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Boudin SF: The evolution of a bakery

With fast casual Boudin SF, Forklift Brands looks to change the bakery experience.

April 16, 2007

Building upon the concept of the bakery café, Forklift Brands has upgraded its Boudin Bakery by creating a new restaurant offering in California, Boudin SF. Boudin SF is all of the good things about Boudin Bakery, but the product is taken a step further with the offering of high-quality, hot meals throughout the day.

"We're updating and reconcepting it," said Gayle DeBrosse, executive vice president of business development and franchising for Forklift Brands. "We've brought the bakery back into the restaurant."

Each Boudin SF features a working demonstration-bakery manned by Boudin bakers, adding an entertainment factor to the eating environment.

"We're mixing, shaping and baking sourdough French bread right on site," said David Wolfgram, chief executive officer of Forklift Brands.

Said DeBrosse: "Kids love to watch it. Everybody does."

The San Francisco treat

Boudin SF also offers diners a taste and feel of the San Francisco bakery heritage.

Boudin Bakery was established in 1849 when Isidore Boudin applied the artistry of French baking to a basic Sourdough technique, and created the Original San Francisco Sourdough French Bread. The bakery remained in the Boudin family into the late 1900s, and was considered a "formidable competitor" by Wolfgram, who at the time owned the Corner Bakery in Chicago.

Wolfgram said that while Boudin Bakery changed hands in the 80s and 90s it remained a viable brand supported by the people of San Francisco. "They love Boudin," he said, referring to the bakery as the Harley-Davidson of the restaurant industry.


Freshly-prepared salads line the shelf at Boudin SF.

Although Boudin faced product and service challenges in the 1990s, those were worked out in 2003 when the bakery was bought back by the Giraudo family, some of the original bakers. They partnered with Wolfgram to create Forklift Brands, which offers a much better, yet traditional product.

Wolfgram says the 2,600 square-foot flagship Boudin Bakery — equipped with a full-production bakery, full-service restaurant, and San Francisco history museum — was built at Fisherman's Wharf.

"Boudin SF is a scaled down version of that," he said, adding it is an "evolution of the bakery."

There are two Boudin SF locations at present. The first opened in July 2006 at Costa Mesa's South Coast Plaza. The second opened in January at the Village at Corte Madera.

"Our goal with Boudin SF is to combine the quality and tradition that Boudin has represented for more than 150 years with the needs of today's on-the-go families," Wolfgram said.

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DeBrosse added that Boudin SF really meets all of the criteria of fast-casual dining by offering guests "high-quality, fresh ingredients for a better price than you can get in a casual environment."

The full daypart offering of breakfast, lunch and dinner is something both Wolfgram and DeBrosse tout as distinctive.

Breakfast includes such classics as sourdough french toast and a croissant sandwich filled with scrambled eggs, tomatoes, cheddar cheese and a choice of bacon or sausage. For lighter appetites there is granola and oatmeal.

Lunch includes a Boudin signature item: classic clam chowder in a Boudin sourdough bread bowl, and delicious hand-stretched sourdough pizzas. And for dinner there are choices of crab macaroni and cheese, tilapia and chicken picatta.

"It's a high-quality meal that you can get in and out quickly," DeBrosse said.

All items on the menu are less than $10.

"Boudin SF is a welcoming, fun and family-friendly restaurant," said Lou Giraudo, Boudin co-chairman. "My family has been the steward of the Boudin tradition for three generations and Boudin SF continues my father's longstanding commitment to providing our customers and their families with wholesome, delicious foods at a fair price."

With two Boudin SF restaurants operating successfully in California, DeBrosse said Forklift Brands will consider franchising the operation.

"Before we would launch a franchise, there's always tweaking that goes on,"

she said.

Said Wolfgram: "We want to be very cautious, because the bread baking takes a lot of skill."

Wolfgram added that he would like to see six successful restaurants up and running before franchising the operation.

Boudin SF is open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. at its two locations.