Retailer Focus: 1748 Bakehouse

SW: In 3 words describe the vibe of your shop...
1748 BH: Community comes first.

SW: Who makes up the team?
1748 BH: Allison our owner, Lauren our FOH manager, Anne our Bake Manager, and a spectacular group of 16 full and part time team members in the historic urban neighborhood, Springfield in Jacksonville Fl.

SW: How long have you been in Jacksonville?
1748 BH: We are about to have our 5th year anniversary on October 3rd! 🎉

SW: So what do y'all serve and sell? What can folks expect when they visit?
1748 BH: We're a scratch bakery, and we're serving breakfast and lunch with a curated bodega and a selection of natural wines.

SW: What do you think y'all have come to be known for in the community?
1748 BH: Our pastries, especially the galettes and hand pies are what our brand was built on.

But the customers come back for the generous greetings of "Welcome in, how’s your morning, oh my lord she’s grown so much, how was the first day of school, everyone like the new teachers, your mom recovering ok, how’s the new job?" and all the other connections in between that so easily could have been missed.

The Bakehouse community certainly has the physical boundaries of the neighborhood but it’s deeper than that. We are so fortunate to bring as many farmers and small producers as possible together under one menu.

SW: When did the idea for the bakehouse first strike?
1748 BH: The Bakehouse was honestly born out of necessity. The housing crash in 2008 and economic downturn put me back in the kitchen and soon onto farmers market tables. With the relationships of organizations like Slow Food and the greater food landscape in NE Florida, we grew into what is the Bakehouse today.

Real, honest, and fair was our hallmark.

In a little neighborhood no one thought much of at the time, we gutted and restored a 100 year old building and started sourcing the finest ingredients we could get our hands on.

After the trauma of Covid, the end to my original partnership, I was left with a restaurant I didn’t know much about running. What I did know was retail buying, so I built a little bodega in the Bakehouse to fill a much needed hole in the neighborhood. Somewhere to pick up a sercy for neighbors, Father’s Day gift, or the perfect congratulatory celebration.

SW: On that note, tell us a little more about how Spicewalla came to be in y'all's shop.
1748 BH: Well, knowing about our products, telling their stories and how I came to choose them or what I love most is why people trust what I shelve. With that in mind, I knew I needed Spicewalla in my shop when I first was planning the retail bodega.

I have always cooked with lots of spices, “exotic” ingredients and a strong desire to bring my children up with a love and normalcy of something other than traditional southern foods.

SW: So you stock our fresh, hand-packed spices in the bodega, but you also cook with Spicewalla in the bakery, isn't that right?
1748 BH: Spicewalla is a staple at the Bakehouse.

I love everything from the packaging to the variety of the 3 packs to the single spices and spice blends.

We love using Za'atar to marinate vegetables or mix with cheese for our galettes, French Fry Seasoning with our fingerling potatoes, and my favorite curried honey madras carrot hand pies (with Madras Curry of course).