WHAT GOES UP...

The sad truth, especially living in the lower mainland, is that the cost of everything never gives us a darn break. As small business owner/operators, we have had to address the unpleasant necessity of a general price increase on finished baked goods in the bakery. This is something we have never taken lightly; with gluten-free families ourselves (along with a host of other dietary needs throughout our families), we understand the challenging nature of feeding one's family "real food". It's flippin' expensive to eat well, and when you simply refuse to feed your kids garbage, most of us have to sacrifice in other areas in order to see it all come together. 

Since we opened the bakery in 2011, we have seen five minimum wage increases (every increase affects all our employees, pretty much equally), we have seen organic quinoa triple in price, good quality chocolate has doubled and we are in a straight-up vanilla crises at the moment. Packaging, hydro, blah blah blah...the list is endless, and I'm sure the average person isn't too interested in hearing all of this...they just want to know, "can I afford this loaf of bread?"

I guess we feel the need to explain a little further, because smart consumers, like so many of our customers, understand what goes in to every loaf of bread we make at Zena's. Our customers want to know what goes into their food, what they are feeding their loved ones, and they want assurances that they have all the truth on what they buy. We could go out and source preservatives for our products, so we could sell them for 4 days instead of one; that would definitely cut our costs way back. But we have this rule: if we won't let our kids eat it, we can't very well sell it to you to feed to yours. 

So, at the end of the day, if we bend the philosophy of our purpose in this bakery, then we might as well just give our recipes to Monsanto and give up. But in the meantime, back here in reality, my babies still need bread, so we're going to keep making it. If the new prices deter any of you, we'll understand. It's not easy supporting a family. What so many food processors have done in the last fifty years, is make real food almost cost-prohibitive to the middle class. Anyhow, I digress (shocking, I know)... We hope to still see you around, and I would like to point out, that at this time, we are not implementing an increase on the retail DIY mixes. If you fancy yourself a baker, the mixes are the absolute best value we can offer. Plus, we think they're great...your kids will love making them, your house will smell amazing and you can tell everyone you made it yourself.