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And the Bread Continues to Rise

Published on December 20, 2010

Jessamyn Waldman
Founder, Hot Bread Kitchen

By John Patrick Reyes

Galen Summer and Caitlin Dourmashkin’s film Lessons from a Tailor prescribes the vision on what is needed for social entrepreneurs. The film focuses on a tailor, Martin Greenfield, from Brooklyn, New York. As a survivor of the holocaust, he came to the United States as a floor person at a Bushwick clothing company. Now the owner, the entrepreneur’s clientele expands from everyday New Yorkers to suiting President Clinton for his press conferences. Receiving the Perspective Award in the 10th Annual Media That Matters™ collection, the film captures Greenfield’s humble character and his influence on the immigrant community of the city. From Vietnamese to Puerto Ricans and Polish to Mexicans, the diversity of its staff is only a single thread of the larger purpose of why people work for him. For Jessamyn Waldman, the founder and owner of Hot Bread Kitchen, she tailors and designs a similar vision.

Every Wednesdays at the Green Market in Union Square hungry New Yorkers are treated with produce. From vegetable and fruit farmers to meat and dairy artisans, locally grown food is the premise. However, between the larger tents, lies a small vendor with a different purpose. Hot Bread Kitchen’s reputation is to be international. Located in Long Island City, it is unlike any other bakery in the city. Its purpose is to provide the opportunity for low-income immigrant women the skill and craft that’s necessary to be in the culinary arts and the opportunity to start a micro-business. Starting off with one baker and now employing a diverse group of women, Hot Bread Kitchen’s success opens the doors for immigrant women to advance their career paths.

The diverse group of women
at work in the bakery

The idea of being a baker was by no means part of the plan for Waldman. Her parents gave her the backbone and passion for social change. It was her international work experience where she found the love of food. She received her masters in public administration from Columbia University and her bachelors at the University of British Columbia. She worked in both government and non-governmental organizations and at the United Nations focusing on human rights, education and immigration issues. Her international work experience in Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Bosnia and Chile, was what ignited and influenced the idea of her organization. In Toronto she witnessed women from all over the world baking in a community oven. “The real sadness is that [the breads] existed, but I could never try them,” she says.

Hot Bread Kitchen Bakers share
a happy moment while baking

Her food for thought led to food for action. And food to change the world has become the motivation. She took a Certification in Baking at the New School University and eventually landed a job at Daniel, the New York Times four star rated restaurant. She became their first woman baker. It was there that she realized that a majority of bakers are men and women ranked 16 percent of bakers nationally. She says, “In most foreign household countries women are the bakers. Minority foreign-born women in the United States have the highest participation rate in the labor force, yet are paid the least.” She explains, “Most jobs foreign-born women have don’t allow them to increase salaries. An average domestic worker makes about $23,000 a year.”

The baked goods at their stand at
the Green Market in Union Square

The art of crafting a successful bakery lies within the hands of tradition. For Hot Bread Kitchen this component is true for its players. She encourages her bakers to preserve tradition by making bread from their own country. From seasonal Focaccia to Moroccan Msemen—a buttery thing flat bread—to blue corn tortillas-it’s internationality it why the bakery strives and enjoy their work. She says, “I wanted to establish an affirmative action program for the United Nation’s of bread…and give women the opportunity to craft the baking skills that will lead to higher salaries. A successful baker can make anywhere between $50,000-$60,000 a year.”

For the bakers, they have nestled themselves with a perfect recipe for success. Besides having a career path, it also offers on the job English and computer courses. For bakers such as Elidia Ramos, the idea and promise of Weldman mission was key. She was the first one to help when Hot Bread Kitchen was still a concept.

Ramos says, “I didn’t know anything about bread…nothing. Now that I’ve learned I really like making bread. The tortillas are recipes from Mexico from my mother. The floutas are also my mothers recipe.”

For Bouchra of Morocco, she has influenced the bakery in creating the Msemen. It is the highest seller at the Green Market and usually sells out by noon. She has developed her skill of mastering European bread making and is now the expert at Restaurant Daniel. Hawa Ireine Guengueng of Chad made the introduction of Gâteau, an African fried cake, possible. She came to Hot Bread Kitchen in December of 2009. It is clear that the openness and universality of the bakery is why it is successful. Hot Bread Kitchen now sells its products to specialty markets such as Whole Foods, the Brooklyn Larder and Dean and Deluca.

Hot Bread Kitchen’s new location
in Spanish Harlem

This December Hot Bread Kitchen is leaving its home base in Queens to expand its kitchen in Manhattan. It has partnered with La Marqueta, a run down marketplace in the heart of Spanish Harlem. Its goal is to boost the business of the neighborhood. Hot Bread Kitchen will oversee the entire market place, allowing more opportunities for its bakers. The expansion includes at 4,500 square feet space and will become a food market haven for New York City. In addition, it will also include a communal kitchen space for low-income persons to help increase efficiency for those who want to start-off their own entrepreneurial business by having the access to larger and industrial facilities.

For Waldman and her vision this is only the beginning. She plans to expand Hot Bread Kitchen to five different cities. Her vision is simple to help those in need. She says, “My big ask is to look for good bread and to spend the time to find the artisanal bakeries in your cities. To get to know where your bread comes from. I assure you that your family and your taste buds will thank you and so will the bakers and entrepreneurs you are supporting.”

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