Comeback City: America’s Best Bakery Is Right Here in Birmingham

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Today’s guest columnist is David Beckett.

A reward for my patience.

The line may extend out into the street and through several storefronts.

Customers line up early and the bakery closes when all the baked goods are sold out.

And what a story.

This is something I never expected to find when I moved to Birmingham.

To put myself out there, I’m a relative newcomer to Birmingham, having moved here just two years ago when a hurricane destroyed more than 115,000 homes in my former Florida county. I had to face my loss in musical chairs, and I needed to address the resulting housing insecurity.

So, by stating up front that I’m not from here, I’m offering a perspective that I’m often reminded of is that of an “outsider” (as if that’s inherently any less).

The treasure that was discovered around the time of my arrival, Last callnext to the post office complex in the city center. But on the store’s first anniversary, they experienced one of the worst experiences imaginable: They were nominated for a James Beard Award.

The bakery specializes in croissant dough that is fermented and then laminated, one layer at a time, into 120 strips, under controlled temperatures and over a three-day process.

The owner, Chana Willis, is self-taught through books and YouTube videos. They saved up money to rent a building and secure equipment, and then the pandemic hit. After a forced delay, the time came and the bakery was born.

Experience is something acquired after you need it, and self-teaching and self-funding creates a fear of being exposed to what you don’t already know. The James Beard Award nomination brought the firm new clients. From an external point of view, everything looked like success.

I remember talking to a friend in the late 1980s, shortly after she was named the first woman to hold an executive position at IBM. She saw a therapist to help bridge the gap between the success she had achieved and her feelings that didn’t feel the way she expected. The friction between the tectonic plates put her at risk of unconscious sabotage. From my observations, Bham is in a similar position with his recent growth and changes.

In my opinion, Last Call Baking models a new and nurturing form of community leadership. Within the humble walls of a bakery they offer a refuge for people who may be seen as disenfranchised and sometimes demonized by some in Birmingham’s dominant church milieu.

Last Call offers not a refuge from, but a refuge for something more, as the quality standards of their baked goods have been recognized with an award nomination, customers regularly queue for 45 minutes, and the bakery typically sells out in just 2-2.5 hours. after opening.

Last spring, I was both disappointed and inspired when a sign on the door announced that they would not open. They couldn’t control the temperature as temperatures outside quickly reached the 90s, so they threw away their dough rather than sell substandard products.

As customers voluntarily wait in line, a sense of community develops as strangers describe their favorite baked goods, the ones they plan to share their treats with, or describe the item they ordered. This experience reminds me that value can take other forms besides financial value, and for that reminder I am grateful to the bakery staff.

Through nonverbal example, the guys at Last Call build community, encourage them to be authentic, model the benefits of raising their standards, and provide opportunities to make new friends.

Attending Last Call reminds me that before I am an individual, I am a social being, and I am grateful for their role as a social hub, bringing people together at a time when society is becoming increasingly fragmented.

The team models how to be authentic, gives permission to dream and how to overcome unpleasant feelings when achieving it, addresses the call to be part of something bigger, and the desire to find a large community with which to share. .

I’m happy to remind you that not everything can be boiled down to popular metrics like the number of calories in a delicious baked good.

My soul needs to be fed too, and the flour-dusted team at Last Call Baking shows me how.

David Beckett earned an Ivy League degree, but is happier that he had a successful deal. He has lived and worked on four continents and is an independent researcher with experience creating new technologies that give rise to new industries.

David Sher – founder and publisher ComebackCity. He is a past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham) and City Action Partnership (CAP).

Invite David to talk to your group for free about how to make Birmingham metro more prosperous. [email protected]