is finished and when things are ready. Bread is a very capricious thing. There are so many things that affect it. You have certain control over it, but it depends on the weather, the atmospheric pressure, all these things affect the bread and how it rises, so you’re very dependent on the product.

How many employees do you have?
Roughly we’re about a dozen right now, working seven days a week. We have two groups. The bread bakers are baking at night and sleeping during the day. We have a lot of pastries, tarts, cookies, desserts, and we have a day group for that. So it’s roughly around the clock.

Where do you get your ingredients from?

As much as I can I buy from the Farmers Market or locally. I try to find local growers. That is something I really want to pursue. We play at trying to get our ingredients from within 50 miles. We’re so rich here in the Bay area. There is so much growing around here. I like to use seasonal products from the market as much as possible. A lot of customers come just to see what we have this week. Because according to the season, according to whatever comes up, we use that. Like this week, I found some Bing cherries so we have a lot of Bing cherry products this week. I also found some fresh figs; the season is so short, so when I find it, I buy it. Gooseberries also come up very rarely so when I get them there are a couple customers that wait for that tart precisely. But I can’t predict when I’m going to find it. That’s an advantage to farmers markets, you can play with what comes along.

What is the secret to your delectable pastries?

Well, probably the 40 years of experience from my husband. That’s a big part of it. And amazingly, after all these years, he still loves what he does. He takes a lot of pride in the result of the product. Everything is handmade with all natural ingredients. We try to do it as freshly as possible. Like I said, that’s why we’re always late. Sometimes we get here and the bread is still warm. We don’t use commercial yeasts. We try to use a natural starter for most everything. It’s all real butter. And people do appreciate these things. We try to get the best ingredients we can find. We use very few ingredients actually. People ask what’s in the bread. “Is there dairy?” No, it’s bread. It’s flour, water, salt, the best flour I can find of course; a mixture of flours like whole wheat and rye. If I have to use white flour it’s going to be the white unbleached stone-ground flour. And people really respond to this kind of baking. There’s no funny names in what I bake. It’s simple: butter, sugar, honey, things like that.

What do you find to be most and least enjoyable about baking?

The least enjoyable are those early and long hours. Like for everything, it’s always really hard to keep up early. But the most enjoyable by far is people’s reaction to our products. Like you said, often there is a line before we even drive in. And it’s very humbling. We work hard at making good products but there’s so much competition here. It’s really the best part of this business, is to actually see people’s reaction. They bring their friends. They tell us all their stories, and what they do with our bread. It’s really nice.

There are usually 13 bakers at the Sunday Market. How does that affect your business?

Competition is always healthy. I think it’s a good thing. It forces you to adapt and to be constantly improving your product. All of the bakeries are diverse and we seem to complement each other. There are plenty of customers for all of us. It’s great for the customer too; they have a huge selection to choose from. I must admit it was a little intimidating when we started. But we’re happy to still be here.

How many croissants and loaves of bread do you create in a week?

I have to think hard on that. I think roughly, maybe, four thousand croissants and different kinds of pastries. With bread, it’s tough because you have the retail too, so that would be a lot more. Between the wholesale and the shop and the markets, I’ll have to get back to you. And also, as you know, with markets it’s always different. In the middle of summer it’s always the best. Now that kids are going back to school it’s a little slower. So we go with the flow.

Where do you sell wholesale?

We sell to a lot of French restaurants in San Francisco. Actually a lot of sandwich shops use our Panini. A few cafés buy our pastries, but mostly restaurants. They get delivered twice a day. So we bring it in the morning for the lunch crowd and again in the afternoon for the dinner crowd. They want freshness. So we bring it to them. That’s why we bake pretty much all day long and all night long.

What is your most popular item?

Oh God. That is so hard. One very popular item here is the Fruit Fougasse which is very simply bread with dried fruit in it. But people are gaga over it. We have an Olive Fougasse. The Brownie cake is a big hit too. So are the Cinnamon Buns. We have so many things so everybody has their favorite. But the Fougasse, because it’s healthy, there’s no added sugar, but you get your sweetness from your dried fruit so it satisfies that part of it.

Do you have any Fruit Fougasse left?

No, we sold out very early. The more I bring, you know I can never bring enough. I’ve never ended a market with Fruit Fougasse. So I’ll have to come up with a number to make it work.

What are the advantages or incentives for bakeries and other artisanal food purveyors to sell at farmers markets?

I love the direct contact with the customers. There’s no middle man so we hear exactly what you want, what you don’t want, what you like and what you don’t like. The relationship between the producer and the customer doesn’t get diluted here. There’s very little overhead charge compared to a shop when you first start. And it’s a wonderful way to get your name out there when you start a business. Many businesses that are famous now started at farmers markets, little by little.

Do you feel that your years selling at farmers markets prepared you to open your own shop?

Yes, actually we opened one a year ago in North Beach San Francisco, and it’s very different. I won’t lie, I prefer Farmers Markets. It’s just so much fun to be outdoors and have direct contact with the people. I really enjoy that part of it.