February 10 / 4-5pm ET

This free session will delve into key concepts from the Bakery Leadership Circle program, exploring how bakery owners and operators tackle their stickiest business challenges. Together, we’ll unpack lessons learned in the Circle and see how these insights are being applied to real-world operations.

Key topics include:

• Identifying and Addressing Adaptive Challenges: Learn to navigate complex issues that require creativity, flexibility, and collaboration to solve.
• Active Listening: Discover techniques to improve communication, foster stronger relationships, and create a more inclusive workplace.
• Sunk and Opportunity Costs: Understand how to evaluate your investments—whether time, money, or energy—to make better decisions for your business’s future.

Joining us to share their experiences are:

• Amy Corliss, owner of the Little Bird Bakeshop
• Nate Houge, owner of Brake Bread
• Kevin Masse, owner of Small State Provisions

The Bakery Leadership Circle is a program dedicated to supporting bakery owners and operators through education and peer consulting activities. To date, 44 bakery leaders have participated, and we are excited to showcase their insights and successes in this engaging discussion.

Craft • Culture • Careers • Community

February 11 / 4:00 PM - 5:30 pm ET

Chocolate lovers are among a bakery’s most loyal customers. Couverture lines have a variety of styles to meet the various needs of your diverse menu. These recommendations consider viscosity, fat, and flavor—but how does this translate to your tried-and-true formulas? Understanding the versatility of these options can streamline your inventory and make selecting the right chocolate products less daunting. 

In this class, Guittard pastry chef Josh Johnson will share his secrets for enhancing cocoa flavors and creating consistent results as he explores the nuance between distinct types of chocolate products.   

By the end of this class, students will have learned about: 

• Best applications for different chocolates 
• Emulsions and how to stabilize and fix them
• Which types of chocolates can be substituted and the fundamental differences between them  

Josh Johnson, Products Application Director

Josh Johnson is the Pastry Chef of Guittard Chocolate Company, the revered San Francisco Bay Area family-owned chocolate maker, where he brings his celebrated craft, artistry and palate in developing new recipes and ideas with Executive Pastry Chef Donald Wressell.

Josh has competed in and won the National Pastry Team Championship with team captain Donald Wressell and teammates Scott Green and Della Gossett.  The team went on to win Best Dégustation and Silver Medal overall at the 2012 World Pastry Championship in Las Vegas. Josh also competed in the 2015 Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie with teammates Scott Green and John Kraus, coached by Ewald Notter and Donald Wressell, where they brought home the Bronze medal.

Josh started working in pastry as a teenager in his uncle’s pastry shop in Illinois and honed his skills training under the tutelage of mentor Sébastien Canonne, M.O.F., and pastry chefs En-Ming Hsu, World Pastry Champion, and François Payard. He was Executive Pastry Chef at Everest in Chicago, co-owner of Cocoa Bean Fine Desserts in Geneva, Illinois, an instructor at The French Pastry School and, most recently, Head Pastry Chef at Destination Kohler in Kohler, Wisconsin.

He is inspired by chocolate’s infinite variety of flavor profiles and its versatility as an ingredient that can also be sculpted and shaped to delicious and delightful effect.