4-minute read
Wednesday, Jan. 21, was a very busy day for Jenn Smurr, 38, owner of Born & Bread Bakehouse at 1113 S. Florida Avenue.
It’s the day Born & Bread was named a semifinalist for this year’s James Beard Award for Outstanding Bakery, one of the most prestigious culinary awards in the nation.
“There were just a multitude of things happening at once,” Smurr said. And throughout the day, her phone kept vibrating in the bag on her hip, but she didn’t stop to see why.
When she finally had time, one of the messages was from another baker and friend. “It just said, ‘JAMES BEARD’ in all caps,” she said. At first, she assumed her friend had been nominated.
Later, Smurr’s administrative assistant would tell her that the James Beard Foundation called while Smurr was in a meeting. It wasn’t until hours later that she finally had the chance to tell her about the nomination.
After she finally got the news, Smurr said she thought to herself, “I’ve got to put my head down, other things matter. I’ve got a lot of work that I have to get done right now. I’m gonna celebrate this in a little bit.”
“There’s actually a lot going on right now in terms of the focus that we have as a small business and just some changes potentially coming up,” Smurr said.
On Wednesday, they rolled out a new online order system to replace the one that had been in place since the pandemic. They conducted a lot of interviews of new potential staff. Smurr was entertaining bakery-owner friends in town from Canada.
And when the workday ended, she went home. “My girls are two, right?” Smurr said. “And they’re just having an absolute meltdown. There’s nothing more humbling than just real life.”
Lakeland as a cornerstone
Smurr didn’t always think she would stay in Lakeland. “I wanted to be anywhere but here.”
“And then, it was just like — it was magnetic. There’s something about Lakeland that is the cornerstone,” she said. “It is the root of what has made Born & Bread so special. It couldn’t have existed in the same way somewhere else.”
The bakery will turn 11 in March, and Smurr admits that, “Up until having my girls, I lost, in so many ways, a lot of life. I felt there was a sacrifice needed to get where I was going.” The nomination feels like it’s coming at a time when Smurr finally has a chance to appreciate it.
The first few years of Born & Bread were wild and crazy and challenging, she said. “I don’t think that anyone doing something worth a damn will ever have it light. And I think that, you know, that’s the beauty in it — the best views come from the hardest climbs in life.”
She is proud to see Lakeland on the James Beard semifinalist list. “When I look at this list, it’s like New York City, Albuquerque, you know, all of these big cities. And then there’s Lakeland, Fl.” She imagines people asking, “Where in the world is Lakeland?”
Excellence is a core value
The James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards “recognize excellence in the culinary arts, food and beverage, and hospitality industries.”
At Born & Bread, excellence is one of the bakery’s four core values: positivity, excellence, consistency, efficiency. “It’s an acronym that spells peace without an A,” Smurr said.
She knows customers come to Born & Bread for some of their favorite pastries, and she wants to ensure that they get what they’re expecting. Every step of the process of every pastry they serve must be done right — and Smurr and her team don’t cut corners. She said sometimes that means having a difficult conversation, but it’s worth it to strengthen her relationship with her employees and make sure the bakery is delivering the very best to customers.
Smurr is looking forward to relishing this moment and sharing it with the people, past and present, who have helped make it possible.
“When I first heard about the news, and it was bakery — it wasn’t just baker — it instantly made me think about all the people along the way, my favorites, that really made an impact.” Some of them have moved out of state and been gone for years, but, Smurr says, “We did this because you were a part of it.”
Last night, Born & Bread posted about the nomination on social media, “just letting the community know,” she said. They ended the post, “See you tomorrow. Same place, same way, same time.”
“We’re still gonna be here. Nothing’s changing,” Smurr said. “It’s just a new little sticker to put on the wall, to say like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s right. I’m in a place that cares.’”
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