Rising sales prompt Artisan Bakery to add new facility

Artisan Bakery has broken its “bottleneck to growth” by con-
solidating operations in a large new facility south of Sonoma, on Eighth Street East. The new bakery has been producing for about a month; only the retail shop remains on West Napa Street.
The 24/7 bakery had become “too big for its britches, with too many trucks” for a mixed commercial and residential neighborhood, explains Craig Ponsford, one of Artisan’s owners, even though “the neighbors were great.” Tents and containers behind the building helped, yet there was no space for an office.
Artisan has doubled its baking capacity, but because of the high cost of new equipment, he bought “hand-me-downs” from friends in the industry, which should handle the growth for the next five to ten years. Ponsford expects to buy new equipment next year.
Artisan, which began in 1992 and has saturated the North Bay, expects to expand in the South Bay and East Bay, and in the Sacramento corridor. It has a good relationship with Whole Foods – supplying three new stores in 2007 – and will continue to grow with the chain.
Since the move, Artisan has hired only a couple of new employees to clean the larger space, edging the total up to about 65. With increased capacity, the company will explore the market for quality private label baked goods. “I’m excited,” Ponsford says. “We have a lot of opportunity down the road.”