Keepin’ it Local – Teaching By Example with the Gardners of Five Points Bakery

By Buffalo First!

When it comes to leading by example, promoting a local economy and building community, Five Points Bakery cooks up somethin’ special. The all-locally sourced bakery and whole foods shop takes its mission from the growing desire to reclaim our food heritage and eat healthy, while supporting the communities in which we live. Tomorrow evening, as part of our monthly Teaching By Example series, Five Points Bakery owners Melissa and Kevin Gardner will share their vision, methods, and experiences for the Buffalo First! community, at 5:30pm in the side room at Merge Restaurant (439 Delaware Ave). The lecture is free to the community, with a suggested $10 membership donation for not-yet-members of Buffalo First!, to help cover the costs of this series and our other educational programs.

The Gardners opened Five Points Bakery just over two years ago in a former bodega on the five-pointed corner of Rhode Island, West Utica, and Brayton Streets. Since then, the Lower West Side and Elmwood Village communities have embraced the fresh and delicious whole grain breads, pizzas, and pastries that the Gardners create. A steady clientele of bread share participants receive one loaf per week, paying roughly $200 per year, and daily customers affirm that the bakery’s mission of local, fresh, and sustainable is greatly desired in today’s pre-packaged and faceless fast food world.

The Gardners make their own flour from grain produced at local farms, and they sell other local farm goods, including fresh eggs, meats, cheeses, and other dairy products. Their support of local farms is part of a broader goal to create sustaining local economies in the region. The Five Points Bakery website connects customers to the sources of their food, by providing farmer biographies and an interactive map outlining the sources of all their ingredients. Whether it’s the big picture — sourcing each and every ingredient and product locally to keep more money in the local economy and connect people to their food — or the small sustainable practices, like asking customers to return used egg cartons for reuse or recycling, Five Points Bakery exemplifies the idea of a thriving local economy and a community that is better for it.