Artisan Bread and the Boudin Bakery

The Boudin Bakery is a famous bakery that started in San Francisco in 1849. It is an artisan bread company that utilizes traditional baking methods and puts a significant amount of effort into the process of making their bread. The company’s philosophy is featured on their website and states,    

"Our food philosophy began in 1849 in San Francisco with a simple recipe for great bread, and we’ve stayed true to that heritage ever since. Our bread and our food celebrate the real flavors and real history of San Francisco and the Bay Area. We continue our commitment of working with local vendors whenever possible to serve fresh, seasonal food at fair, affordable prices. Whether you join us for breakfast, lunch or dinner, we share with you our pride in our bread and our food.  At Boudin it starts with great bread, but that’s just the beginning".

Boudin has become a tourist attraction that combines San Francisco history and modern community involvement. It has been around for 165 years and is recognized as the oldest continuously running company in the city. Their main location, which is located at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, offers museum and bakery tours. One of the calling cards for Boudin is their bread animals, in which bakers create animals like alligators and crabs out of the dough. The bakery often makes elaborate displays in their front window depending on holidays and other events. 

Although they have grown since first starting in San Francisco and now ship to many locations outside of California, they have remained true to their values and are dedicated to bringing their customers, "fresh, quality food at fair, affordable prices". They spend around 48 hours on the bread making process and try to get many of their ingredients from the surrounding area. Although Boudin's bread is not extremely healthy because it has a lot of calories and carbohydrates, it is much more natural than many store brands because it uses many high quality and traditional ingredients (flour, water, salt, and yeast). With the use of high quality ingredients also comes higher prices. Although their prices are not extremely high, they are much greater than Price Chopper's $1.29 white sandwich bread. Due to the time and effort that goes into Boudin's bread as well as its price, it is more often viewed as a treat rather than a daily staple.