5 Generation Bakers is a business name that may call to mind a sense of tradition. The owner’s family reportedly has owned baking businesses since 1875, which is undoubtedly what inspired this business name.
However, 5 Generation Bakers offers more than just traditional baked goods. The Pennsylvania-based business recently launched a line of not-so-traditional treats made with cannabidiol (CBD).
A business steeped in tradition steps out on its own
5 Generation Bakers is best known for its Jenny Lee Swirl breads. According to a Pittsburg Post-Gazette article, business owner Scott Baker holds the recipe for these breads and began making them after establishing 5 Generation Bakers in 2010. His family’s business, Jenny Lee Bakery, had stopped producing the swirl breads when it closed in 2008.
5 Generation Bakers is now a multimillion dollar company that sells breads in countries all over the world. The business still makes cinnamon swirl and cinnamon raisin breads, but it has also developed new offerings. It also sells chunky bread, Italian olive oil focaccia, cinnamon chocolate chip swirl bread and cinnamon buns.
In addition to these products, 5 Generation Bakers now also offers brownie cakes and chocolate chip cookies designed to make people feel good. The new product line is called The Hemp Bakers, and the not-so-secret ingredient in these treats is CBD.
Not your average pot brownies
“I always try to be ahead of trends with new products, and since 2018 we’ve known CBD food will be huge,” Baker told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 20, 2018, was a significant date for the hemp industry because that was when the 2018 Farm Bill was signed into law. This action legalized hemp production in the United States and removed hemp from the country’s list of controlled substances.
The CBD baked goods produced by 5 Generation Bakers not only deviates from their usual product lines but also represents innovation in the world of baked edibles. The brownies are reportedly sweet, chocolaty and cake-like, while the cookies are sweet and crumbly. Both products reportedly lack the cannabis flavor that comes through in most cannabis-infused baked goods that consumers might have tried elsewhere.
Baker reportedly attributes this success to a CBD powder called Hemp Bake Mix. This bake mix is reportedly made with only natural ingredients, including organic hemp. It reportedly does not affect the flavor, odor or texture of a baked item, and it requires no recipe modifications.
The bake mix is broad spectrum, which means that does not contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and will not get people high, but it does contain other cannabinoids, like CBD. About one teaspoon of the mix divided among 16 cookies would reportedly provide about 25 milligrams of CBD in each cookie. Baker reportedly said that the CBD in his company’s cookies and brownies can help consumers feel good and sleep better.
Developing new products can take time
The thought of selling CBD baked goods had reportedly been on Baker's mind for a long time before he partnered with Hemp Synergistics, the company that created the Hemp Bake Mix. He envisioned a CBD recovery bread for athletes like those his his wife works with as a local triathlon coach and race director.
The project reportedly hit setbacks when Baker was experimenting to find the right hemp oil or powder. The baked goods either ended up tasting bad or containing inconsistent levels of CBD.
Then, Baker was introduced to Hemp Synergistics's Hemp Bake Mix.
“Everything we had come up against, they had solved,” Baker reportedly said.
Now, 5 Generation Bakers is marketing their CBD treats, which launched in January, as small-batch gourmet baked treats for adults. The company reportedly bakes only 576 treats at a time, and the workers only bake them after they are done baking the company’s usual products for the day.
Baker told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the company is ramping up softly for now because they don’t want to turn off their traditional customers.
“We want a brand people can trust,” Baker reportedly said.
Sources
[2] https://www.fb.org/market-intel/2018-farm-bill-provides-a-path-forward-for-industrial-hemp
