June 15, 2025 • 42 mins
(01:06) Scott Baker, a fifth-generation baker and president of Five Generation Bakers, unveils the rich legacy behind Pittsburgh's beloved Jenny Lee Bakery. It's all about family tradition, resilience, and reinvention.
Through fascinating family anecdotes, Scott traces the evolution from that first bakery to the Seven Baker Brothers wholesale operation, to the birth of Jenny Lee in 1938—named after a popular Guy Lombardo song. As Jenny Lee expanded to 14 locations throughout Pittsburgh, it became a treasured institution, famous for its buttercream cakes and exceptional baked goods.
(10:15) When disaster struck in 2006 with a devastating Thanksgiving Day fire, followed by the 2008 recession, the original Jenny Lee Bakery closed its doors. However, Scott's discovery of his grandfather's handwritten notes and photos sparked a new beginning, launching Five Generation Bakers to restore the Jenny Lee legacy through their famous swirl breads.
(20:10) Scott shares exciting developments including their new baking mixes that let customers recreate authentic Jenny Lee treats at home, and the upcoming Jenny Lee Breakfast Nook restaurant opening in Moon Township.
(37:15) Later in the show, Catherine Montest shares a spicy trend for white wine, and we revisit the lemon posset, a perfect warm weather dessert, with Steven Bright. Enjoy the show!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Doug (00:01):
Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish.
I'm your host, Doug Heilman.
Did your family members havefond memories of the Jenny Lee
Bakery legacy?
We learn what Jenny Lee is upto right now with President
Scott Baker.
Want to spice up your chilledwhite wine this summer?
Katherine Montest shares atrend that will do just that.
(00:21):
Catherine Montest shares atrend that will do just that.
And if you're searching for theperfectly simple and cool
summer dessert with only threeingredients, we step back in the
archives and remind everyone ofSteven Bright's Lemon Posset
recipe.
All that ahead, stay tuned.
The Pittsburgh Dish issupported by Third Space Bakery.
(00:45):
Join me on June 26th for aspecial event with local
cookbook author Jessica Merchantof How Sweet Eats.
We'll be showcasing Jessica'slatest book Easy Everyd ay.
This event is presented inpartnership with White Whale
Books and tickets are availableat thirdspacebakerycom.
Now on to the show.
(01:06):
Thank you so much for comingover and for being on the show.
Would you introduce yourself toour listeners and what you have
going on right now in the worldof food?
Scott (01:19):
Absolutely, Doug.
Hey, thank you for having me.
It's such a pleasure to be hereand talk to you and tell you a
little bit about Jenny Lee.
So my name is Scott Baker.
I'm the fifth generation of myfamily in the business, the
baking business.
Yes, so my company is calledFive Generation Bakers.
We're the spinoff of Jenny LeeBakery.
Five generation, as I justalluded, is a literal term.
(01:41):
Yes, my great-great-grandfatheremigrated to the United States
in the 1860s and started afamily and had opened his first
bakery Well, I guess his onlybakery.
He only had one, but he openedup the Michael A Baker Bakery in
1875 in the West End ofPittsburgh.
Doug (01:59):
Okay, Steuben Street right .
Scott (02:00):
Steuben Street.
Doug (02:01):
I think I read some of the about in your website there.
Scott (02:06):
And it was at about 25 Steuben Street.
So if you're going through theWest End Circle and you cross
over the train tracks likeyou're going up towards Crafton.
Pretty much right beyond thoserailroad tracks is where 25
Steuben Street would have been.
Doug (02:17):
Oh, I mean, that's actually really close to where
we're recording right now.
It is sort of fun for me.
Scott (02:21):
Right, right Could be there on a bicycle in 10 minutes
.
Doug (02:26):
I know right right right.
So, I love it started righthere, really, in the city, or in
just the outskirts of the city,and it's gone on in many
iterations for five generations.
That's correct, Right, right.
Tell me a little bit about yourdad, then, and that lineage
from Jenny.
Scott (02:43):
Lee Sure.
So you know my dad, uh, and andand I'll.
I'll actually start from fromMichael A Baker.
Yes, um, he had, he had sevensons and eventually they all
joined his business, changed thename to the seven Baker
brothers.
Yes, it was the largest wholewholesale bakery in Pennsylvania
back in that time.
They were pretty, pretty neatstories I've heard about them.
They they rented a plane sothat they could be the only
(03:06):
bakery that delivers by air.
I mean, it was a stunt, it wasa marketing stunt, but it was
effective.
They coined the terms wholesomebaked products, wonder baked
products.
A lot of people have heard awonder, I don't want to say the
name but, you know,some other products out there.
They actually originally coinedthat term and that business
(03:32):
continued until in the 1940s.
And there were some challenges.
That was going on, you know,obviously that time with World
War II and just coming off theirdepression.
Yes, before the seven Bakerbrothers closed their doors, my
grandfather, the thirdgeneration, he, and a cousin,
Bernard McDonald, had theirideas to get into business for
themselves.
So they started writing theirbusiness plan for a retail
(03:53):
bakery.
Seven Baker Brothers was moreof a wholesale bakery and back
at that time wholesale didn'tnecessarily mean commercial
business to business, but it wasdoor to door.
They were like the milkman,they were the bread men.
They delivered up into Erie,into Youngstown, into Altoona,
(04:13):
via horse and buggy.
My goodness, they deliveredbread door to door.
Doug (04:17):
I think I would like that.
By the way, If somebody wantedto deliver bread, let's do that
I think they're doing it now.
Scott (04:25):
Walmart and Amazon gets fresh food to our doors these
days.
Doug (04:29):
Oh my gosh.
Scott (04:29):
It's crazy how it all comes full circle.
It does so.
Anyways, grandpap and I neverknew his cousin Bernard.
He was drafted into the war andit was a pilot and he was shot
down and killed.
This was in 1944 that BernardMcDonald died.
My dad was born in 45 and thatbecame his namesake, so my dad's
(04:50):
name is Bernard.
But anyways, backing up to thethird generation, grandpap and
Bernard were starting to writetheir business plan and they
enlisted two of their uncles,two of the seven Baker brothers,
to help them come up with abusiness plan and write their
draft.
And I know eventually you'regoing to ask me where's the name
Jenny Lee come from.
Everyone, always asks that It'dbe fun to say it was my grandma.
(05:12):
Or you know, I joke a lot andsay it was my grandfather's
mistress, but anybody that knowshim knows he just spun again in
his grave.
Sorry, grandpapa, you know hewas the most straight-laced and
ethical person you'd ever meet.
So when they were working ontheir business plan, uncle Frank
(05:32):
, one of the seven Bakerbrothers, waltzed into a meeting
late and grandpapa was likeUncle Frank, we're already on
line three, do you have an ideafor the name of the bakery?
And Uncle Frank had come inwhistling a song and he said
Sweet Jenny Lee from sunnyTennessee.
And apparently and I've donesome research, I mean it's not
just apparent, it was real.
(05:53):
There was a song in the 1930s,recorded by Guy Lombardo, that
was pretty popular he wasactually the third or fourth
artist to perform it and didn'treally take off until he had
recorded it.
And so had my great-great-uncleFrank not heard that Sweet
Jenny Lee from Sunny Tennesseesong, who knows what the bakery
(06:15):
would have been named.
Doug (06:16):
Isn't that interesting timing too.
Yes, probably.
If he wasn't late, he might nothave heard it.
He would have been on timeRight, right, right.
Scott (06:23):
And the funny thing is is too.
That's why our logo is thesouthern bell, because sweet
jenny lee was from tennesseeinteresting so then, you know,
in 1938 they got the bakery offthe ground.
They started in the in thecorner of the gc murphy building
and what then was known aspittsburgh's diamond market
today market square yeah inmarket square, yep and um you,
(06:45):
and it was an open-air marketthat people from Crafton or
Dormont or all parts of the citywould come in, bring their
wares and set up shop and sellthem out in the open market, and
originally their plan was tojust become a retail outlet for
Seven Baker Brothers products.
Within the first couple ofmonths he had requests for
(07:08):
donuts, which is not somethingthat the Seven Brothers made.
So he rented a fryer, bought afryer, put it in the front
window and started frying donuts, and then he started making
cookies that the Seven BakerBrothers didn't make and started
making other items.
By the end of the first year hewas making everything himself
and they didn't have the spacein a GC Murphy building for that
(07:28):
much production.
So they rented space from abakery in Dormant.
Okay, I'm not sure the exactname of the bakery, it might've
been Kohler's bakery, butFrancis Kohler was a very good
friend of my grandfather's, itwas her family's business and
they had rented space toGrandpap and they would bake it
(07:50):
and bring it in in the morningand sell it out of the GC Murphy
building.
Well, by a year or two in thatspace they completely outgrew it
.
So 1941, three years after thebakery had opened, they bought
their first building in McKee'sRocks Right and so they moved
the entire production operationthere and that became store
(08:11):
number two.
So, and he continued to growthe bakery.
Eventually he had threeseparate locations in McKee's
Rocks, one in West Park.
He had the candy kitchen.
It was actually a restaurantalong with a little candy store,
you know.
And then you know fifties andsixties.
They continue to grow.
My dad was the youngest of three.
(08:32):
Uh, his older brother, theoldest brother, jim, middle
brother, rich, and my dad,bernie.
Um, their ages are separated byfour years.
There was one year that theywere all at Notre Dame together.
Uncle Jim was a senior and mydad was a freshman.
But Uncle Jim graduated fromNotre Dame and worked for, I
believe, us Steel, one of thebig legacy companies in
(08:55):
Pittsburgh.
Uncle Rich went to fight for usin Vietnam.
He actually served on a swiftboat with John Kerry, wow.
And then my dad graduated NotreDame in 67 and immediately
joined the family business.
So even though he was theyoungest, he was the first one
in the business.
Doug (09:12):
Oh my.
Scott (09:14):
And at this point they continue to grow genuinely.
I recall my dad saying that oneof the first projects he worked
on was opening up our Kenmarstore, which, as we opened up a
store, we up our Kenmar store,which is as we opened up a store
, we you know we became theKenmar store, but then we also
assigned it a number.
Kenmar was number seven.
Eventually, in the heyday andin the early eighties, there
(09:35):
were up to 14 locations allaround Pittsburgh and I think at
that point in time there wasRay's bakery.
Doug (09:49):
I'm not sure if they were bigger than us or not, but they
had multiple locations.
I think Jenny Lee was probablythe premier bakery in Pittsburgh
.
So many memories for thesefolks of going to.
Scott (09:57):
Jenny Lee to get a sweet treat.
All these different things.
I love it.
It's able to continue thelegacy.
First of all, the family trade,the family business.
But when I opened up FiveGeneration Bakers and it was a
period of time it was prettydifficult.
When Jenny Lee had a major firein 06 on Thanksgiving Day shut
(10:17):
us down.
My mom and dad, committed tothe legacy of my grandfather,
committed to their customers andtheir employees, decided to
rebuild and we reopened just intime for the great recession oh,
in 2008, and we opened up midseven, okay, and we're trying to
rebuild.
We had, you know, all of ourretail business back, but we
also supplied 20 supermarkets atthat time and the supermarkets
(10:39):
weren't going to wait months fordonuts or decorated cakes.
So they had to find findreplacement suppliers, and we
get it, and we were justfighting to get that business
back.
But as we're trying to get ourrevenue back up, the recession
hits and then costs go out ofsight, and it just wasn't.
You know costs that you couldpass along to your customers,
and so, you know, my parentsmade the very difficult decision
(11:01):
in August of 2008 to close thedoors, you know, and at first I
find myself, you know, pissedoff on unemployment for the
first time in my life, burnt outand uh, but still traveling
from Zillion Opal to McKee'srocks every day to help my dad
liquidate and inventory hisbusiness.
And, um, a couple months agoI'm doing this and, um, you know
(11:22):
, a couple of months go by andat this point the anger had
subsided.
And this was a huge building,doug, it was a 34, 35,000 square
foot building, and we're German, we don't throw anything away.
So I find this file box thatwas taped shut.
It had my hand, mygrandfather's handwriting on it,
said 1978 or something likethat.
I cut it open.
And I find this file box thatwas taped shut.
It had my hand, mygrandfather's handwriting on it,
said 1978 or something likethat.
(11:44):
I cut it open and I find some,some file folders in there that
have newspaper clippings andfamily photos and and things you
know from when he was startingover and newspaper stories about
Jenny Lee.
And I was just like you knowwhat I'm a fifth generation
baker, I can do this and thatreally was my aha moment, um, a
spark.
It was like you know what I'm afifth generation baker, I can
do this and that really was myaha moment A spark.
It was Absolutely, Absolutely.
(12:05):
I went home that night Actuallyit's kind of funny because I had
a job offer from a buddy ofmine that I'd known for a while.
He was an entrepreneur, he hada sign business and he had
offered me a national salesmanager position.
It was close to double theamount of money I ever made in
my life.
And I get home that night and Isaid to my wife I said, joelle,
I don't think I can accept Ed'soffer.
(12:25):
And she's like, oh yeah, whynot?
And I said, well, here's myidea.
I think I need to start abusiness.
And fortunately she comes froma family of entrepreneurs as
well.
And she's like you know what,scott, if you need to do that,
then let's do it, and I love it.
I never looked back.
Doug (12:42):
I love it, and so you're the fifth generation Right
Bakery or baker.
Scott (12:46):
Five generation bakers.
It's a very descriptive name.
Yes, five generation bakers.
People always get it mixed up.
It's either fifth generationbakery, you know five
generations of baker.
It's like you know.
I just wanted a descriptivename that might fool some banks
into giving me money because I'man established business.
Well, you have the legacy forsure it didn't work.
Steven (13:08):
I didn't get any money.
Scott (13:11):
But you know I could not leave Jenny Lee on the sidelines
.
That was a brand, it was aPittsburgh institution and so
immediately my bread was JennyLee's Swirl Bread by Five
Generation Bakers.
And if you look at some earlyversions of our label, the name
of the company and the brand arejust as big as each other.
Now, if you look he's grabbinga loaf that he brought me right
(13:32):
now and I can show you on theside here, Five Generation
Bakers is just a footnote on theside.
Doug (13:36):
Yeah, sort of like diminished, you're still pushing
.
Now.
Jenny Lee is in the forefrontof all of it.
Scott (13:42):
We had to tell a story.
At first I didn't want peopleto think it was a continuation
or some transfer of business.
This was a new business a newstrategy.
But now you know, I look at it,it's Oreo cookies by Nabisco or
Cheerios by General Mills.
The company that makes thebrand is just a footnote.
Doug (13:59):
Exactly right.
Yeah, scott, I do want to breakdown the current state now.
You do not do retail anymore,right?
Since the fire and then all ofthe sort of the reorganization
and you forming this new companyso folks can find Jenny Lee
Swirl Bread in retail locationsthat you partner with.
You're also on QVC.
(14:21):
Yes, I am, is that right?
Scott (14:23):
Yeah, so you're correct, we're a commercial manufacturer.
Part of my strategy, I did notwant to be a retailer.
Doug (14:31):
You spend all night making donuts, and then you get a
sudden snow, squall and halfyour customers don't come in.
Scott (14:37):
Donuts have an 18 to 24 hour shelf life.
So you know I was veryintentional about being a
manufacturer.
I wanted to partner with expertretailers.
Shop and Save.
Giant Eagle, Eat n Park.
Those type of entities arewhere you can find our breads
and our products.
You can, we do, offer pickup.
(14:57):
You can go toJennyLeeSwirlbreadcom, yes, and
order a package of bread to pickup, and this is down at McKee's
Rocks.
That's at McKee's Rocks.
Yeah, you can go in.
Doug (15:06):
Not necessarily a it's our reception area.
Yeah, yeah, you're not goinginto a store, that's correct
yeah.
You're in the front of the bigmanufacturing house, right.
Scott (15:15):
And we of direct-to-consumer via QVC and
e-commerce.
Doug (15:20):
I do want to say I don't want to spoil anything for folks
, but I know things that you dobeyond the bread now, Because I
was gifted a few of these thingsand I made some darn good
cookies.
So, going back to the roots ofJenny Lee as a bakery and you
mentioned earlier, there weresweets, there were donuts, there
were other things you now havea product line beyond the bread.
(15:41):
Can you tell me a little bitmore about that?
Scott (15:43):
So, Doug, one of the things I've found, it's 17 years
since Jenny Lee Bakery isclosed and I'm literally still
asked two, three times a week.
When are you going to make thebuttercream case again?
Can you make me the chocolatedrop cookies?
There's this one woman, Tammy,that just beats me up on social
media to get these recipe forthese chocolate chocolates.
(16:03):
She wants her chocolate.
Doug (16:04):
And I don't blame her.
Scott (16:05):
They were good, but you know, 17 years that lives on and
people were asking me for thisand for that, and so, finally, I
partnered with a blendingcompany, um Tasty Blend, out of
uh Frazier's, bottom, WestVirginia, and we spent a year
developing authentic box mixesthat you can take at home.
And now I'm not going to makethat, but you can.
(16:26):
You can make the blueberrymuffins, you can make the
chocolate chip cookies, you canmake the birthday cake, and
we've literally just launchedthis new product a couple of
months ago.
It's been so exciting.
The response we're getting frompeople is it does taste exactly
like I remember.
Doug (16:40):
Oh, good see, I I baked with them, right?
I don't have that uh tastememory that some folks have,
sure.
And and if I can just kind ofchime in here, what I like about
the mixes is that they are abit of a blank canvas, like you
can do a muffin mix withblueberries or something else
like cranberries.
You, you gave me the, thecookie mix and, uh, you can do
(17:01):
chocolate chip cookies.
I think I threw in some.
Scott (17:05):
Yours were really good.
Doug (17:06):
I did a brown butter in mine.
I think I doubled the chocolatechips that you call for too.
They were loaded, yeah yeah,and I think I threw in.
Oh, what was the last thing?
Oh, cranberries.
I put cranberries in mine, yeahyeah.
Not like not to toot my ownhorn, but the cookie mix is like
it would.
It made it super easy.
Scott (17:22):
You won the competition, so I would toot your horn.
Doug (17:31):
Well, I would say this too .
So there's a yellow cake mix,there is a sweet dough, like, if
you're going to make likecinnamon rolls, um am.
Scott (17:34):
I missing anything?
There's a the blueberry muffin,the yellow cake, uh, the sweet
dough and the chocolate chipcookies, and we do have plans
for for others to come out.
But you nailed it like if youwant to remember what jenny lee
tasted like, follow theinstructions on the back of the
box to a t.
If you want to amp them up, ifyou want to modify them, if you
want to give them your own twistand pretend like you mixed it
(17:54):
yourself from scratch, yes, byall means, please do it.
And in fact I'm developing awebsite it's not live yet
JennyLeeBakeMixcom where weintend to give tips and tricks,
and I'd love to feature you onthat website with your recipe
from that competition.
So, you know, and also to showthere's different ways.
(18:17):
Everybody's home mixer isdifferent.
Somebody's using a hand blender, somebody might just be mixing
by hand or a countertop, um yeah, like a kitchen aid exactly
right I prefer the kitchen aid.
That's what I use at home, Imean.
So there are different ways touse each type of home equipment
tweak it up a little bit.
Doug (18:36):
You know just the technique's just a little bit
different.
You want everyone to get itperfect, right?
Scott (18:40):
and I'll tell you a little.
Other neat piece of pittsburghhistory and baking industry is
the bundy family from frompittsburgh, uh, crescent
township, usa, pan.
So their family goes way back.
I went to high school with withsome of the bundy's beautiful
family um, nice big family likelike the bakers and great pans
(19:01):
pans by the way, I have manymany USA pans in this house,
right.
So we actually collaborated withthe Bundy family and USA pan
when we started to develop thesemixes.
Okay, you know, the idea wasthat they could bundle them with
their pans.
If they're going to sell amuffin pan, then it gives them
an opportunity to sell the bakemix.
How smart, right.
Doug (19:21):
I love that synergy yeah.
Scott (19:25):
And so they've become our biggest outlet for the bake
mixes right now.
Doug (19:27):
Well, that was sort of one of my questions when can folks
find the baking mixes now?
Scott (19:32):
USAPancom, JennyLeeSwirlbreadcom and, as of
today, QVCcom.
Doug (19:39):
I thought I saw them on the QVC site.
Scott (19:41):
Literally that just went live today.
I think there's a bug we'retrying to work out.
Doug (19:46):
We're recording in early June, so once you hear this,
it's probably all worked outPerfect.
Scott (19:52):
This is Scott Baker with Jenny Lee's World Bread, and you
are listening to the PittsburghDish.
Doug (19:58):
All right, Scott.
Beyond all of that, I'm goingto go back to my original
question and say what else doyou have going on in the world
of food?
Oh, nothing much.
Scott (20:09):
Let me think so.
We very intentionally openedfive generation bakers without a
retail strategy.
I am so excited we are openingthe first ever Jenny Lee
breakfast nook.
It's going to be a breakfastand a diner and sandwich shop.
The first location will be inmoon township, where I grew up,
(20:31):
and it's going to be, you know,sandwiches, french toast.
The whole, the entire menu isdesigned around Jenny Lee breads
.
Right, but the good thing iswhere people like you don't have
a store.
You're a bakery.
I smell so good here, but Icome in I can't buy.
This will be a retail outletfor our breads and for our cake
mixes, bake mixes, other itemsthat we're making, as well as a
(20:56):
daytime restaurant.
Doug (20:57):
So, breakfast lunchy kind of place the breakfast will be.
I'm excited because I have tosay a couple of years back you
were at one of the Good TastePittsburgh bake-its and you were
making sandwiches on the spot.
Specifically, I remember thisis the savory breads you can get
off of QVC you were doingsomething with, I think.
Is there a tomato basil flavor?
(21:18):
Oh my gosh.
Scott (21:19):
I think I remember that event.
I believe we were making agourmet grilled cheese, so it
was two slices of the tomatobasil, california's tomato basil
bread buttered up.
California tomato basil breadbuttered up, um, and we, and we
toast both sides and then Ithink we were putting some spicy
jalapeno cheese on there and,um, some fresh basil incredible
(21:41):
little bit of garlic powder.
Doug (21:42):
I don't know if you can answer this, but at the nook
will we see any sandwiches oritems like that?
Scott (21:48):
Oh, absolutely.
So, not just sweet, but savoryand also lunchtimey things.
Doug (21:52):
So you got it for sure.
Scott (21:54):
Yeah, so, um, we're making, we've developed a smash
burger.
I'll show you this picture ourchef.
Um, you know, I don't have thetime and I don't have the
knowledge or experience to be arestaurateur or a cook or you
know um, so I partnered withthree exceptional restaurateurs.
So the fun part of medeveloping this business with
(22:17):
these guys is all the tastingmeetings that we've had.
Doug (22:21):
I can't imagine your job Right.
That's incredible Right.
And you mentioned it's going tobe opening in Moon Right.
Do you have a target timeframefor us now?
Scott (22:36):
So I'm hoping that by the time this comes out, we're open
.
Doug (22:37):
We're targeting mid month.
Okay, in June, in June, yeah,so June 2025.
Scott (22:40):
Yeah, another week and a half.
Doug (22:41):
Oh, my goodness Right.
I truly had no idea when youwere coming over today that it's
that close.
Yes, that's fun.
Scott (22:47):
Yeah, in fact, this week we had a hiring job fair at the
restaurant.
Yeah, in fact, this week we hada hiring job fair at the
restaurant.
My cousin, who happens to begood friends with one of my
partners, spent Tuesday andWednesday building the coffee
bar.
Oh, that's, that's our plan is,immediately when you walk in,
(23:16):
you'll see the coffee bar and beable to order a good cup of Joe
.
Um, you know, we, we anticipatethat we'll do a good deal of
takeout as well as dine in.
We think there's going to be,you know, possibly about equal
amounts of takeout and dine inand then, um, you know, possibly
as much as 20% of our businesswill be.
Doug (23:27):
You know, I call it swag, um, but just add-on sales,
retail sales, yes, and that'swhere you're talking about the
mixes or making the breads to goand stuff.
You got it I love this.
Can you remind me?
Do you know the address off thetop of your head?
Scott (23:39):
Yes, it's 1014 Broadhead Road, moon Township.
It's been a restaurant for many, many years, dating back to the
70s and 80s when I was growingup.
It was formerly the Pompeo'sRestaurant.
Okay, a lot of first dates.
A couple of last dates there.
Doug (23:57):
There's memories.
Right, right, right, and thenit operated as Fritangelo
Gardens which was a farmer'smarket and food outlet for many
years.
Scott Baker, you are such atrue Pittsburgher because you're
telling us what used to bethere.
Right, it was down a street fromthe giant eagle, I know scott,
you've already given us so muchfamily history, and then what's
(24:18):
going on currently with thebusiness?
It just has me wondering likewhat was food life like at home
growing up, or or even now, likeyou know, was there baking at
home?
Yep, you guys use the productson a regular basis.
Like what was food like?
Oh, we ate dessert every nightat home.
Yep, you guys use the productson a regular basis.
Like what?
Scott (24:32):
was food like oh, we ate dessert every night at home
growing up.
Yeah, my, you know we neverbaked at home, or very rarely.
I don't recall moments ofbaking.
Why would you?
Right?
Yeah, but you know my dad wouldcome home from the bakery the
bag of goods every night.
We always had something fresh.
Well, we always gone to it.
(24:52):
We wouldn't waste anything.
We'd get a glazed donut andit'd be four days old.
It'd be, you know, almost rockhard.
But you cut it in half andtoast it, put a little butter on
it and that zaps it right up.
Whole new thing.
But my mom is a wonderful,wonderful cook and we had I mean
, we had dinner as a familytogether every night.
In fact, you know I'm sittinghere at your table with my arm
on it.
My mom used to put molasses onthe table so that I wouldn't put
my arm on the table.
You had to eat with propermanners.
But just, you know so manymemories of sitting around the
(25:16):
kitchen table with the familyand talking about our day and
enjoying a good meal.
My mom, you know where we'reItalian and where we're German.
On my dad's side, my mom's halfItalian, so I'm a quarter, so
we've got.
She served a lot of Italianmeals and you know she learned
how to cook from my grandma, whowas also a wonderful cook.
Doug (25:35):
I love that and I think I just keep thinking now that you
are getting into a restaurantbusiness.
So just this world of takingfood to the next level is
everything for your.
You know your profession andyour livelihood at life.
Scott (25:48):
Yeah, absolutely, you know it's.
There's just so many goodmoments that happen around food,
right, and it's what you're inthis business.
For a reason it makes peoplefeel good.
You know, and, frankly, Doug,one of the things that helped me
determine my course of whatcareer I was going to do I came
out of high school.
I was a lazy student.
I, you know.
I had some intelligence and and, um, you know, some common
(26:11):
sense and stuff, so I made itthrough school, but I didn't
really focus on the right thingsat that time and I went to
college not knowing what Iwanted to do and thought maybe
I'll be a teacher, I don't know.
It was suggested to me by acounselor friend and so I
started taking some educationclasses at Kent State.
Frankly, I failed out at KentState.
I had a 2.0, but only becauseit wasn't your heart's fault?
(26:34):
It was not.
Yeah, and thankfully they hadfreshman forgiveness so they
dropped the Fs off my transcript.
But I'm home trying to decidewhat I'm going to do next.
I'm at Kmart and it was aThanksgiving break and there was
two cashiers bickering back andforth and she's like I can't
believe they're going to make uswork on Thanksgiving.
I get up in line.
I said oh, I'm really sorry tohear you have to work on
(26:57):
Thanksgiving.
Where I work, we work reallyhard up until the holidays, but
we get the holidays off.
And she's like yeah, where doyou work?
And I said Jenny Lee Bakery.
And this miserable beast of awoman just all of a sudden
calmed, like her face justmelted.
She's like oh, my goodness,your buttercream is so good.
And I, I, at that moment Iremember the goosebumps that my
(27:17):
hair stood up, and I get it whenI recall that moment, at that
point in time, like I alwaysthought I was an, I was the
class clown.
I, I couldn't sing, I couldn'tdance, I could tell jokes and
that was about it.
But I, really, I wanted toentertain people.
And now I'm like you know whatI'm going into?
The family business.
Doug (27:33):
You do it in such a great way and I have to say again
you're saying you weren'tfeeling like you know, book
smart or whatever.
You're the president of thecompany.
Scott (27:40):
Well, let's just say that , please Okay.
Doug (27:43):
So you've done good.
Scott (27:44):
I've done, okay, okay.
Doug (27:47):
Oh my goodness.
Well, based on, like thesefolks, reactions to some of the
old timey baked goods, is thereanything today that comes up as
a recipe from one of theproducts or something you've
seen that's really notable?
I mean, I love to take thecinnamon bread and, just you
know, toast it whatever.
Are there recipes now thatpeople are sharing with you or
(28:09):
things that your team has comeup with that like really does
make the product go to the nextlevel?
Scott (28:14):
Yeah, absolutely, and that's one of the most fun
things I have is when I talk topeople about our breads and how
to use them.
It's like you know it's breadand it's such a common thing and
there's so many differentvariations of what bread is.
You know, ours is a cinnamonswirl bread.
It's a breakfast bread.
It's a breakfast bread, it's asnack bread.
But I've learned most of thisfrom my customers.
(28:38):
But when my son he's 22 nowwhen he was, you know, six,
seven, eight years old, we wouldtake a dab of vanilla yogurt
and then cut fruit and put it ontop of a slice of bread.
Perfect, exactly Right.
The grilled cheese sandwicheswith the savory bread.
Doug (28:53):
Yes, it makes a mean French toast the cinnamon swirl
or any of the fruit-type onestoo.
Scott (28:59):
Bread pudding.
My aunt, for Christmas everyyear for her kids, makes a
French toast casserole.
It's like a cross betweenFrench toast and bread pudding.
A friend of ours, a really goodfriend of ours, uh, um, one day
came over with a pumpkin trifleoh and I'm eating it.
I'm like this.
Has my my pumpkin cinnamonswirl bread in it?
She's like it does.
So I mean those are like thelayers right yeah, right of
(29:23):
cream and and and whipped cream.
Amazing, right, but that'sthat's where it's really neat to
me to learn from somebody else,yeah, how they're using our
bread.
Doug (29:33):
How they're interpreting Right and I don't want to put
you on the spot.
But for the swirl breads, howmany flavors in total do you
currently have?
Scott (29:43):
Well, now that we just retired the banana split,
cinnamon swirl bread, I thinkwe're down to 14 different
flavors oh my gosh, that's stilla lot of.
Doug (29:53):
I don't even know if I know all those right.
I knew you had some savory.
I definitely know the cinnamonand the cranberry cinnamon, yeah
, so let me.
Scott (30:02):
Let me see if I can run through these real quick.
Our original is the classiccinnamon swirl bread.
That's the basis for everythingthat's the top seller 80 of my
breads come in that loaf Thencinnamon raisin, cinnamon, apple
, chocolate chip, cinnamonpumpkin pie, cinnamon swirl
bread, cranberry cinnamon swirlbread.
Then we introduced the savoriesCalifornia tomato, basil,
(30:25):
italian olive, focaccia,parmesan, garlic and herb and we
do a white sandwich bread.
And then we started, and youknow, our success on qvc has
allowed us to introduce moreflavors.
We have a blueberry muffin,cinnamon swirl bread, strawberry
cinnamon swirl bread and arethese only available through qvc
?
Um or our website or yourwebsite.
(30:47):
Most retail partners don't carryall these.
Yeah, it's just too much right.
Doug (30:50):
Yeah, I did one more question about the retail
partners.
It's not just the Pittsburgharea now right?
Scott (30:57):
No, not at all.
Doug (30:58):
How many states do you guys distribute?
Scott (30:59):
to.
You can find our breads in morethan 30 states.
Yeah, amazing.
We're in probably close tobetween 4,000 and 5,000
retailers and restaurants acrossthe country.
Now, if you and the retailersyou'll, you'll usually find it
under our brand, genuinely, andthen usually in the bakery
department occasionally it'sunder that store's brand.
(31:19):
We'll sell it to them in aclear bag and they slap their
own sticker on it.
And then we're in more than2000 restaurants under the VLOR
brand.
It's just we wanted to keepfood service separate from
retail.
Doug (31:30):
I see, Amazing.
I mean I really don't mean topound you with these facts, but
it's like you're so prolific andI love it.
It's not just Pittsburgh-based,it's really an American-based
company.
We become that.
Scott (31:43):
And that's part of the reason why we're expanding into
so many different products now.
The power of QVC when I'm onair, we'll sell 2,000 individual
orders when we go on air, butI'm being broadcast into a
couple million homes and so theJenny Lee brand, this Pittsburgh
(32:03):
institution, is now in the homeof people in all 50 states and
in fact, we ship into all 50states every year.
The beauty about thepartnership with QVC if you
bought from me, I'd have tocharge you the shipping costs
from here to Hawaii.
You don't want to pay it.
If you go to QVC, that costthat shipping cost is built in
and it's very affordable becausethey've got huge leverage that
will leave my bakery and be inyour home in Hawaii two days
(32:26):
later for the same price as ifyou're shipping to Ohio.
That is incredible.
Doug (32:30):
I just love the success.
I love that you have the accessand I love that you have all
these other new things happening.
I usually ask if folks havethings upcoming or new goals.
Is there anything that wedidn't touch on that you have
going on soon or coming up inthe near future?
Scott (32:46):
Well, I had a meeting today with an engineering and
architectural firm to put anaddition on my building.
I can't keep up with orders.
Doug (32:55):
Oh my gosh In McKees.
Scott (32:56):
Rocks In McKees.
Doug (32:56):
Rocks the big production facility.
Scott (32:58):
Yes, might be getting bigger.
Might be getting bigger.
Wow Right, we talked todayabout a 7,000 square foot
addition that would allow me todouble my bakery space
Incredible.
Doug (33:08):
I love it and I also I'm thinking about all the
opportunities that you're givingfor other folks locally If
they're looking for employment.
You're looking to expand,absolutely.
Scott (33:16):
Incredible, absolutely, yeah.
I mean we're looking forquality people to join our team.
We try to have a good culture.
We want to make it fun.
We believe in the people thatwork for us.
We believe in our community.
That's one thing that we'resuper focused on.
When I first took a job inmanagement for my dad that one
of the first things he told meto do was join McKee's Rocks
rotary.
And you know, being a part ofour community is a big part of
(33:38):
of our identity.
Um so you know if you're workingon an event, if you've got, uh,
you know, a need for thingslike that, we we produce more,
more bread that we can't sellbecause it might have a small
defect, but it's still perfectlyedible, and so I'm always happy
to help out efforts in thecommunity.
Doug (33:53):
Scott, thank you so much and thanks for letting us know
those things too.
Why don't we remind folks thatmaybe don't know yet?
How can they find and followyou?
Could you remind us your socialhandles or website?
Scott (34:06):
all of those things I mean personally, you can find me
on LinkedIn Scott Baker.
We're five generation bakers onLinkedIn.
Everywhere else, we're JennyLee Swirlbreads On Facebook,
jenny Lee Swirlbreads On Twitter, instagram.
I think we have TikTok.
You'll have to ask the Jagoffs.
Doug (34:25):
John and Rachel.
Scott (34:26):
Yes, yeah, they run my social media.
Doug (34:28):
Okay.
Scott (34:28):
And Michaela.
They do a fantastic job.
They do.
Yeah, it's all under Jenny LeeSwirlbread.
Okay.
Doug (34:33):
And will the Breakfast Nook kind of have its own
website and handles eventuallyit?
Scott (34:37):
will They'll all kind of connect.
They'll all be interrelated.
The Jenny Lee Breakfast Nook isa separate company, related,
but they're separate entities.
Doug (34:45):
Exactly.
So, it might have its ownwebsite.
Scott (34:55):
It will definitely have its own website.
In fact, it's set up right now.
You can go and check out someearly renditions of our menu.
You can join our loyaltyprogram already to earn 5% back.
All right, I think we'realready selling gift cards.
Doug (35:03):
Oh, okay, all right, scott , I always have one final
question for our guests.
Sure, the name of the show isthe Pittsburgh Dish.
What's the best dish you've hadto eat this past week?
Scott (35:16):
Well, you just caught me coming back from New Orleans and
I've literally have been in NewOrleans for a week.
So that's unfair, because I'mgoing to tell you I had a
muffalata at the Napoleon house.
That was all the good food Ihad down in New Orleans.
Doug (35:30):
That was by far the absolute best and can you remind
listeners because I've had thissandwich like what's on a
muffaletta.
Scott (35:36):
A muffaletta.
It's a special Italian doughand it's brushed with olive oil,
there's mortadella, there'ssalami and then there's
provolone and mozzarella, andthen there is a layer of olive
salad, and a New Orleans styleolive salad is what you want to
use.
It is a fabulous.
In fact, one of my favoritesandwiches on the Jenny Lee
(35:58):
Italian olive focaccia is themuffaletta.
Steven (36:00):
Oh.
Scott (36:01):
But okay.
So one of my favoritePittsburgh dishes that I had two
weeks ago I had at and thebusiness started here originally
Rockefeller's.
Oh, what started in Pensbury?
I don't think they're hereanymore.
Um, they serve gnocchi.
It's just out of this world.
It's little super tender puffsof pasta.
(36:22):
Uh, I know.
For many years Teresa's Italianbakery made the gnocchi for
them, though Teresa's closedlast year, so I'm hoping that
they're still using the sameauthentic recipe.
It's delicious.
Doug (36:34):
And where is this Rockefeller's?
Scott (36:36):
Rockefeller's is in the Giant Eagle Plaza in Kennedy
Township.
That's right.
Doug (36:40):
Yeah, because they used to have the two locations.
Yes, yeah, I miss them here.
Yeah, good food.
Well, those are some best bitesand we can go with muffaletta
from New Orleans as well.
Steven (36:49):
That's excellent, that's good bites.
Doug (36:51):
Scott Baker, it has been such a pleasure to talk with you
, to learn your history and talkmore about your business and
all of the great things going onright now.
Thank you so much for takingthe time and thanks for being on
the.
Scott (37:01):
Pittsburgh Dish.
I'm just honored and humbled tobe in here and being able to
have the opportunity to share mystory.
Thank you, Doug.
No, thank you.
Doug (37:08):
Up next.
If you're looking to spice itup as you're sipping your white
wine this summer, Catherine hasa trend that will do just that.
Hey, everybody, we're joinedtoday with Catherine Montest,
our resident wine expert fromyour Fairy Wine Mother, Hi Doug,
Hi, Catherine.
Hey, as we get into this year.
I know in the past we've talkeda lot about red wines.
(37:30):
I was wondering if there areany new trends in white wines.
I feel like people drink whitewine more in the summer.
I think maybe that's just myown perception.
Catherine (37:41):
No, I think your perception is bang on.
There is a huge trend in whitewine right now, and you can see
it all over social media, andthat is Sauvignon Blanc with
jalapenos in it.
What, yes?
Doug (37:56):
Wait, so people are making this, or is there a vinter
actually making?
Catherine (38:01):
it.
This is kind of an at-homething.
Got it so you get your favoriteSauvignon Blanc, and this makes
sense for Sauvignon Blanc,because Sauvignon Blanc already
has a little bit of a grassinessokay yeah to it.
So a lot of times you'll getsome grapefruit and peach and
passion fruit flavors, but it'sthat lemongrass and the
herbaceousness that um kind ofreally marry up nicely with the
(38:25):
jalapeno.
And there's also a compoundthat comes from the grape, from
savignon Blanc, called Pyrazine,which to a lot of people tastes
really strongly of green pepper.
And at the heart of it all, ajalapeno is a green pepper after
all, it's another green pepperyeah.
Steven (38:43):
Absolutely.
Catherine (38:44):
So if you like green peppers and you want a really
refreshing and bright summerdrink, that's why everybody's
throwing their jalapenos in theSauvignon Blanc.
Doug (38:54):
Okay, so let's just break this down.
So I have a chilled bottle ofSauvignon Blanc.
Catherine (38:59):
Yep 45 to 55 degrees.
Doug (39:01):
Okay, Am I just throwing a jalapeno in the bottle like
squishing it down through theneck?
Am I cutting it in half firstto get a little more heat?
What have you seen?
Catherine (39:11):
Mostly what I've seen is people cutting it into
little slices okay and,depending on your spice
tolerance, floating one or twoor three of them in the glass oh
so this is like once you'vepoured the wine, absolutely
you're not letting it sit fordays.
No, no, no, no no no, okay, andyou can even slice your
jalapenos and then put tuck themin the freezer okay so that'll
(39:31):
help to chill the wine a littlebit or keep it chilly longer
when you're drinking it.
Oh, I like that.
Doug (39:36):
Yeah, interesting.
You know, when you were talkingabout the notes of Sauvignon
Blanc, I started thinking aboutmargarita, because some of those
same kind of flavor profilesgrapefruit or the grassiness
that sort of picks up in amargarita.
So I could see how this is adifferent but playing in the
same flavor neighborhood as that.
Catherine (39:58):
Kind of dovetailing off the spicy margarita.
Yeah yeah, all right, that's agreat observation, Doug.
I haven't made that connectioneither.
Doug (40:05):
Okay, so we're saying a wine trend, that's out.
There is Sauvignon Blanc with a, dare we say, a float of
jalapeno slices.
Catherine (40:15):
Yeah, yeah, does that sound yummy to you?
I mean, I would try it, yeah.
Doug (40:19):
All right, Catherine.
Thank you so much.
Catherine (40:22):
It's always fun to talk with you, Doug.
Doug (40:24):
You can follow Catherine on Instagram at your fairy wine
mother.
That's you are fairy winemother.
That's U-R Fairy Wine Mother.
Searching for the perfectdessert for an evening summer
meal?
Look no further than the LemonPosse.
We first learned about thisrecipe at the end of last summer
(40:45):
with Chef Steven Bright andthought it's worth a revisit.
Let's have a listen.
Steven (40:49):
Okay, so this summer has been really hot, okay, so this
summer has been really hot.
I've been looking for somethingthat is really cool and
refreshing.
I brought you you and Greg afew samples of it today.
It's called Lemon Posset andyou know it's becoming very
popular.
When I first started making itfor clients, I had never heard
(41:13):
of it.
It was a three-ingredientdessert that you know.
I thought, wow, how good couldthis be if it's just that simple
?
But we realize now that thesimpler the better.
So this has sugar, cream andlemon in it and it just comes
together and it creates thisdreamy pudding that totally
(41:35):
melts on your palate and leavesjust a lemon cream not cloying.
Yeah, it's perfect forsummertime.
Doug (41:43):
Perfect for summer.
Steven (41:44):
Yep, it's not.
You can have a large dinner andthen still eat this, and you
might want seconds.
Doug (41:51):
What does thicken it?
Is it the?
Lemon hitting the cream, yeahand that's sort of tightening
the cream up.
Yeah, so there's no gelatin nogelatin.
Steven (41:59):
How amazing.
The pectin from the, from thelemon juice, and beautiful,
wonderful thank you so much forthe sweet treat.
Doug (42:06):
Well, yeah, you got it.
I hope you enjoy it.
And chef Steven Bright, thankyou so much.
Oh, thank you for being on ThePittsburgh Dish.
Thank you for having me.
Do you have a recipe?
Share it with us.
Just visit our website atwwwpittsburghdishcom and look
for our Share a Recipe form.
If you enjoyed the show,consider buying us a coffee for
(42:29):
this episode or supporting theshow monthly.
You can find links to thoseoptions at the bottom of our
show description, and if youwant to follow my own food
adventures, you can find me onsocial media at Doug Cooking.
That's our show for this week.
Thanks again to all of ourguests and contributors and to
Kevin Solecki of CarnegieAccordion Company for providing
(42:49):
the music to our show.
We'll be back again next weekwith another fresh episode.
Stay tuned.
Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish.
I'm your host, Doug Heilman.
Did your family members havefond memories of the Jenny Lee
Bakery legacy?
We learn what Jenny Lee is upto right now with President
Scott Baker.
Want to spice up your chilledwhite wine this summer?
Katherine Montest shares atrend that will do just that.
(00:21):
Catherine Montest shares atrend that will do just that.
And if you're searching for theperfectly simple and cool
summer dessert with only threeingredients, we step back in the
archives and remind everyone ofSteven Bright's Lemon Posset
recipe.
All that ahead, stay tuned.
The Pittsburgh Dish issupported by Third Space Bakery.
(00:45):
Join me on June 26th for aspecial event with local
cookbook author Jessica Merchantof How Sweet Eats.
We'll be showcasing Jessica'slatest book Easy Everyd ay.
This event is presented inpartnership with White Whale
Books and tickets are availableat thirdspacebakerycom.
Now on to the show.
(01:06):
Thank you so much for comingover and for being on the show.
Would you introduce yourself toour listeners and what you have
going on right now in the worldof food?
Scott (01:19):
Absolutely, Doug.
Hey, thank you for having me.
It's such a pleasure to be hereand talk to you and tell you a
little bit about Jenny Lee.
So my name is Scott Baker.
I'm the fifth generation of myfamily in the business, the
baking business.
Yes, so my company is calledFive Generation Bakers.
We're the spinoff of Jenny LeeBakery.
Five generation, as I justalluded, is a literal term.
(01:41):
Yes, my great-great-grandfatheremigrated to the United States
in the 1860s and started afamily and had opened his first
bakery Well, I guess his onlybakery.
He only had one, but he openedup the Michael A Baker Bakery in
1875 in the West End ofPittsburgh.
Doug (01:59):
Okay, Steuben Street right .
Scott (02:00):
Steuben Street.
Doug (02:01):
I think I read some of the about in your website there.
Scott (02:06):
And it was at about 25 Steuben Street.
So if you're going through theWest End Circle and you cross
over the train tracks likeyou're going up towards Crafton.
Pretty much right beyond thoserailroad tracks is where 25
Steuben Street would have been.
Doug (02:17):
Oh, I mean, that's actually really close to where
we're recording right now.
It is sort of fun for me.
Scott (02:21):
Right, right Could be there on a bicycle in 10 minutes
.
Doug (02:26):
I know right right right.
So, I love it started righthere, really, in the city, or in
just the outskirts of the city,and it's gone on in many
iterations for five generations.
That's correct, Right, right.
Tell me a little bit about yourdad, then, and that lineage
from Jenny.
Scott (02:43):
Lee Sure.
So you know my dad, uh, and andand I'll.
I'll actually start from fromMichael A Baker.
Yes, um, he had, he had sevensons and eventually they all
joined his business, changed thename to the seven Baker
brothers.
Yes, it was the largest wholewholesale bakery in Pennsylvania
back in that time.
They were pretty, pretty neatstories I've heard about them.
They they rented a plane sothat they could be the only
(03:06):
bakery that delivers by air.
I mean, it was a stunt, it wasa marketing stunt, but it was
effective.
They coined the terms wholesomebaked products, wonder baked
products.
A lot of people have heard awonder, I don't want to say the
name but, you know,some other products out there.
They actually originally coinedthat term and that business
(03:32):
continued until in the 1940s.
And there were some challenges.
That was going on, you know,obviously that time with World
War II and just coming off theirdepression.
Yes, before the seven Bakerbrothers closed their doors, my
grandfather, the thirdgeneration, he, and a cousin,
Bernard McDonald, had theirideas to get into business for
themselves.
So they started writing theirbusiness plan for a retail
(03:53):
bakery.
Seven Baker Brothers was moreof a wholesale bakery and back
at that time wholesale didn'tnecessarily mean commercial
business to business, but it wasdoor to door.
They were like the milkman,they were the bread men.
They delivered up into Erie,into Youngstown, into Altoona,
(04:13):
via horse and buggy.
My goodness, they deliveredbread door to door.
Doug (04:17):
I think I would like that.
By the way, If somebody wantedto deliver bread, let's do that
I think they're doing it now.
Scott (04:25):
Walmart and Amazon gets fresh food to our doors these
days.
Doug (04:29):
Oh my gosh.
Scott (04:29):
It's crazy how it all comes full circle.
It does so.
Anyways, grandpap and I neverknew his cousin Bernard.
He was drafted into the war andit was a pilot and he was shot
down and killed.
This was in 1944 that BernardMcDonald died.
My dad was born in 45 and thatbecame his namesake, so my dad's
(04:50):
name is Bernard.
But anyways, backing up to thethird generation, grandpap and
Bernard were starting to writetheir business plan and they
enlisted two of their uncles,two of the seven Baker brothers,
to help them come up with abusiness plan and write their
draft.
And I know eventually you'regoing to ask me where's the name
Jenny Lee come from.
Everyone, always asks that It'dbe fun to say it was my grandma.
(05:12):
Or you know, I joke a lot andsay it was my grandfather's
mistress, but anybody that knowshim knows he just spun again in
his grave.
Sorry, grandpapa, you know hewas the most straight-laced and
ethical person you'd ever meet.
So when they were working ontheir business plan, uncle Frank
(05:32):
, one of the seven Bakerbrothers, waltzed into a meeting
late and grandpapa was likeUncle Frank, we're already on
line three, do you have an ideafor the name of the bakery?
And Uncle Frank had come inwhistling a song and he said
Sweet Jenny Lee from sunnyTennessee.
And apparently and I've donesome research, I mean it's not
just apparent, it was real.
(05:53):
There was a song in the 1930s,recorded by Guy Lombardo, that
was pretty popular he wasactually the third or fourth
artist to perform it and didn'treally take off until he had
recorded it.
And so had my great-great-uncleFrank not heard that Sweet
Jenny Lee from Sunny Tennesseesong, who knows what the bakery
(06:15):
would have been named.
Doug (06:16):
Isn't that interesting timing too.
Yes, probably.
If he wasn't late, he might nothave heard it.
He would have been on timeRight, right, right.
Scott (06:23):
And the funny thing is is too.
That's why our logo is thesouthern bell, because sweet
jenny lee was from tennesseeinteresting so then, you know,
in 1938 they got the bakery offthe ground.
They started in the in thecorner of the gc murphy building
and what then was known aspittsburgh's diamond market
today market square yeah inmarket square, yep and um you,
(06:45):
and it was an open-air marketthat people from Crafton or
Dormont or all parts of the citywould come in, bring their
wares and set up shop and sellthem out in the open market, and
originally their plan was tojust become a retail outlet for
Seven Baker Brothers products.
Within the first couple ofmonths he had requests for
(07:08):
donuts, which is not somethingthat the Seven Brothers made.
So he rented a fryer, bought afryer, put it in the front
window and started frying donuts, and then he started making
cookies that the Seven BakerBrothers didn't make and started
making other items.
By the end of the first year hewas making everything himself
and they didn't have the spacein a GC Murphy building for that
(07:28):
much production.
So they rented space from abakery in Dormant.
Okay, I'm not sure the exactname of the bakery, it might've
been Kohler's bakery, butFrancis Kohler was a very good
friend of my grandfather's, itwas her family's business and
they had rented space toGrandpap and they would bake it
(07:50):
and bring it in in the morningand sell it out of the GC Murphy
building.
Well, by a year or two in thatspace they completely outgrew it
.
So 1941, three years after thebakery had opened, they bought
their first building in McKee'sRocks Right and so they moved
the entire production operationthere and that became store
(08:11):
number two.
So, and he continued to growthe bakery.
Eventually he had threeseparate locations in McKee's
Rocks, one in West Park.
He had the candy kitchen.
It was actually a restaurantalong with a little candy store,
you know.
And then you know fifties andsixties.
They continue to grow.
My dad was the youngest of three.
(08:32):
Uh, his older brother, theoldest brother, jim, middle
brother, rich, and my dad,bernie.
Um, their ages are separated byfour years.
There was one year that theywere all at Notre Dame together.
Uncle Jim was a senior and mydad was a freshman.
But Uncle Jim graduated fromNotre Dame and worked for, I
believe, us Steel, one of thebig legacy companies in
(08:55):
Pittsburgh.
Uncle Rich went to fight for usin Vietnam.
He actually served on a swiftboat with John Kerry, wow.
And then my dad graduated NotreDame in 67 and immediately
joined the family business.
So even though he was theyoungest, he was the first one
in the business.
Doug (09:12):
Oh my.
Scott (09:14):
And at this point they continue to grow genuinely.
I recall my dad saying that oneof the first projects he worked
on was opening up our Kenmarstore, which, as we opened up a
store, we up our Kenmar store,which is as we opened up a store
, we you know we became theKenmar store, but then we also
assigned it a number.
Kenmar was number seven.
Eventually, in the heyday andin the early eighties, there
(09:35):
were up to 14 locations allaround Pittsburgh and I think at
that point in time there wasRay's bakery.
Doug (09:49):
I'm not sure if they were bigger than us or not, but they
had multiple locations.
I think Jenny Lee was probablythe premier bakery in Pittsburgh
.
So many memories for thesefolks of going to.
Scott (09:57):
Jenny Lee to get a sweet treat.
All these different things.
I love it.
It's able to continue thelegacy.
First of all, the family trade,the family business.
But when I opened up FiveGeneration Bakers and it was a
period of time it was prettydifficult.
When Jenny Lee had a major firein 06 on Thanksgiving Day shut
(10:17):
us down.
My mom and dad, committed tothe legacy of my grandfather,
committed to their customers andtheir employees, decided to
rebuild and we reopened just intime for the great recession oh,
in 2008, and we opened up midseven, okay, and we're trying to
rebuild.
We had, you know, all of ourretail business back, but we
also supplied 20 supermarkets atthat time and the supermarkets
(10:39):
weren't going to wait months fordonuts or decorated cakes.
So they had to find findreplacement suppliers, and we
get it, and we were justfighting to get that business
back.
But as we're trying to get ourrevenue back up, the recession
hits and then costs go out ofsight, and it just wasn't.
You know costs that you couldpass along to your customers,
and so, you know, my parentsmade the very difficult decision
(11:01):
in August of 2008 to close thedoors, you know, and at first I
find myself, you know, pissedoff on unemployment for the
first time in my life, burnt outand uh, but still traveling
from Zillion Opal to McKee'srocks every day to help my dad
liquidate and inventory hisbusiness.
And, um, a couple months agoI'm doing this and, um, you know
(11:22):
, a couple of months go by andat this point the anger had
subsided.
And this was a huge building,doug, it was a 34, 35,000 square
foot building, and we're German, we don't throw anything away.
So I find this file box thatwas taped shut.
It had my hand, mygrandfather's handwriting on it,
said 1978 or something likethat.
I cut it open.
And I find this file box thatwas taped shut.
It had my hand, mygrandfather's handwriting on it,
said 1978 or something likethat.
(11:44):
I cut it open and I find some,some file folders in there that
have newspaper clippings andfamily photos and and things you
know from when he was startingover and newspaper stories about
Jenny Lee.
And I was just like you knowwhat I'm a fifth generation
baker, I can do this and thatreally was my aha moment, um, a
spark.
It was like you know what I'm afifth generation baker, I can
do this and that really was myaha moment A spark.
It was Absolutely, Absolutely.
(12:05):
I went home that night Actuallyit's kind of funny because I had
a job offer from a buddy ofmine that I'd known for a while.
He was an entrepreneur, he hada sign business and he had
offered me a national salesmanager position.
It was close to double theamount of money I ever made in
my life.
And I get home that night and Isaid to my wife I said, joelle,
I don't think I can accept Ed'soffer.
(12:25):
And she's like, oh yeah, whynot?
And I said, well, here's myidea.
I think I need to start abusiness.
And fortunately she comes froma family of entrepreneurs as
well.
And she's like you know what,scott, if you need to do that,
then let's do it, and I love it.
I never looked back.
Doug (12:42):
I love it, and so you're the fifth generation Right
Bakery or baker.
Scott (12:46):
Five generation bakers.
It's a very descriptive name.
Yes, five generation bakers.
People always get it mixed up.
It's either fifth generationbakery, you know five
generations of baker.
It's like you know.
I just wanted a descriptivename that might fool some banks
into giving me money because I'man established business.
Well, you have the legacy forsure it didn't work.
Steven (13:08):
I didn't get any money.
Scott (13:11):
But you know I could not leave Jenny Lee on the sidelines
.
That was a brand, it was aPittsburgh institution and so
immediately my bread was JennyLee's Swirl Bread by Five
Generation Bakers.
And if you look at some earlyversions of our label, the name
of the company and the brand arejust as big as each other.
Now, if you look he's grabbinga loaf that he brought me right
(13:32):
now and I can show you on theside here, Five Generation
Bakers is just a footnote on theside.
Doug (13:36):
Yeah, sort of like diminished, you're still pushing
.
Now.
Jenny Lee is in the forefrontof all of it.
Scott (13:42):
We had to tell a story.
At first I didn't want peopleto think it was a continuation
or some transfer of business.
This was a new business a newstrategy.
But now you know, I look at it,it's Oreo cookies by Nabisco or
Cheerios by General Mills.
The company that makes thebrand is just a footnote.
Doug (13:59):
Exactly right.
Yeah, scott, I do want to breakdown the current state now.
You do not do retail anymore,right?
Since the fire and then all ofthe sort of the reorganization
and you forming this new companyso folks can find Jenny Lee
Swirl Bread in retail locationsthat you partner with.
You're also on QVC.
(14:21):
Yes, I am, is that right?
Scott (14:23):
Yeah, so you're correct, we're a commercial manufacturer.
Part of my strategy, I did notwant to be a retailer.
Doug (14:31):
You spend all night making donuts, and then you get a
sudden snow, squall and halfyour customers don't come in.
Scott (14:37):
Donuts have an 18 to 24 hour shelf life.
So you know I was veryintentional about being a
manufacturer.
I wanted to partner with expertretailers.
Shop and Save.
Giant Eagle, Eat n Park.
Those type of entities arewhere you can find our breads
and our products.
You can, we do, offer pickup.
(14:57):
You can go toJennyLeeSwirlbreadcom, yes, and
order a package of bread to pickup, and this is down at McKee's
Rocks.
That's at McKee's Rocks.
Yeah, you can go in.
Doug (15:06):
Not necessarily a it's our reception area.
Yeah, yeah, you're not goinginto a store, that's correct
yeah.
You're in the front of the bigmanufacturing house, right.
Scott (15:15):
And we of direct-to-consumer via QVC and
e-commerce.
Doug (15:20):
I do want to say I don't want to spoil anything for folks
, but I know things that you dobeyond the bread now, Because I
was gifted a few of these thingsand I made some darn good
cookies.
So, going back to the roots ofJenny Lee as a bakery and you
mentioned earlier, there weresweets, there were donuts, there
were other things you now havea product line beyond the bread.
(15:41):
Can you tell me a little bitmore about that?
Scott (15:43):
So, Doug, one of the things I've found, it's 17 years
since Jenny Lee Bakery isclosed and I'm literally still
asked two, three times a week.
When are you going to make thebuttercream case again?
Can you make me the chocolatedrop cookies?
There's this one woman, Tammy,that just beats me up on social
media to get these recipe forthese chocolate chocolates.
(16:03):
She wants her chocolate.
Doug (16:04):
And I don't blame her.
Scott (16:05):
They were good, but you know, 17 years that lives on and
people were asking me for thisand for that, and so, finally, I
partnered with a blendingcompany, um Tasty Blend, out of
uh Frazier's, bottom, WestVirginia, and we spent a year
developing authentic box mixesthat you can take at home.
And now I'm not going to makethat, but you can.
(16:26):
You can make the blueberrymuffins, you can make the
chocolate chip cookies, you canmake the birthday cake, and
we've literally just launchedthis new product a couple of
months ago.
It's been so exciting.
The response we're getting frompeople is it does taste exactly
like I remember.
Doug (16:40):
Oh, good see, I I baked with them, right?
I don't have that uh tastememory that some folks have,
sure.
And and if I can just kind ofchime in here, what I like about
the mixes is that they are abit of a blank canvas, like you
can do a muffin mix withblueberries or something else
like cranberries.
You, you gave me the, thecookie mix and, uh, you can do
(17:01):
chocolate chip cookies.
I think I threw in some.
Scott (17:05):
Yours were really good.
Doug (17:06):
I did a brown butter in mine.
I think I doubled the chocolatechips that you call for too.
They were loaded, yeah yeah,and I think I threw in.
Oh, what was the last thing?
Oh, cranberries.
I put cranberries in mine, yeahyeah.
Not like not to toot my ownhorn, but the cookie mix is like
it would.
It made it super easy.
Scott (17:22):
You won the competition, so I would toot your horn.
Doug (17:31):
Well, I would say this too .
So there's a yellow cake mix,there is a sweet dough, like, if
you're going to make likecinnamon rolls, um am.
Scott (17:34):
I missing anything?
There's a the blueberry muffin,the yellow cake, uh, the sweet
dough and the chocolate chipcookies, and we do have plans
for for others to come out.
But you nailed it like if youwant to remember what jenny lee
tasted like, follow theinstructions on the back of the
box to a t.
If you want to amp them up, ifyou want to modify them, if you
want to give them your own twistand pretend like you mixed it
(17:54):
yourself from scratch, yes, byall means, please do it.
And in fact I'm developing awebsite it's not live yet
JennyLeeBakeMixcom where weintend to give tips and tricks,
and I'd love to feature you onthat website with your recipe
from that competition.
So, you know, and also to showthere's different ways.
(18:17):
Everybody's home mixer isdifferent.
Somebody's using a hand blender, somebody might just be mixing
by hand or a countertop, um yeah, like a kitchen aid exactly
right I prefer the kitchen aid.
That's what I use at home, Imean.
So there are different ways touse each type of home equipment
tweak it up a little bit.
Doug (18:36):
You know just the technique's just a little bit
different.
You want everyone to get itperfect, right?
Scott (18:40):
and I'll tell you a little.
Other neat piece of pittsburghhistory and baking industry is
the bundy family from frompittsburgh, uh, crescent
township, usa, pan.
So their family goes way back.
I went to high school with withsome of the bundy's beautiful
family um, nice big family likelike the bakers and great pans
(19:01):
pans by the way, I have manymany USA pans in this house,
right.
So we actually collaborated withthe Bundy family and USA pan
when we started to develop thesemixes.
Okay, you know, the idea wasthat they could bundle them with
their pans.
If they're going to sell amuffin pan, then it gives them
an opportunity to sell the bakemix.
How smart, right.
Doug (19:21):
I love that synergy yeah.
Scott (19:25):
And so they've become our biggest outlet for the bake
mixes right now.
Doug (19:27):
Well, that was sort of one of my questions when can folks
find the baking mixes now?
Scott (19:32):
USAPancom, JennyLeeSwirlbreadcom and, as of
today, QVCcom.
Doug (19:39):
I thought I saw them on the QVC site.
Scott (19:41):
Literally that just went live today.
I think there's a bug we'retrying to work out.
Doug (19:46):
We're recording in early June, so once you hear this,
it's probably all worked outPerfect.
Scott (19:52):
This is Scott Baker with Jenny Lee's World Bread, and you
are listening to the PittsburghDish.
Doug (19:58):
All right, Scott.
Beyond all of that, I'm goingto go back to my original
question and say what else doyou have going on in the world
of food?
Oh, nothing much.
Scott (20:09):
Let me think so.
We very intentionally openedfive generation bakers without a
retail strategy.
I am so excited we are openingthe first ever Jenny Lee
breakfast nook.
It's going to be a breakfastand a diner and sandwich shop.
The first location will be inmoon township, where I grew up,
(20:31):
and it's going to be, you know,sandwiches, french toast.
The whole, the entire menu isdesigned around Jenny Lee breads
.
Right, but the good thing iswhere people like you don't have
a store.
You're a bakery.
I smell so good here, but Icome in I can't buy.
This will be a retail outletfor our breads and for our cake
mixes, bake mixes, other itemsthat we're making, as well as a
(20:56):
daytime restaurant.
Doug (20:57):
So, breakfast lunchy kind of place the breakfast will be.
I'm excited because I have tosay a couple of years back you
were at one of the Good TastePittsburgh bake-its and you were
making sandwiches on the spot.
Specifically, I remember thisis the savory breads you can get
off of QVC you were doingsomething with, I think.
Is there a tomato basil flavor?
(21:18):
Oh my gosh.
Scott (21:19):
I think I remember that event.
I believe we were making agourmet grilled cheese, so it
was two slices of the tomatobasil, california's tomato basil
bread buttered up.
California tomato basil breadbuttered up, um, and we, and we
toast both sides and then Ithink we were putting some spicy
jalapeno cheese on there and,um, some fresh basil incredible
(21:41):
little bit of garlic powder.
Doug (21:42):
I don't know if you can answer this, but at the nook
will we see any sandwiches oritems like that?
Scott (21:48):
Oh, absolutely.
So, not just sweet, but savoryand also lunchtimey things.
Doug (21:52):
So you got it for sure.
Scott (21:54):
Yeah, so, um, we're making, we've developed a smash
burger.
I'll show you this picture ourchef.
Um, you know, I don't have thetime and I don't have the
knowledge or experience to be arestaurateur or a cook or you
know um, so I partnered withthree exceptional restaurateurs.
So the fun part of medeveloping this business with
(22:17):
these guys is all the tastingmeetings that we've had.
Doug (22:21):
I can't imagine your job Right.
That's incredible Right.
And you mentioned it's going tobe opening in Moon Right.
Do you have a target timeframefor us now?
Scott (22:36):
So I'm hoping that by the time this comes out, we're open
.
Doug (22:37):
We're targeting mid month.
Okay, in June, in June, yeah,so June 2025.
Scott (22:40):
Yeah, another week and a half.
Doug (22:41):
Oh, my goodness Right.
I truly had no idea when youwere coming over today that it's
that close.
Yes, that's fun.
Scott (22:47):
Yeah, in fact, this week we had a hiring job fair at the
restaurant.
Yeah, in fact, this week we hada hiring job fair at the
restaurant.
My cousin, who happens to begood friends with one of my
partners, spent Tuesday andWednesday building the coffee
bar.
Oh, that's, that's our plan is,immediately when you walk in,
(23:16):
you'll see the coffee bar and beable to order a good cup of Joe
.
Um, you know, we, we anticipatethat we'll do a good deal of
takeout as well as dine in.
We think there's going to be,you know, possibly about equal
amounts of takeout and dine inand then, um, you know, possibly
as much as 20% of our businesswill be.
Doug (23:27):
You know, I call it swag, um, but just add-on sales,
retail sales, yes, and that'swhere you're talking about the
mixes or making the breads to goand stuff.
You got it I love this.
Can you remind me?
Do you know the address off thetop of your head?
Scott (23:39):
Yes, it's 1014 Broadhead Road, moon Township.
It's been a restaurant for many, many years, dating back to the
70s and 80s when I was growingup.
It was formerly the Pompeo'sRestaurant.
Okay, a lot of first dates.
A couple of last dates there.
Doug (23:57):
There's memories.
Right, right, right, and thenit operated as Fritangelo
Gardens which was a farmer'smarket and food outlet for many
years.
Scott Baker, you are such atrue Pittsburgher because you're
telling us what used to bethere.
Right, it was down a street fromthe giant eagle, I know scott,
you've already given us so muchfamily history, and then what's
(24:18):
going on currently with thebusiness?
It just has me wondering likewhat was food life like at home
growing up, or or even now, likeyou know, was there baking at
home?
Yep, you guys use the productson a regular basis.
Like what was food like?
Oh, we ate dessert every nightat home.
Yep, you guys use the productson a regular basis.
Like what?
Scott (24:32):
was food like oh, we ate dessert every night at home
growing up.
Yeah, my, you know we neverbaked at home, or very rarely.
I don't recall moments ofbaking.
Why would you?
Right?
Yeah, but you know my dad wouldcome home from the bakery the
bag of goods every night.
We always had something fresh.
Well, we always gone to it.
(24:52):
We wouldn't waste anything.
We'd get a glazed donut andit'd be four days old.
It'd be, you know, almost rockhard.
But you cut it in half andtoast it, put a little butter on
it and that zaps it right up.
Whole new thing.
But my mom is a wonderful,wonderful cook and we had I mean
, we had dinner as a familytogether every night.
In fact, you know I'm sittinghere at your table with my arm
on it.
My mom used to put molasses onthe table so that I wouldn't put
my arm on the table.
You had to eat with propermanners.
But just, you know so manymemories of sitting around the
(25:16):
kitchen table with the familyand talking about our day and
enjoying a good meal.
My mom, you know where we'reItalian and where we're German.
On my dad's side, my mom's halfItalian, so I'm a quarter, so
we've got.
She served a lot of Italianmeals and you know she learned
how to cook from my grandma, whowas also a wonderful cook.
Doug (25:35):
I love that and I think I just keep thinking now that you
are getting into a restaurantbusiness.
So just this world of takingfood to the next level is
everything for your.
You know your profession andyour livelihood at life.
Scott (25:48):
Yeah, absolutely, you know it's.
There's just so many goodmoments that happen around food,
right, and it's what you're inthis business.
For a reason it makes peoplefeel good.
You know, and, frankly, Doug,one of the things that helped me
determine my course of whatcareer I was going to do I came
out of high school.
I was a lazy student.
I, you know.
I had some intelligence and and, um, you know, some common
(26:11):
sense and stuff, so I made itthrough school, but I didn't
really focus on the right thingsat that time and I went to
college not knowing what Iwanted to do and thought maybe
I'll be a teacher, I don't know.
It was suggested to me by acounselor friend and so I
started taking some educationclasses at Kent State.
Frankly, I failed out at KentState.
I had a 2.0, but only becauseit wasn't your heart's fault?
(26:34):
It was not.
Yeah, and thankfully they hadfreshman forgiveness so they
dropped the Fs off my transcript.
But I'm home trying to decidewhat I'm going to do next.
I'm at Kmart and it was aThanksgiving break and there was
two cashiers bickering back andforth and she's like I can't
believe they're going to make uswork on Thanksgiving.
I get up in line.
I said oh, I'm really sorry tohear you have to work on
(26:57):
Thanksgiving.
Where I work, we work reallyhard up until the holidays, but
we get the holidays off.
And she's like yeah, where doyou work?
And I said Jenny Lee Bakery.
And this miserable beast of awoman just all of a sudden
calmed, like her face justmelted.
She's like oh, my goodness,your buttercream is so good.
And I, I, at that moment Iremember the goosebumps that my
(27:17):
hair stood up, and I get it whenI recall that moment, at that
point in time, like I alwaysthought I was an, I was the
class clown.
I, I couldn't sing, I couldn'tdance, I could tell jokes and
that was about it.
But I, really, I wanted toentertain people.
And now I'm like you know whatI'm going into?
The family business.
Doug (27:33):
You do it in such a great way and I have to say again
you're saying you weren'tfeeling like you know, book
smart or whatever.
You're the president of thecompany.
Scott (27:40):
Well, let's just say that , please Okay.
Doug (27:43):
So you've done good.
Scott (27:44):
I've done, okay, okay.
Doug (27:47):
Oh my goodness.
Well, based on, like thesefolks, reactions to some of the
old timey baked goods, is thereanything today that comes up as
a recipe from one of theproducts or something you've
seen that's really notable?
I mean, I love to take thecinnamon bread and, just you
know, toast it whatever.
Are there recipes now thatpeople are sharing with you or
(28:09):
things that your team has comeup with that like really does
make the product go to the nextlevel?
Scott (28:14):
Yeah, absolutely, and that's one of the most fun
things I have is when I talk topeople about our breads and how
to use them.
It's like you know it's breadand it's such a common thing and
there's so many differentvariations of what bread is.
You know, ours is a cinnamonswirl bread.
It's a breakfast bread.
It's a breakfast bread, it's asnack bread.
But I've learned most of thisfrom my customers.
(28:38):
But when my son he's 22 nowwhen he was, you know, six,
seven, eight years old, we wouldtake a dab of vanilla yogurt
and then cut fruit and put it ontop of a slice of bread.
Perfect, exactly Right.
The grilled cheese sandwicheswith the savory bread.
Doug (28:53):
Yes, it makes a mean French toast the cinnamon swirl
or any of the fruit-type onestoo.
Scott (28:59):
Bread pudding.
My aunt, for Christmas everyyear for her kids, makes a
French toast casserole.
It's like a cross betweenFrench toast and bread pudding.
A friend of ours, a really goodfriend of ours, uh, um, one day
came over with a pumpkin trifleoh and I'm eating it.
I'm like this.
Has my my pumpkin cinnamonswirl bread in it?
She's like it does.
So I mean those are like thelayers right yeah, right of
(29:23):
cream and and and whipped cream.
Amazing, right, but that'sthat's where it's really neat to
me to learn from somebody else,yeah, how they're using our
bread.
Doug (29:33):
How they're interpreting Right and I don't want to put
you on the spot.
But for the swirl breads, howmany flavors in total do you
currently have?
Scott (29:43):
Well, now that we just retired the banana split,
cinnamon swirl bread, I thinkwe're down to 14 different
flavors oh my gosh, that's stilla lot of.
Doug (29:53):
I don't even know if I know all those right.
I knew you had some savory.
I definitely know the cinnamonand the cranberry cinnamon, yeah
, so let me.
Scott (30:02):
Let me see if I can run through these real quick.
Our original is the classiccinnamon swirl bread.
That's the basis for everythingthat's the top seller 80 of my
breads come in that loaf Thencinnamon raisin, cinnamon, apple
, chocolate chip, cinnamonpumpkin pie, cinnamon swirl
bread, cranberry cinnamon swirlbread.
Then we introduced the savoriesCalifornia tomato, basil,
(30:25):
italian olive, focaccia,parmesan, garlic and herb and we
do a white sandwich bread.
And then we started, and youknow, our success on qvc has
allowed us to introduce moreflavors.
We have a blueberry muffin,cinnamon swirl bread, strawberry
cinnamon swirl bread and arethese only available through qvc
?
Um or our website or yourwebsite.
(30:47):
Most retail partners don't carryall these.
Yeah, it's just too much right.
Doug (30:50):
Yeah, I did one more question about the retail
partners.
It's not just the Pittsburgharea now right?
Scott (30:57):
No, not at all.
Doug (30:58):
How many states do you guys distribute?
Scott (30:59):
to.
You can find our breads in morethan 30 states.
Yeah, amazing.
We're in probably close tobetween 4,000 and 5,000
retailers and restaurants acrossthe country.
Now, if you and the retailersyou'll, you'll usually find it
under our brand, genuinely, andthen usually in the bakery
department occasionally it'sunder that store's brand.
(31:19):
We'll sell it to them in aclear bag and they slap their
own sticker on it.
And then we're in more than2000 restaurants under the VLOR
brand.
It's just we wanted to keepfood service separate from
retail.
Doug (31:30):
I see, Amazing.
I mean I really don't mean topound you with these facts, but
it's like you're so prolific andI love it.
It's not just Pittsburgh-based,it's really an American-based
company.
We become that.
Scott (31:43):
And that's part of the reason why we're expanding into
so many different products now.
The power of QVC when I'm onair, we'll sell 2,000 individual
orders when we go on air, butI'm being broadcast into a
couple million homes and so theJenny Lee brand, this Pittsburgh
(32:03):
institution, is now in the homeof people in all 50 states and
in fact, we ship into all 50states every year.
The beauty about thepartnership with QVC if you
bought from me, I'd have tocharge you the shipping costs
from here to Hawaii.
You don't want to pay it.
If you go to QVC, that costthat shipping cost is built in
and it's very affordable becausethey've got huge leverage that
will leave my bakery and be inyour home in Hawaii two days
(32:26):
later for the same price as ifyou're shipping to Ohio.
That is incredible.
Doug (32:30):
I just love the success.
I love that you have the accessand I love that you have all
these other new things happening.
I usually ask if folks havethings upcoming or new goals.
Is there anything that wedidn't touch on that you have
going on soon or coming up inthe near future?
Scott (32:46):
Well, I had a meeting today with an engineering and
architectural firm to put anaddition on my building.
I can't keep up with orders.
Doug (32:55):
Oh my gosh In McKees.
Scott (32:56):
Rocks In McKees.
Doug (32:56):
Rocks the big production facility.
Scott (32:58):
Yes, might be getting bigger.
Might be getting bigger.
Wow Right, we talked todayabout a 7,000 square foot
addition that would allow me todouble my bakery space
Incredible.
Doug (33:08):
I love it and I also I'm thinking about all the
opportunities that you're givingfor other folks locally If
they're looking for employment.
You're looking to expand,absolutely.
Scott (33:16):
Incredible, absolutely, yeah.
I mean we're looking forquality people to join our team.
We try to have a good culture.
We want to make it fun.
We believe in the people thatwork for us.
We believe in our community.
That's one thing that we'resuper focused on.
When I first took a job inmanagement for my dad that one
of the first things he told meto do was join McKee's Rocks
rotary.
And you know, being a part ofour community is a big part of
(33:38):
of our identity.
Um so you know if you're workingon an event, if you've got, uh,
you know, a need for thingslike that, we we produce more,
more bread that we can't sellbecause it might have a small
defect, but it's still perfectlyedible, and so I'm always happy
to help out efforts in thecommunity.
Doug (33:53):
Scott, thank you so much and thanks for letting us know
those things too.
Why don't we remind folks thatmaybe don't know yet?
How can they find and followyou?
Could you remind us your socialhandles or website?
Scott (34:06):
all of those things I mean personally, you can find me
on LinkedIn Scott Baker.
We're five generation bakers onLinkedIn.
Everywhere else, we're JennyLee Swirlbreads On Facebook,
jenny Lee Swirlbreads On Twitter, instagram.
I think we have TikTok.
You'll have to ask the Jagoffs.
Doug (34:25):
John and Rachel.
Scott (34:26):
Yes, yeah, they run my social media.
Doug (34:28):
Okay.
Scott (34:28):
And Michaela.
They do a fantastic job.
They do.
Yeah, it's all under Jenny LeeSwirlbread.
Okay.
Doug (34:33):
And will the Breakfast Nook kind of have its own
website and handles eventuallyit?
Scott (34:37):
will They'll all kind of connect.
They'll all be interrelated.
The Jenny Lee Breakfast Nook isa separate company, related,
but they're separate entities.
Doug (34:45):
Exactly.
So, it might have its ownwebsite.
Scott (34:55):
It will definitely have its own website.
In fact, it's set up right now.
You can go and check out someearly renditions of our menu.
You can join our loyaltyprogram already to earn 5% back.
All right, I think we'realready selling gift cards.
Doug (35:03):
Oh, okay, all right, scott , I always have one final
question for our guests.
Sure, the name of the show isthe Pittsburgh Dish.
What's the best dish you've hadto eat this past week?
Scott (35:16):
Well, you just caught me coming back from New Orleans and
I've literally have been in NewOrleans for a week.
So that's unfair, because I'mgoing to tell you I had a
muffalata at the Napoleon house.
That was all the good food Ihad down in New Orleans.
Doug (35:30):
That was by far the absolute best and can you remind
listeners because I've had thissandwich like what's on a
muffaletta.
Scott (35:36):
A muffaletta.
It's a special Italian doughand it's brushed with olive oil,
there's mortadella, there'ssalami and then there's
provolone and mozzarella, andthen there is a layer of olive
salad, and a New Orleans styleolive salad is what you want to
use.
It is a fabulous.
In fact, one of my favoritesandwiches on the Jenny Lee
(35:58):
Italian olive focaccia is themuffaletta.
Steven (36:00):
Oh.
Scott (36:01):
But okay.
So one of my favoritePittsburgh dishes that I had two
weeks ago I had at and thebusiness started here originally
Rockefeller's.
Oh, what started in Pensbury?
I don't think they're hereanymore.
Um, they serve gnocchi.
It's just out of this world.
It's little super tender puffsof pasta.
(36:22):
Uh, I know.
For many years Teresa's Italianbakery made the gnocchi for
them, though Teresa's closedlast year, so I'm hoping that
they're still using the sameauthentic recipe.
It's delicious.
Doug (36:34):
And where is this Rockefeller's?
Scott (36:36):
Rockefeller's is in the Giant Eagle Plaza in Kennedy
Township.
That's right.
Doug (36:40):
Yeah, because they used to have the two locations.
Yes, yeah, I miss them here.
Yeah, good food.
Well, those are some best bitesand we can go with muffaletta
from New Orleans as well.
Steven (36:49):
That's excellent, that's good bites.
Doug (36:51):
Scott Baker, it has been such a pleasure to talk with you
, to learn your history and talkmore about your business and
all of the great things going onright now.
Thank you so much for takingthe time and thanks for being on
the.
Scott (37:01):
Pittsburgh Dish.
I'm just honored and humbled tobe in here and being able to
have the opportunity to share mystory.
Thank you, Doug.
No, thank you.
Doug (37:08):
Up next.
If you're looking to spice itup as you're sipping your white
wine this summer, Catherine hasa trend that will do just that.
Hey, everybody, we're joinedtoday with Catherine Montest,
our resident wine expert fromyour Fairy Wine Mother, Hi Doug,
Hi, Catherine.
Hey, as we get into this year.
I know in the past we've talkeda lot about red wines.
(37:30):
I was wondering if there areany new trends in white wines.
I feel like people drink whitewine more in the summer.
I think maybe that's just myown perception.
Catherine (37:41):
No, I think your perception is bang on.
There is a huge trend in whitewine right now, and you can see
it all over social media, andthat is Sauvignon Blanc with
jalapenos in it.
What, yes?
Doug (37:56):
Wait, so people are making this, or is there a vinter
actually making?
Catherine (38:01):
it.
This is kind of an at-homething.
Got it so you get your favoriteSauvignon Blanc, and this makes
sense for Sauvignon Blanc,because Sauvignon Blanc already
has a little bit of a grassinessokay yeah to it.
So a lot of times you'll getsome grapefruit and peach and
passion fruit flavors, but it'sthat lemongrass and the
herbaceousness that um kind ofreally marry up nicely with the
(38:25):
jalapeno.
And there's also a compoundthat comes from the grape, from
savignon Blanc, called Pyrazine,which to a lot of people tastes
really strongly of green pepper.
And at the heart of it all, ajalapeno is a green pepper after
all, it's another green pepperyeah.
Steven (38:43):
Absolutely.
Catherine (38:44):
So if you like green peppers and you want a really
refreshing and bright summerdrink, that's why everybody's
throwing their jalapenos in theSauvignon Blanc.
Doug (38:54):
Okay, so let's just break this down.
So I have a chilled bottle ofSauvignon Blanc.
Catherine (38:59):
Yep 45 to 55 degrees.
Doug (39:01):
Okay, Am I just throwing a jalapeno in the bottle like
squishing it down through theneck?
Am I cutting it in half firstto get a little more heat?
What have you seen?
Catherine (39:11):
Mostly what I've seen is people cutting it into
little slices okay and,depending on your spice
tolerance, floating one or twoor three of them in the glass oh
so this is like once you'vepoured the wine, absolutely
you're not letting it sit fordays.
No, no, no, no no no, okay, andyou can even slice your
jalapenos and then put tuck themin the freezer okay so that'll
(39:31):
help to chill the wine a littlebit or keep it chilly longer
when you're drinking it.
Oh, I like that.
Doug (39:36):
Yeah, interesting.
You know, when you were talkingabout the notes of Sauvignon
Blanc, I started thinking aboutmargarita, because some of those
same kind of flavor profilesgrapefruit or the grassiness
that sort of picks up in amargarita.
So I could see how this is adifferent but playing in the
same flavor neighborhood as that.
Catherine (39:58):
Kind of dovetailing off the spicy margarita.
Yeah yeah, all right, that's agreat observation, Doug.
I haven't made that connectioneither.
Doug (40:05):
Okay, so we're saying a wine trend, that's out.
There is Sauvignon Blanc with a, dare we say, a float of
jalapeno slices.
Catherine (40:15):
Yeah, yeah, does that sound yummy to you?
I mean, I would try it, yeah.
Doug (40:19):
All right, Catherine.
Thank you so much.
Catherine (40:22):
It's always fun to talk with you, Doug.
Doug (40:24):
You can follow Catherine on Instagram at your fairy wine
mother.
That's you are fairy winemother.
That's U-R Fairy Wine Mother.
Searching for the perfectdessert for an evening summer
meal?
Look no further than the LemonPosse.
We first learned about thisrecipe at the end of last summer
(40:45):
with Chef Steven Bright andthought it's worth a revisit.
Let's have a listen.
Steven (40:49):
Okay, so this summer has been really hot, okay, so this
summer has been really hot.
I've been looking for somethingthat is really cool and
refreshing.
I brought you you and Greg afew samples of it today.
It's called Lemon Posset andyou know it's becoming very
popular.
When I first started making itfor clients, I had never heard
(41:13):
of it.
It was a three-ingredientdessert that you know.
I thought, wow, how good couldthis be if it's just that simple
?
But we realize now that thesimpler the better.
So this has sugar, cream andlemon in it and it just comes
together and it creates thisdreamy pudding that totally
(41:35):
melts on your palate and leavesjust a lemon cream not cloying.
Yeah, it's perfect forsummertime.
Doug (41:43):
Perfect for summer.
Steven (41:44):
Yep, it's not.
You can have a large dinner andthen still eat this, and you
might want seconds.
Doug (41:51):
What does thicken it?
Is it the?
Lemon hitting the cream, yeahand that's sort of tightening
the cream up.
Yeah, so there's no gelatin nogelatin.
Steven (41:59):
How amazing.
The pectin from the, from thelemon juice, and beautiful,
wonderful thank you so much forthe sweet treat.
Doug (42:06):
Well, yeah, you got it.
I hope you enjoy it.
And chef Steven Bright, thankyou so much.
Oh, thank you for being on ThePittsburgh Dish.
Thank you for having me.
Do you have a recipe?
Share it with us.
Just visit our website atwwwpittsburghdishcom and look
for our Share a Recipe form.
If you enjoyed the show,consider buying us a coffee for
(42:29):
this episode or supporting theshow monthly.
You can find links to thoseoptions at the bottom of our
show description, and if youwant to follow my own food
adventures, you can find me onsocial media at Doug Cooking.
That's our show for this week.
Thanks again to all of ourguests and contributors and to
Kevin Solecki of CarnegieAccordion Company for providing
(42:49):
the music to our show.
We'll be back again next weekwith another fresh episode.
Stay tuned.
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