Waiting For The Franchise To Rise

BALTIMORE (Wednesday, January 25, 2006) - Jane Hipsley first discovered the Great Harvest Bread Co. while visiting her daughter, Katie, at Villanova University near Philadelphia. The bakery became a family favorite.

"Every time she came home, she brought this great bread," Hipsley said.



Now, five years after Katie graduated, Hipsley is opening a Great Harvest franchise in Columbia, with the help of husband, Pat, and sister, Christine Bory.

The Great Harvest Bread Co., based in Dillon, Mont., has more than 200 franchises nationwide, including ones in Annapolis and Rockville. The Columbia outlet will be the first in Howard County.

For Hipsley and her family, getting to opening day has been a long journey. The sisters attended the company's mandatory two-week training sessions in Montana three years ago.

"We have been searching for a suitable location for the past four years," Hipsley said. "We knew we wanted to be in Howard County."

The spot that was chosen is on Centre Park Drive, close to a preschool and elementary school, meaning parents might stop by after taking their children to school, she said. And traffic that passes by will be going the right speed.

"They said you want people going by your bakery at 30 mph, not 50," Hipsley said.

Tyler Powell, director of startup operations for the company, said taking so long to find a site is "very nontypical." Most franchisees open within a year of learning the business, he said.

The focus of all Great Harvest locations is fresh bread baked on the premises. The company, established in the 1970s, has what it calls "freedom-based franchises," meaning franchise owners are given freedom to run the stores as they wish.

The two main requirements, are that the franchises buy approved wheat from Montana, and that it is milled daily, said Powell.

Hipsley said she has a lot of plans. She would like to add soups and salads to the menu, as many Great Harvest locations do, and create indoor and outdoor seating. She said she might sell some bread to restaurants. But to start, her focus is on making the best bread possible, she said.

As baker, Bory will be the one to arrive at 4:30 each morning to make six kinds of bread. Scott Davis, a sweets baker, was hired to make brownies, cookies and muffins. Coffee will be available.

Hipsley is the general manager, marketer, bread-kneader, counter-person and coffee-pourer. "Basically, I have to know how to do it all," she said.

Running the business will be quite different from working in education. Hipsley's background is helping children with special needs in Baltimore County schools. Bory was a day-care provider.

In the store, which has a red counter and is painted in warm yellows, giant bags of grain, delivered weekly, are stored in the backroom. Grinding it means lifting the bags and dumping the contents into a mill that is considerably taller than the sisters.

The milled flour is placed in an 80-quart tin bowl, where yeast and other ingredients are added. A machine mixes the dough, and after it is proofed, it must be dumped onto a long wooden table for kneading. All the dough is kneaded by hand, and extra kneaders have been hired. When the loaves are ready, they are placed on racks to rise, then baked in an oven that holds 200 loaves at a time.

Though much of the equipment was purchased used, Hipsley estimates that her initial expenditure for the store was about $250,000.

Each day, warm slices will be available on the counter as samples. All the bread sold will be less than 24 hours old. "If it isn't sold in 24 hours, it will be given away" to nonprofit organizations, Hipsley said.

Though the bread has no preservatives, it should last a week, Bory said. The honey whole wheat bread has five ingredients - wheat, yeast, honey, salt and water. Other bread varieties will include cheddar garlic, chocolate cherry swirl, white and cinnamon raisin.

Loaves start at $4.30 for whole wheat or white, which weigh 2 pounds 5 ounces, the sisters said.

Support from the company is a big part of the Great Harvest business model. Powell planned to arrive in Maryland yesterday to spend a couple of weeks helping the store get through its first days. Hipsley has been talking to other franchise owners, getting advice on details such as the best way to open the 640-pound barrels of honey.

Tim Groszkowski, manager of a Great Harvest in Herndon, Va., said he has done his best to give advice to Hipsley and Bory.

"We are a smaller company; we all help each other out," he said.

Powell said the Columbia contingent is as ready as it will ever be. "They're ready to go," he said. But he added that franchise owners never really know how hard the job will be until they start.

"I've been doing this three, four years," he said. "None of them have a firm idea in their mind of how hard it is until they're actually in it."


The Great Harvest Bread Co., which opens Friday, is at 8835 Centre Park Drive in Columbia. It will be open 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. 410-274-6583.

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