Local bakeries bucking trend of national bakery worker shortage

MARYLAND – A report by the American Baking Foundation finds 10,000 baking jobs are going unfilled in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, citing an aging and hard-to-find workforce.

Despite those national trends, The Ugly Pie in Salisbury says after a six-month long search, and move to a new facility, they are fully staffed ahead of the Thanksgiving busy season.

“It’s very typical in the baking industry that not as many bakeries exist, at least on the Eastern Shore, so having that experience is very difficult,” said Co-Owner Shaina Bounds.

Bounds says they had to hire folks with predominantly restaurant experience to fill roles; one they say can be very demanding.

“You can be expected to make a crust, roll a crust, and make the filling, bake the pie, top the pie, and then potentially even run the registers. We’re here at 6:30 in the morning, and a lot of people work anywhere from eight to 10 hours. We work five to six days a week baking, prepping, and getting ready,” Bounds said.

For Mandala Pies in Berlin, they found an intern as part of a culinary program from Rhode Island. The intern will work from August to December at the site.

Owner Caitlin LaComb says they have workers as young as 15, and as old as 80, across their locations. She says filling positions has been a process that can take months, and often comes with high turnover.

“It can take months to try to fill it with the right person. Or, you know, sometimes our applicant pool is zero for a long time,” LaComb said.

Now fully staffed she says she had to resort to out-of-the-box thinking for hiring and creating an atmosphere of learning on the job.

“We say we can teach everything except integrity, but you have to be oriented, working in a hot place, and it is an intense atmosphere it’s not at home relaxing baking,” LaComb said.

Both businesses say they are looking forward to facing the upcoming holidays fully staffed, and ready to meet demand.

“More people, more pie being made creates more demand, which in the future will hopefully continue. And, that’s how you create like a pretty incredible legacy with the company,” LaComb said.

“We’re excited for this new holiday season. We love our new space. Our customers seem to be loving it, and we’re really hoping to break our record of 855 last year and maybe hit a thousand this year,” Bounds said.