Winter in Berlin, Ohio right outside Berlin Natural Bakery 

Dear Berlin Natural Bakery Family –

I just can’t even begin to find the words to express my gratitude and I truly believe it’s because I have so much to be grateful for that I don’t know where to start.

This has been an incredible year for me full of growing, humbling and learning.

I will forever be the first to admit that I don’t know everything. It’s why I find myself marveling at the quality of the company I am able to keep and learn from. 

The people at Berlin Natural Bakery and our partners are incredible, upstanding and honorable people. Very few people do what we do and the wonder of that has hit me harder this year than any other.

We literally bake bread in a world that’s been content to simply manufacture it. And let me tell you, when you bake A LOT of bread, it’s easy to find yourself thinking “there’s got to be an easier, cheaper and a faster way than how we’re doing this!” And you know what? There are a thousand answers out there to that frustration. A thousand pieces of machinery. A thousand ingredient additives. A thousand ways to cut corners, make life easier and ultimately compromise.

However, easier, quicker and cheaper hasn’t been serving us as people, as a community and as a country. In fact, it’s taken something so pure and life giving and real like your daily bread and ultimately made it unrecognizable.

Is it hard to do what we do? Bake real bread, I mean.  

Absolutely! Do our bakers, our slicers, our packers, our people work hard? Absolutely. Harder than you can probably imagine, especially when we get an avalanche of orders like we did on Cyber Monday.

Their dedication to excellence, their consistency and their commitment is absolutely inconceivable to me (especially in this day and age!) and when I see them, I can’t help but marvel in wonder at what all they accomplish in a day.

They have always risen to the challenge ahead of them and they do so with excellence. They inspire me.

Beyond the hard working people at Berlin Natural Bakery – we find another source of inspiration and it is a deep well from which to pull from. It’s you! It’s your stories, your testimonies, your emails, your comments and your recommendations!

It’s hearing how we impact families and the lives of children all across the country that keeps us striving to do better and work even harder in the face of a food industry that’s been too quick to compromise.

You are the heartbeat of Berlin Natural Bakery. Without you, we wouldn’t exist. And without your support we wouldn’t have been able to grow like we have.

Thank you to those of you scattered across the country, singing our praises and championing us in your circle.

Thank you to everyone who trusts us to make their daily bread and help feed their families.

Thank you to the incredible people who show up every day at Berlin Natural Bakery to work hard, have fun and create something unique and impactful.

Here’s to exciting new developments in 2020! To new dreams realized. To good news! To a new decade and to giving our all in pursuit of what’s right!

This next year is going to be a good one so hang tight – it’s just going to get better!

Nicole & All of Us at Berlin Natural Bakery