Bridge Bread, a St. Louis nonprofit that trains and employs people experiencing homelessness, is heading back to a full-time retail storefront in the Delmar Loop next Saturday, Jan. 31, with a 1 p.m. ribbon-cutting on the calendar. The new Daily Bakery will stretch across three neighboring storefronts at 616 N. Skinker Blvd., at the northeast corner of Skinker and Delmar boulevards. The move returns Bridge Bread to a street-facing retail model after its Cherokee Street shop halted retail service during the pandemic.
The Loop counter is set up for grab-and-go service, with fresh loaves, sweet and savory pastries, coffee and bottled drinks. On the menu are Japanese milk bread and sourdough craft bagels, including a French onion soup bagel, and the spot is pitched to catch foot traffic from Washington University students and neighborhood visitors. Hours will be Wednesday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., as reported by Sauce Magazine.
A social enterprise with a training pipeline
Bridge Bread, founded in 2011, describes itself as a nonprofit social enterprise that pairs paid baking shifts with job training and housing assistance for people without safe and stable housing, according to Bridge Bread. The Delmar Loop bakery will be run by manager Teddy Key and is designed as the next step for bakers who start at the Cherokee Street site, giving them a chance to work on more technically demanding artisan products.
Measured impact so far
Spectrum News has reported that Bridge Bread’s program has served roughly 125 people over its first 13 years and that about 75 percent of participants have maintained housing after leaving the program. Staff and bakers quoted in that coverage describe how paid work, on-the-job training and housing assistance work together to help participants regain stability and pursue longer-term employment.
Funding the expansion and the next steps
Bridge Bread’s event listings show the organization leaning on fundraisers such as its Bread & Butter galas to cover growth and capital costs, and the bakery estimates that every 25 dollars in sales pays for roughly one hour of paid labor for its bakers. Sauce Magazine reports that the organization baked more than 85,000 items last year and notes that the Delmar Loop shop is Phase 1 of a measured expansion that could include installing an oven at its Soulard Market stall and opening several satellite locations by 2030. The fundraising picture for that plan is laid out on Bridge Bread's gala pages and in local reporting.
What to expect from the menu
At the Loop, the bakery plans to lean into bagels and milk bread and expects bagels could account for a significant share of daily sales, with rotating and seasonal flavors in play, the St. Louis Jewish Light reported. The retail storefront will also give Bridge Bread more opportunities to tell its mission story directly to customers and to expand paid positions for bakers advancing through the program. St. Louis Jewish Light described the menu ambitions and possible flavor experiments.
The grand opening ribbon-cutting is set for next Saturday at 1 p.m., and Bridge Bread’s leadership says the Delmar Loop location is intended to deepen the bakery’s roots in the city while creating a clearer path from entry-level baking work to more skilled, paid roles. Expect a modest grab-and-go setup to start, with product development and service ramping up in the weeks after the opening.
