A Friendly Bread with Founder, Lane Levine feature 92 of Together Talks

"Together Talks" feature 92: A Friendly Bread presented by KLS, freight company

Some Background on A Friendly Bread

Today's edition of "Together Talks" campaign, KLS had the privilege to interview A Friendly Bread and Founder, Lane Levine. A Friendly Bread (AFB) makes Obsessible Sourdough Snacks. They started out as a sourdough bread company operating as the "milkman for delicious bread" in Baltimore, and now they take their delicious sourdough bread and turn it into snacks you'll obsess over - mainly their signature frozen product, Sourdough Grilled Cheese. AFB is a proud and certified LGBT-owned company.

Friend's task

Upon graduating from college, Lane spent 12 years in the non-profit sector. Incredibly he shared that he was never a bread person for most of his life. One night that would all change. Meeting up at a friend's house it was his task to bring bread to the group dinner. He left to go to his nearby bakery to grab a loaf only to discover they were closed. Instead of driving to another bakery, he decided to make a loaf of bread from scratch for the first time and bring it with him to dinner.

The spark was ignited.

Soon after, Lane found his way to the challenging world of sourdough bread, and he began baking bread every weekend. He would share it with friends and colleagues to get feedback and make changes. Over time he slowly started to turn into a bread person. Lane saw an opportunity to bring artisan sourdough to customers in Baltimore who were unimpressed with the current offerings in town. Before jumping in, Lane began an R&D phase by assembling a group of six taste testers, including his husband. Weekly they would fill out an excel spreadsheet, grading multiple aspects of the current batch. One of the last trials, his husband left in his comment section that he finally liked this version, and the bread "goes down easy: a friendly bread". With that the name was born.

Lane added that the name has layers behind it too. Sourdough bread is friendly for people with diabetes. Also, the culture of his company blends in with the business philosophy of being easy to work with and always trying to be kind. Once he came across the winning batch, he decided he needed to start selling it. He was on to the next phase of his bread making hobby.

Support and push

The next step was renting a commercial kitchen to produce at a larger scale. Lane joined a shared commissary called B-More Kitchen, while he still held his non-profit job. His boss was supportive of him during this time. "Every week I'd bring her a new loaf until she told me, 'stop bringing me free bread - I want to pay you for it.'"

He finally took his product to a farmers’ market where he spent two weeks selling it. It took off from there. Lane found himself at a crossroads. He believed he had a viable business concept, but still held a full-time position outside of breadmaking. He approached his boss, and she gave him the ultimate approval advising him to leave and go all-in with the bread. Lane was on to the next chapter.

A Friendly Bread focused on producing a variety of flavors of sourdough bread with different inclusions - such as olive bread, fig and fennel, sun dried tomato, and approximately fifteen other flavors. Each flavor had its own series of trials, adding up to hundreds of iterations over the years. He credited the success of the brand has been not sticking with one idea, but instead being willing to learn, grow, and most importantly adapt. Constantly challenging and being willing to change has allowed him to continue to elevate not only the product but the brand. Something unique happened when he was participating at samplings and farmers markets. Customers continued to tell him how amazing his bread was for making an old American classic, Grilled Cheese.

Lane had an opportunity in front of him.

Sourdough Bread ---> Grilled Cheese

With this feedback from his consumers, Lane realized that it made more sense to transition from a fresh bread company to a frozen grilled cheese company. He cited the ability to store, prepare in bulk, and most importantly scale as deciding factors. He was all in and the pivot was underway.Being self-manufactured was a huge benefit in Lane's opinion as it allowed them to tinker with the product they were about to launch. 

The product itself is clear and meets a need that hasn't been filled prior. People love grilled cheese and convenience, and the frozen space is gaining more and more traction. There is also a push towards better and healthier options, where A Friendly Bread really excels. Providing a gourmet, restaurant quality handheld option that can be enjoyed for lunch, dinner, , in between work meetings, a family event, heck even a hungover college kid. 4 minutes in the air fryer or 10 minutes in the toaster oven and it is ready to be devoured.

Entrepreneur growth

When the company began selling bread, Lane mentioned the difference in the customer feedback loop. Selling direct to his bread customers, Lane was able to hear from people during the same week of a production run - and he could decide quickly whether to discontinue a particular flavor, or try a new sales tactic. However, the transition to retail spread out that timeline. The first phase of the company allowed him to take baby steps and learn many of the processes, whereas the retail side brought on larger decisions that could have much higher consequences. "One thing we learned the hard way was that when the stakes are larger and that feedback loop is longer, mistakes can be crippling at that stage," Lane shared.

Despite the challenges and overcoming mistakes, he mentioned that the moment of feeling some real traction was having his frozen grilled cheese line accepted onto the shelves of all 160 locations of The Fresh Market. He admitted that was a great source of validation. They succeeded in their set placement and were awarded with expansion onto a greater share of the shelf in that store chain. He mentioned how of all the gratifying moments, these types often carry the most weight because they represent not only the beginning of a sales relationship - but the success of one.

With so many challenges of running a company and learning a completely new industry, Lane said that he often is reminded by his support system what he is capable of. "I am so grateful for the friends I have made in this industry. These and other friends as well as my family, are instrumental in encouraging me to keep going. The moments when people have looked into my eyes and told me I simply can't give up - have been the most motivational."

Compassion

The biggest challenge for any brand in CPG is velocity within stores. Lane mentioned the feedback on the grilled cheese, whether from consumers or the retail partners, is strong - but unfortunately customers are not used to going into a grocery store to buy a frozen grilled cheese. Thus one of the challenges is educating consumers of this amazing product being available.

Lane had mentioned that he had a goal for this year to be in 700 stores. They not only hit that goal but exceeded it reaching almost 800 locations. While he was happy the company hit the mark, he mentioned it didn't feel the way he envisioned which he alluded to the rollercoaster daily of being an entrepreneur.

Lane explained that while the wheels are always spinning for innovation, they are committed to their 4 core SKUs and building that foundation for the company. Over the years so many bread flavors have been developed, which could all be used for new grilled cheese flavors - but the current focus is gaining exposure and enacting growth with their retail partners before unlocking even more delicious options for consumers. He mentioned that the best part of running his company is the thrill of getting a yes. Being able to work on something and then waiting and ultimately having it payoff is very fulfilling. He is also proud of the operational abilities of his small production team - they have managed all of the large PO's that come with retail launches, always delivering the goods on time and with full quality. He shared that in those moments he is not only proud of his entire staff but saw that the processes are in place to truly steer the ship and let A Friendly Bread grow.

Piece of Advice

The conversation with Lane ended with him sharing his piece of advice.

"Learning industry cultural norms and holding a goal of being as easy to work with as possible. There are times people have been unkind or done something that felt like it was unwarranted, and I had to weigh whether to be cruel back or to ignore or give them feedback. When I choose to do the compassionate thing, whether letting it slide - or giving critical but loving feedback, in the long run it comes back to benefit me time and again. I recommend finding the compassionate way to work with people, even when hard, because it will always pay off. You don’t know the opportunities you may be missing when you cut someone off."

In Closing

KLS wants to thank Lane Levine, Founder, of A Friendly Bread for today's "Together Talks" feature. Keep up to date with A Friendly Bread by following their blog on their website, check it out here. Follow along for the A Friendly Bread journey with their social handles below!

Instagram / LinkedIn /  Facebook

Klimson Logistics Solutions - Together Talks with A Friendly Bread feature 92