It started on that day in a tiny 450 square foot shop in Kensington/Berkeley CA, and on that day and every day since it’s been about family.  Tom Franier, his sister Barbara Rose and her husband Mike took a chance on a dream and brought Semifreddi’s to the world. 
 
Long story short, it worked.   

Obsessed with quality, obsessed with giving back to the community and obsessed with taking care of their employees like family, Semifreddi’s grew over the next 40 years by sweating the small stuff and making it happen every single day 363 days a year (we take Christmas and Thanksgiving off, just so you’ll miss us a little). 

Practice makes perfect, and we’ve been practicing and perfecting every day for 40 years.   

We start at 4:30 every morning, mixing and hand shaping each of our 75 different styles of bread and pastry.  At 8:30, we grab a strong cup of coffee, head to the production floor to taste the first loaves out of the oven.   

We cut them.  We tear them.  We eyeball them and measure them. We take small bites and giant mouthfuls, and around those giant mouthfuls we talk (at each other mostly) about the weather, the proof box time, temp and humidity.  The oven temperature, the yeast activity, the level of sour in the poolish.  Opinions are shared and points argued.  Adjustments and tweaks are made.   

Every day every little thing has to be exactly right, because every day we share it with you. 

We are a family, and that includes you. 50% of our employees (like Eddie) have been with us for 10 years or more and 50% of those 10 plus year folks (people like Wendy, Abdeillah, JT and Emily), have been here for more than 25 years.   

Passion and pride are our currency and our people are our everything.

Much of what we bake and deliver every day is sold to small businesses and restaurants who depend on us.  Since our early days, we’ve known that we are a link in the chain that makes our community strong. 
We honor that responsibility every day. 

Even more, when you choose Semifreddi’s, you contribute to a 40-year tradition of giving back to the community.   Every year we donate time, product and funds to over 200 organizations including The Lao Family foundation, The Bread Project and the Alameda and Contra Costa Food Banks.