On January 10, 2023, La Brea Bakery locations in Anaheim and Los Angeles’ Downtown Disney Districts permanently closed, leaving the restaurant sector to focus on expanding the bakery business through retail grocery and food service locations.
Nancy Silverton and Mark Peel, who was her husband at the time, opened the original Campanile Restaurant on La Brea in 1989. It was a sad day for Angelenos who had been to the original artisan bakery.
At the time of the renowned bakery’s 30th anniversary, Silverton said to L.A. Weekly, “People ask me what it was like beginning a business like Campanile and La Brea Bakery with little children and a newborn soon after, and a spouse. “You don’t think about it enough and just do it because you are immersed in it. I have living proof that I did it; therefore, even though I have no idea how I did it, I know I did.
The bakery was financed by the restaurant as a result of the bakery’s afterthought decision to supply it with bread. As a result, Silverton established a bakery cafe, a novel idea in Los Angeles at the time. She had no intention of opening a bakery and restaurant on the same property; it just so happened to be that way. Silverton ultimately paved the way for Panera Bread and other chains to emerge across the nation years later, and the rest is history for whole-grain products. Later, the bakery and café were located across the street, and Silverton sold the bakery business for $90 million in 2001.
In a statement to L.A. Weekly, Christine Prociv, Chief Commercial Officer of Retail at La Brea Bakery, said, “The restaurant industry has always been challenging, and the current environment is more challenging than ever.” Twenty-five percent of independent restaurants have closed during and after COVID amid ongoing labour and supply chain issues, as well as inflation. La Brea Bakery has run two company-owned cafés as well as 18 licenced café outlets across the nation for the past 34 years. Our ability to concentrate on our business strategy of expanding La Brea Bakery into grocery and food service, as well as increasing distribution of our delectable artisan breads in these segments so that even more people can enjoy them, is made possible by the fact that we now have three licenced locations.
On January 9, 2023, the Los Angeles and Downtown Disney Café employees were informed of the closures, and the Aspire Bakeries Human Resources team started working directly with affected employees to make the transition easier. The franchised La Brea Bakery kiosks at JFK Airport in New York and Reno International Airport in Nevada will continue to be open.
