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Rick
and Karen Crawford opened their first bakery in Lafayette
Square Mall on the west side of Indianapolis, IN in 1981, having
purchased a Tiffany's Bakery franchise from Rick's aunt.
Years prior to acquiring this bakery, Rick baked his way
through college in his Aunt Jody's Tiffany bakery on the
northeast side of town as a "cookie boy,"
and after graduating from IU School of Business worked for the Kroger Co. as a deli and
bakery merchandiser. Karen also worked for the Kroger Co. as a deli
restaurant manager. Rick and Karen's 750 sq. ft. Tiffany
Bakery in
Lafayette Square Mall featured fresh cinnamon bread, Danish pastries,
cakes for all occasions, and cookies. Back in the early
years, Rick was the main baker and Karen, with the part
time help of their thirteen-year-old daughter Jennifer, decorated
cakes on a single wooden bench in the back room. Wedding cakes
were delivered by using the couples two Omni hatchbacks.
The
Tiffany's
franchise dissolved in 1984 and Crawfords Bakery was born.
The Crawfords quickly out grew the tiny mall space and decided
to move their bakery operation to 1609 N. Capitol Ave.,
across from Methodist Hospital, in downtown Indianapolis
in 1987. At this time, the bakery's name was changed to Crawfords
Bakery & Deli, as Rick and Karen decided to incorporate
a deli program, along with their established full line
retail bakery,
in order to capture the local area's busy lunch crowd.
The 1911 building they moved into was divided into two shops:
Crawfords Bakery & Deli with 3000 sq. ft. and Pandell
Florists, owner of the building, with 1000 sq. ft. Due to
an increase in customer sales, Crawfords Bakery & Deli
expanded once more by taking over the space occupied by Pandell
Florists in 1999. In 2002 Rick, a self-taught baker, received
a Certified Master Baker certificate from the Retail Bakers
of America. There were only only 135 CMB's in the
United States at this time, which is quite a distinction.
Unable to release the building, Crawfords Bakery &
Deli closed its doors, after twenty one years of operation, on
September 30th, 2008.
While keeping busy with their downtown bakery deli, Rick and Karen
opened a 12,400 sq. ft. wholesale bakery in 2003 with
the vision of supplying quality products to customers looking
for a niche co-packer. Even though their retail business
ended in 2008, the wholesale arm of the business has
grown to take its place. With the use of automated
equipment and shifts running 24/7, Crawfords
Wholesale Bakery now is a 24,600 sq. ft. plant
with products being shipped to 48 states. It is also a
Kosher business. The AIB superior plant specializes in
producing customized cakes, cookies, brownies,
muffins, & Danish. In 2008, Mr. Brian Hinton, a
bakery owner from Calgary, Canada partnered with Rick
Crawford, introducing Sweet
Results to the US market. The following is Brian's story:
"Growing
up in a small farming village in England, I learned the value
of natural, fresh and local foods. The seasons dictated much
of my childhood diet, fresh fruits in the late summer and
fall, root crops in the winter and spring. But, always flour,
grains and seeds year round ,refined products were rare ,even
the sugar and eggs were
brown. Apprenticing with the local baker, I learned the
slow, wholesale way of baking. Nothing was hurried, all the
ingredients came from the country-side within a few miles
radius. Natural soaking of the grains, released all the
nutritional value ,a balanced diet was never a problem. In
today's world of highly refined ingredients, many deprived of
their natural nutritional values, the bakery products no
longer have the flavor or taste of yesterday. When I created
the Sweet Results bakery products, all the recipes and
ingredients were carefully chosen to reflect those earlier
times .Slow baking with long soaking of the grains produces
the rainbow of flavors and taste associated with yester year.
Enjoy the blends of grains and flours, just like nature
intended them to be. With today's concerns about environmental
impact, Sweet Results products generate
a tiny carbon footprint in today's world of global
giants."
In 2009, Crawfords Wholesale developed its own product line
called Crawfords Own. Crawfords Own consists of jumbo
cupcakes, muffins, extra chewy brownies, a variety of
flavored cake layers, and Danish
coffeecakes.
8227 Northwest Blvd., Ste.205 Indianapolis, IN 46278,
Phone: 317-872-2660, Fax: 317-872-1573
Hours of Operation: Monday thru Friday 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
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