Best Friends Create The First Black Owned Bread Brand

The search for a Black owned bread brand is officially over! Charles Alexander, Mark Edmond, and Jamel Lewis, three childhood friends from the southside of Chicago, have launched The Black Bread Co.

black owned bread company — Charles Alexander (from left), Mark Edmond, and Jamel Lewis, the founders of The Black Bread Company,

The inspiration for the company came after Mark tried, unsuccessfully, to find a Black owned bread brand on the shelves of his local grocery store.

“My wife gave me a grocery list, [and] at the top of the list was bread,” he said. “I wanted to buy everything that was Black-owned, and this huge bread aisle had absolutely no Black-owned bread. I literally was in the aisle for 35 minutes. Out of frustration, I left.”

Building on each other’s business skills, they were able to determine their company design, logo, create a website, select whole ingredients for their sliced bread, and hire a co-packer to help launch The Black Bread Company.

They went through numerous rounds of testing to make sure the bread was just right.

“There’s a certain level of pressure that comes when you’re starting something that’s never been done before,” Alexander said. “And the pressure for us was to make sure we got it right, and so we really took our time with the entire process.”

They currently offer honey wheat bread and premium white sliced bread but are looking forward to adding more products such as hot dog and hamburger buns, multi-grain bread, and brioche.

Since the company’s soft launch in February, it has received over 1,200 orders. They currently offer products online nationwide through pre-order. A bi-weekly or monthly subscription to the “Private Bread Club” is also available.