Alrighty folks! It's basically that time of year! We are preparing and stocking up and bracing ourselves for our biggest online sale of the year! 🎉

If you are new to the family, let me share some of our history and what you can expect from the brand new Cyber Wednesday. 

When we first tried doing a Cyber Monday on the actual date (the Monday after Thanksgiving) we ran into a bunch of issues.

The first being that we had less time to bake because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

The second being that because tons of companies did Cyber Monday at the exact same time, the shippers like UPS and FedEx fell significantly behind in their deliveries which is catastrophic for a bakery that doesn't use preservatives!

The third being that we do have a few employees who like to take off around the holidays which we totally support - it just leaves us a little shorthanded on a HUGE sale week. 

So then we tried to have a Cyber Monday a few weeks ahead which actually went better than our first tries. But even still, we ended up a little handcuffed because we had orders pile in all day Monday which left us scrambling, trying to get the orders processed and shipped out in a timely manner that week. 

This brings us to this year's Cyber WEDNESDAY! By having this sale on a Wednesday, it means we get a few days to get the orders processed and organized. We can get everything shipped out in a strategic manner starting on Monday November 11th which should mean a lot less questions and a pretty great turnaround! 

We feel we've done our due diligence to make this sale possible while also giving us a chance to not live under an avalanche for longer than necessary! 😲

So mark your calendars and get ready! On midnight on Wednesday November 6th, you can expect to get an email that contains a discount code which will activate your Cyber Wednesday savings in the cart. DO NOT FORGET THAT CODE AT CHECKOUT BECAUSE WE CANNOT ADD IT AFTER THE FACT. And also, make sure you meet the minimum for discounted shipping as we've had people confused about that in the past as well. 

If you are not currently a part of our email list, please sign up here where it says subscribe. 

Every year when we stand on the the brink of this sale, I can't help but feel so incredibly humbled. 🥰 The response we get to this sale is absolutely staggering - every one growing larger than the one preceding it. We're grateful. We're amazed. And this year - I think we're ready! ❤️

Finally, please be aware, every phone call and email we get slows us down by... a lot! So just when you are getting ready to email us or call us about where your order is, you can pretty much bet it is shipping that day! So hold off on questions as long as you can so we can do our best to make sure everyone gets their orders as fast as possible! 

Until next time, 

Nicole & Nick 
The 3rd Generation of Berlin Natural Bakery 
the little bakery that could! 🙂

ID, OR, UT, WA - $38 or more qualifies for $20 Express Expedited Shipping! For $5 Ground Shipping (at your own risk!) call your order in (330) 893-2734

All Other States - $38 or more qualifies for $5 FedEx Ground Shipping. To upgrade shipping call your order in (330) 893-2734

If you prefer UPS for shipping please let us know in the Notes section of your cart! 

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Hey! Welcome to the Berlin Natural Bakery Family! It is an absolute HONOR to bake and ship thousands of loaves of bread all across the country every single week and we're happy to have you as a part of our clan! 

You have either just placed your order or you are getting ready to load up your cart and we thought there were some things you might like to know! Scroll down for commonly asked questions, concerns and risks of ordering some of the purest Spelt baked goods out there! 

When Will My Order Ship: 
Here's the deal. In these crazy times, we are experiencing periodic but slight delay in shipping out orders. What makes this more complicated is that our rush periods come and go. Meaning we can't outright say we have a delay because it all depends on how many orders we get in week to week. 

What you can count on is that we are baking, slicing, packing and shipping your order as soon as humanly possible.

Thankfully we are definitely not insanely behind so the most you should be waiting for your order to ship is about 5-6 days - all depending on where you are located in the United States in relation to Berlin, Ohio. 

Where Can I Find My Tracking Number?? 
When your order ships, you should get a tracking email sent to whichever email address you used to place the order. Make sure you check your Spam folder in case it ended up there. 

Heads Up, West Coasters: 
We ship MANY orders to the West Coast every single week with little to no issues thankfully!  

If you are on the West Coast and you order on Monday afternoon or later in the week, your order will not go out until the following Monday. We have to be really careful here because our bread is SUPER perishable which means we won't bake and ship your order at the end of the week when there's a chance it could get stuck in a warehouse or a truck over the weekend. We have to ship your order when it has the least chance of getting delayed or held up and generally, that means a Monday. 

Most West Coasters will send an urgent "Where is my order" email on Monday morning only to get a shipping notice from UPS that Monday afternoon that their order was baked and shipped that day. So give us time! We promise, we've gotten your order and we're giving it the best shot it has at arriving fresh with as much time to spare as possible.

How Do I Store My Bread:
Look, our breads have anywhere from 3-8 ingredients and none of those ingredients are artificial preservatives which means.... you guessed it....  limited shelf life. When you get your bread, unbox it (let it cool down for an hour or two if it seems warm from the delivery truck) and then GET IT IN THE FREEZER ASAP. 

We can't say it enough, you are buying a SUPER limited ingredient bread (no matter the variety) and if you keep it on your porch over a hot weekend or set the box inside your front door and forget to unbox it: it will get moldy. No doubt about it. This isn't the Wonder Bread you might have known that can hang around for 3 months looking all artificial and pristine. This is real bread so the stakes are much higher! 

After your order arrives, we recommend freezing any breads you won’t be eating within 2-4 days. When you get it out of the freezer, let it thaw and keep it in a cool, dry place like your kitchen counter or pantry. 

While we don’t recommend storing our breads in the refrigerator (due to the fact it will dry them out more quickly) the shelf life will be prolonged by a few days. You just need to be aware that the bread will most likely be drier and need to be either toasted or freshened up for a few seconds in the microwave. Your decision! (My Mom swears by the refrigerator… I don’t 😉) 

My Bread Arrived Moldy Because it's Hot and Humid Outside:
Again, I have to be honest with you, our breads are super perishable and we honestly can't monitor the weather conditions across the entire United States to know if it's too hot or humid to send your bread. 

Our recommendation is to STOCK UP while it's still mostly cool outside and to avoid ordering when you know it's going to be 90+ degrees and 100% humidity.

Here is a Store Locator with stores that carry at least one or two of our breads which may just plain be the better option when it's crazy hot outside. 

If you order in the hot summer months, YOU are taking the risk of it arriving in less than perfect condition. 

FedEx Said My Bread Would Get Here on X and Instead It Came on Y
Let us know! We have a little bit of power with FedEx and we can look into delays but there's also more you should know.   

When we ship to California, it takes a solid 4 days to get there. So if you are in Ohio and it usually takes 1 day to get to you and then it gets delayed by 1 day - don't panic! It is still perfectly good bread. 

Shipping delays happen especially in times when online shopping it at its peak. 

My Order Says It's Fulfilled - Where is it? 
When your order status is listed as "fulfilled" it means we have seen it and printed it out and scheduled it to be shipped. It doesn't mean that it is shipping out that day. Remember: we ship strategically so even if your order is fulfilled - it doesn't mean it is on its way to you! 

You will get a tracking email when your order ships. 

My Bread Seems Crumbly? Etc... 
When you get your order - examine it closely and then follow the storing instructions above. Let us know IMMEDIATELY (no later than 48-72 hours after arrival) if you see a problem or notice a difference so we can do some research and figure out what happened.

When too much time passes, we can't know for sure what happened. It could have been a storing issue. It could have been a problem with a home freezer. The bread may have been stored in the refrigerator or improperly.

The variables are endless and we can't take responsibility for any oddities if we don't know for sure it was on our side. 

Calling Us: 
We are in a “all hands on deck” season and as we’re bread bakers first and office staff second - there have been some delays in being able to take every phone call that comes in. Please leave us a message and allow us at least 48 hours to get back to you! We will get back to you as soon as humanly possible! 

The End! 
Thankfully, we don't see too many hiccups or oddities but things are constantly changing in the world around us so we felt it was important to be up front with you and share our hearts on these matters! 

Thank you so much for not only searching us out but trusting us with the responsibility of baking your daily bread! 

All our very best, 

The Berlin Natural Bakery Team 

Labor - noun
work, especially hard physical work.
"the price of repairs includes labor and parts”

Labor - verb
work hard; make great effort.
"they labored from dawn to dusk”

Recently, my brother and I have been discussing our staff and just reflecting on how things have changed over the years and how we’ve had to redefine the way we look at “labor.” For many years, our staff had been made up almost entirely of full time employees who worked 4, 10-hour days. This makes it possible for them to get their full-time hours done in four days and get a nice long weekend with their families every single week. It isn’t easy hours but always worth it, particularly to parents. 

This had been changing a bit over time but when COVID hit, and we truly found ourselves desperate for help, we noticed that we could no longer hire full-time workers. Those 10 hour days felt LONGGGG for most people and doing four of those 10 hour days in a row was asking A LOT. And so, we pivoted (for our own survival) and opened our options up by offering part-time shifts and this has changed everything! We’ve got a new rejuvenated staff that happily pops in and pops out without complaint. It’s a little more to manage but we’re happy to do it. 

When I told my Grandma of this new part time phenomenon, she’d exclaim “that’s because this generation doesn’t know how to work!” Such a classic reaction and sooo common and even psychologically studied at this point. We all look behind us at the generations coming and think “boy oh boy what has the world come to!?” But I think there just may be more to it. 

I think the generations coming up have reevaluated what they hold dear and while working is entirely a necessity, they also highly value peace and rest. And what’s more interesting is that they are willing to seriously sacrifice to get it. I also believe that with the limited attention span we all seem to have anymore, the younger generations are much more open to working several part-time jobs just for the stimulation of it. Add to this that the younger generations aren’t as quick to marry and have children and we’ve got this new, unfamiliar generation who is simply trying to figure it out for themselves. 

And also, I think we’re seeing more parents liking shifts they can work during school hours which typically looks like less than full-time. Or we are also seeing a rise in people working one full-time job and looking for that perfect part-time job to help bring in more money to support their families. 

No doubt, things are different, the times are different,  and not all of people’s circumstances are the same but change is a constant that I am learning to embrace it, study it, understand it and use that understanding to hopefully be a better leader. 

All that to say, yes, baking bread in small batches is a LABOR. A fully, on-your-feet, moving around, multi-tasking labor and it requires a level of sacrifice and grit that doesn’t seem super common anymore. But all is not always as it seems and thankfully, we have some super reliable (full-time and part-time) pillars on which we lean on to teach the upcoming generations. We also have a mixture of ages at Berlin Natural Bakery that makes for a beautiful synergistic community. We’ve got young movers and lifters, we’ve got older wisdom and supervision and we’ve got a variety of ages in between all laboring in different - and important - ways. 

And if you don’t know me well enough by now or can’t hear it in this blog, let me say it out loud with my full chest - the generations that have come before me are absolutely, undeniably outstanding. My Mom, my Grandpa, our retired General and Operations Manager - so talented and focused and committed. I will never stop expressing gratitude for those who built and sacrificed and grew Berlin Natural Bakery. And I think all I truly mean to say is, I have hope in this generation and the next. It may not look like the days of old but I believe there is still value to be had in the coming days and the growing workforce! 

So this year, on Labor Day, I will relax on this day off knowing my staff is at rest and I’ll be grateful. So very grateful for an exceptional staff who has truly partnered with my brother and I this year. Many of them have been with us for years and have seen us “grow up” or grow into our positions. And for those that are new, they’ve come in with great attitudes and fun stories. 

I pray you find rest and joy during this weekend and, if you have a moment, that you send a little prayer of gratitude for our staff that makes our baking ancient grain Spelt bread in small batches possible! I know I certainly will! 

Thank you again for taking this journey with us! 

Until next time, 

Nicole (and Nick for inspiration!) 
The 3rd Generation of Berlin Natural Bakery 
the little bakery that could! 🙂

I am excited to formally introduce the 3rd generation of Berlin Natural Bakery, my brother and I, Nick and Nicole! 

Yes, we actually are twins and no we did coordinate our outfits for this photo shoot! 

Yes, we are twins and no we are clearly not identical! You'd be surprise how often we are asked that! 

Yes we are twins and yes... sometimes in the extreme, we do seem to have "that twin thing." It typically looks like calling each other at exactly the same time these days but when we were growing up, it did sometimes feel like we could tell when the other was upset or hurt. 

But let's pivot from the twin thing and talk about each of us! 

NICOLE: 

Now, I understand that many of you are familiar with me as I have actually been entrusted with the task of communicating with you, the design and launch of our newest website and all of our social media sites for many years now.

I began working with our General Manager Cindy and my Mom (the owner) almost 9 years ago which is wild to me! 

To simplify my story, I graduated high school and proudly jumped into college, collected my Bachelor’s degree and then circumstances reignited our discussion of the bakery. College was important to me because my Grandpa (our first generation of Berlin Natural Bakery) grew up Old Order Amish and only received an 8th grade education. I didn't exactly have a direction but I enjoyed learning and am proud to have completed that path! 

I had worked at the bakery with my brother during middle school summers but I wasn’t sure it was where my heart was. What I did know is that making my Mom proud has always been a huge priority for me and I truly wanted to better understand the bakery’s journey and its legacy. Particularly since I had a front row seat to the many battles my Mom fought to defend it and keep it alive. 

The more I learned, the more I grasped the enormity of the calling Berlin Natural Bakery has - its responsibility. The more my Mom taught me about our food system and what has befallen “bread” here in the United States, I couldn’t help but be absolutely appalled. And the more communication I had with you - our customers - the more I understood the honor of what it is to provide your daily bread. Wow - it’s still so incredibly humbling and I honestly tear up when I stop and reflect on your many testimonials, comments and stories. 

All that to say, I fell in love and you couldn’t pry this bakery out of my hands if you tried! It’s enough to be sharing it with my twin! Actually, it's an honor to do that. And I am excited to keep learning and growing with him. 

NICHOLAS (NICK)

At this point, it probably feels like my brother Nick is an enigma as I haven’t talked much about him but rest assured he’s as much of an open book as I am! 

Nick worked at Berlin Natural Bakery during our middle school summers too but he also worked at the bakery after we graduated from high school for a handful of years. He ended up moving and (not surprisingly) getting into the natural health food industry as a broker! He helped champion a TON of brands including Berlin Natural Bakery and not only did he learn an endless amount about the food industry, he had the opportunity to truly meet himself. 

His years away from Berlin Natural Bakery were far from easy but they were blessed with incomparable mentors, an unbelievable amount of food education and experiences that are invaluable now! He has always had a determination that I truly admire. 

Nick ended up moving back to Berlin, Ohio right before the pandemic. And I cannot thank God enough for that because Nick truly helped us survive the hardest hiring/staffing years I have ever experienced. His work ethic was and is out of this world amazing. His commitment and reliability still has me amazed. And let me tell you, when I say that man has worked every single position at the bakery, I mean that. There is not an inch of the bakery that he does not know. 

 And Now Onto Us...

There are clearly many details of our stories untold here but I am excited because both my brother and I are committed to learning and growing together with this bakery and with time, perhaps we'll share more.

My brother, my Mom and I meet every week to discuss all the things and we truly couldn't be more grateful to have her guidance and wisdom as we continue to get used to our new roles. 

Thankfully, our retired management is still very graciously supporting us and answering any and all of our questions fully and swiftly! And our bake staff, packing staff and office staff have been so instrumental in this transition. Honestly, I could not ask for better people during this time. 

We are truly blessed. Everywhere we look we find something to be grateful for. Even in the most frantic of times, we have so much support and so many resources that we remain humble. 

Our heart for Berlin Natural Bakery is for it to remain solidly standing. For our customers to have favor and be blessed. For our staff to have a safe and enjoyable place under our roof. For our Mom to be at peace and remain proud of both of us. For our retailers to grow and have favor in their areas. And for us to be able to develop new items as we get more confident in our new roles! 

Thank you again for taking this journey with us! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to comment below! 

Until next time, 

Nicole & Nick
The 3rd Generation of Berlin Natural Bakery 
the little bakery that could! 🙂