Independent Baking Co — Restaurant in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

Hi Guys, Although anyone reading may join in, this is merely a message for the bakers of IB co. themselves. Four years ago I visited your store with my wife and son,

I love this place and go there every 1-2 weeks if I can. Seems too good to be true to have a bakery of this caliber, "the real thing," here in Athens. They have a variety of cookies, cupcakes, danish, & other special treats. But the main thing is the bread: French, French Country multi-grain, sourdough, breakfast breads, and others, baked fresh every morning, in big round loaves. They will put it in a neat slicing machine if you like to take your bread home already sliced. The people who get things for you and handlle payment are knowledgeable, hard working, efficient, helpful, and very kind and patient while you choose. They restock some items through the day but sell out of the popular foods pretty early in the day. Prices range between quite reasonable to excellent, for me. They have a long narrow counter by the window with a few stools and 2 or 3 daily local and national newspapers. One day I bought their t-shirt for my son and a tote bag for me. They have bags of their coffees and granola for sale. The fresh hot coffee is good! You may have to park up a side street and walk back a short distance because nearby parking spots on the street are often full, especially during football home...

"I had to walk ALL THE WAY across the street"? Out of pastries at 5pm on a Friday? C'mon people. They are a small establishment. If you know anything about great bread and pastry, this is the place to go. This is one of only a few legit, authentic, and classic European bakeries in America. They use all organic flour as well as mill all their dark flour from wheat and rye berries. They use high quality ingredients and everything they make is from scratch. As far as I know, most of the production team have been trained in well known culinary schools and collectively have close to 70 years of baking experience. They know what they are doing. "Burnt" bread is never sold and the if the crust is crusty (hence the word crust) the crumb will be delicious. Its a very important part of bread. I for one would vouch for thus place all day and night. Its not Kings Hawaiian, Sara Lee, or any high production factory made stuff, this is real soul lifting, small batch, and high quality stuff. I will keep frequenting this place. Thank you to the...