Village Bakery vows to reopen after destructive Sebastopol flood

[Barry]

Village Bakery vows to reopen after destructive Sebastopol flood

HEATHER IRWIN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT March 28, 2019, 9:53pm

The sourdough will rise again at Village Bakery. It’s just going to take a few more months, says manager Lisa Schroeder.

In late February, amid the multi-day downpour that drenched the region, the popular bakery’s Sebastopol production facility at The Barlow flooded along with many other businesses in the upscale food and business center along the Laguna de Santa Rosa.

The bakery’s 3,500-square-foot production kitchen — from which it distributed to more than 200 commercial accounts, including K & L Bistro and Stark’s Steak and Seafood restaurants — was declared a total loss.

Owner Patrick Lum said he was forced to lay off 60 employees with no clear idea of when the bakery could reopen at that location.

“The employees are the heart and soul of our company. I hate seeing them go, but I hope they stay with us. We want everyone back, whether that’s realistic or not. I do understand if they have to leave; they have families,” said Lum.

Adding to the bakery’s difficult month, Lum’s wife Teresa also suffered a serious heart condition after hearing the news of the loss and required hospitalization for several weeks.

Cleanup work is progressing, and the Lums have now signaled that they are poised to reopen the bakery and move forward with a separate retail location in Santa Rosa’s Montgomery Village.

“It’s a matter of when,” Lum said of a reopening that Schroeder tentatively pegged for early summer. “But we’re not closing.

“It’s not really up to us right now,” Lum said. “We’re still assessing our equipment and things are up in the air.”

“We’re a Sonoma County staple, but it’s going to be a minute,” said Schroeder. “It’s longer than we wanted it to be, but the drywall is going back up. There is progress. We are working with The Barlow management/ownership to get up and running as soon as possible.”

Continues here

[ChefJayTay]

So Village Bakery plans to re-open... it's bakery.
It says nothing of their retail shop in Sebastopol. No more?

[Tofu Larry]

The Barlow location is their production facility. The Santa Rosa location is only retail.

So Village Bakery plans to re-open... it's bakery.
It says nothing of their retail shop in Sebastopol. No more?

[ChefJayTay]

The Barlow location is their production facility. The Santa Rosa location is only retail.

Yes... and their production facility in the barlow had a nice cafe/shop before the flood. There is no mention of that returning. It may be returning, but these articles say nothing about that. Which is why I asked.

[caberens]

So that means their breads are not available anywhere. What will I do??