People

Steve and Suzie Sullivan, along with more than 150 full-time workers (all of whom are offered full medical benefits, a 401k plan, and profit sharing).

About

In the late 1970s, Steve began baking bread in his dorm room at UC Berkeley. He was working as a busboy in the then-fledgling Chez Panisse restaurant when chef Alice Waters tasted and enjoyed his well-crafted bread and gave him a job as a baker. Steve left Chez Panisse a few years later and opened Acme Bread Company with his wife in 1983. At their commercial bakery in Berkeley, Acme’s bakers use modern German-made deck ovens as well as a 1930s Spanish brick oven in three production shifts, baking their hand-formed loaves and pastries throughout the day and night.

Sourcing

The organic flour Acme uses to make their bread and pastries is grown in Washington, Colorado, Utah, and Canada, and milled in Utah. Butter and milk are purchased from Challenge Dairy, which uses hormone-free milk from California farms. Acme uses mostly local and organic fruits and vegetables in their products.