A Bakery on the Rise

Every city has a skid row. For years Detroit's was Cass Corridor. Even at 4 a.m. commerce thrived. You could buy drugs, sex, cheap wine, and stolen merchandise at almost any hour of the day. But you couldn't buy a freshly baked loaf of bread. The area was a culinary wasteland, until two idealistic bakers opened Avalon International Breads.

For Jackie Victor, 42, and Ann Perrault, 48, Avalon is a crusade. They love Detroit and want to help revive it.

These two business and life partners are deeply committed to social responsibility. They feed the homeless, recycle, and hire workers from the neighborhood. They pay a living wage - managers typically make $40,000 a year - and Avalon's health benefits rival those of corporate employers. They practice open-book management, a technique that gives employees access to Avalon's financials. And they have been wildly successful.

Some 500 customers a day line up to buy Avalon's breads, scones, muffins, and coffee. They include suburbanites, students from nearby Wayne State University, and area hospital workers.

Avalon also supplies top local restaurants and specialty shops with breads and pastries. Its three trucks ply the roads from predawn to noon six days a week. Sales topped $1.5 million in 2007, and net income was $180,000 (up threefold from 2006). The secret of Avalon's success: Its owners are talented bakers.

"We never wanted to be a hippie-dippie bakery with food that tastes like tree bark," says Victor.

Staffing and management are worries. Avalon now employs 35. In the next few months it will hire 15 more. The bakery has vowed to support the neighborhood by providing jobs. But with limited work experience, local recruits often lack basic business and social skills. Avalon has no formal process for training or evaluating workers. Discipline is uneven. Customer service is lax. Behind the counter, staffers rush to fill orders but rarely smile or suggest new treats.

"We're missing opportunities to up-sell," Victor frets.

The partners fear those flaws could prove disastrous when they move to the larger store. Meanwhile, backroom blunders are common and costly, given rising prices for staples such as organic flour. Victor admits Avalon has lost key wholesale customers because of errors.