Ryan Donicht works to restock bread at the Franz Bakery Outlet store in Nampa Wednesday afternoon. (Chris Bronson/IPT)
By ERIN BAMER
ebamer@idahopress.com
NAMPA — The Nampa branch of Franz Bakery is adding 17,000 square feet for a new outlet and extra shipping and warehouse space.
Franz Bakery is a family-owned company that was founded in 1994 in Portland, Oregon, and has since grown into a chain of nine bakeries across the Pacific Northwest. Idaho and Utah General Manager Rob Robinson said the Nampa bakery is unique because it is the only bakery that produces buns and bread loaves on the same system.
Robinson said they hope to have the new outlet open by the end of October. The store will replace the old outlet that is still open along Park Centre Way.
The main reason the new outlet is being constructed is to make it easier for customers to access the store, Robinson said. Many Nampa residents don’t even know the bakery has featured an outlet for years, he said, but with the new store right beside Midland Boulevard, it will be more visible. It will also include a parking area.
“Right now, customers have to park on the side of the street,” he said.
The new outlet will be a slightly larger and more modern-looking store, and it will still offer the same items for sale. The Franz outlet sells many of the company’s most popular items, like its old-fashioned doughnuts and organic nine-grain bread loaves, as well as other items that complement the baked goods from partnering companies, like jams and other spreads. Robinson said the store offers some of the best organic and gluten-free options that are available in the area.
The old outlet will be converted into a break room for Franz employees, Robinson said. When the company bought the small family-run bakery that occupied the building in 2010, there were fewer than 30 employees working there. Since then, Franz has expanded in physical size and number of employees, but that has limited space for those employees.
“We’re trying to have a better experience for our employees,” Robinson said.
The added shipping and warehouse space will also more than double the number of trucks that can load Franz products and increase efficiency of their operation, Robinson said.
