Our philosophy

Brian and Jenna started TBND to provide our customers a bright and inviting community bakery/café to enjoy hand crafted baked goods and food made on-site by highly skilled bakers and cooks, and served by dedicated, skilled and passionate baristas and hospitality staff.

We do not ask our customers to subsidize our labor costs with tips, as most do in the food service industry; we pay our workers higher wages so you don’t need to tip to ensure our workers are fairly compensated. The price charged for our products reflects the costs for the skilled labor necessary to make it and serve it, as well as all the quality ingredients, equipment and space needed to make and enjoy it. We have never provided a tip screen on our payment system. We do provide a cash tip jar at some customers’ explicit request to leave a token of their appreciation for the services provided.

We firmly believe it is a moral imperative to compensate our talented bakers, cooks, baristas and hospitality staff with wages and benefits (healthcare insurance, paid vacation and paid sick leave) in excess of the standard for the industry in this expensive region of California. Our employees can feel comfortable taking vacation or sick leave because their wages are guaranteed and not dependent on tips. We also firmly believe our customers deserve to know the listed price is THE price they will pay, and not be asked or guilted into paying more in the form of a tip.

We appreciate any comments you would like to share on our approach. We are humbled every day our customers make a choice to come to The Baker Next Door to purchase and enjoy our amazing products in our special spot. This IS the reason we opened our shop.