The best bakery in America is right here in Birmingham
Today’s guest columnist is David Beckett.
Rewarding my patience.
The line can spill out into the street and across several storefronts.
Customers line up early and the bakery closes when all the pastries are sold.
And what a story.
It’s something I never expected to find when I moved to Birmingham.
To declare myself, I’m a relative newbie to Birmingham, having arrived just two years ago when a hurricane destroyed 115,000+ homes in my former Florida county. I had to admit my loss at musical chairs and needed to address the resulting housing insecurity.
So, declaring upfront that I am not from here, I offer the perspective of what I am frequently is reminded is that of an “outsider” (as though that is inherently less than).
A treasure that opened around the time of my arrival is Last Call Baking, near the downtown post office complex. But around the shop’s first year anniversary, they experienced one of the worst things imaginable:: they received a James Beard Award nomination.
The bakery specializes in croissant dough that is fermented, then laminated one layer at a time to build the 120 striations, within the context of a temperature-controlled environment and a three-day process.
The owner, Chanah Willis, is self-taught, thanks to books and YouTube videos. They had saved the money to rent the building and to secure the equipment, then the pandemic hit. After the forced delay, the time was right, and the bakery was birthed.
Experience is something gained after one needed it, and being self-taught and self-funded breeds the fear of being exposed to what you do not yet know. Receiving the James Beard nomination flooded the firm with new clients. From an external perspective, everything read like success.
I remember speaking with a friend during the late 80’s, soon after she had been appointed the first woman to achieve the executive ranks within IBM. She was seeing a therapist to bridge the gap between the success she had achieved and her feelings that did not feel how she had anticipated. The rub between the tectonic plates placed her at risk of unconsciously sabotaging herself. My observation is that Bham is at a similar place with its recent growth and changes.
To my mind, Last Call Baking models a new and nutritive form of community leadership. Inside the bakery’s modest walls, they offer a haven for folks that could be viewed as disenfranchised, and are sometimes demonized by some in Birmingham’s dominant, church-going set.
Last Call offers not a sanctuary from, but a sanctuary for something that is greater as the quality standards for their pastries gained recognition with the award nomination, customers regularly standing in line for 45 minutes, and the bakery typically selling out just 2-2.5 hours after opening.
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This past spring, I experienced both disappointment and inspiration when a sign on the door announced that they would not open. They were not able to control the temperatures as the outside quickly climbed into the 90’s, so they discarded their dough rather than sell sub-par product.
As customers voluntarily stand in line, a sense of community is built as strangers describe their favorite pastries, with whom they intend to share their treats, or describe the item they have commissioned. The experience reminds me that value takes several forms in addition to just financial value, and for this reminder I am grateful to the bakery’s staff.
Through its non-verbal example, the folks at Last Call build community, encourage one to be authentic, model the benefit of elevating’s one’s standards, and provide the vessel to make new friends.
Visiting Last Call, I am reminded that before I am an individual that I am a social creature, and I’m grateful for their role in being a social node that draws people together during a time where society is increasingly fractured.
The crew models how to be authentic, grants permission to have dreams and shows how to move through the uncomfortable feelings when achieving them, addresses the call to be part of something greater, as well as the desire to find expansive community with whom one can share.
I’m grateful to be reminded that not everything can be reduced to popular metrics, such as the number of calories in a delicious pastry.
My soul needs to be fed, too, and the flour-dusted crew at Last Call Baking show me how to do so.
David Beckett earned an Ivy League degree, but is more pleased to have had a successful trade. He has lived and worked across four continents, and is an independent researcher with a track record of creating new technologies that spawn new industries.
David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).
Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. dsher@comebacktown.com
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