![Both Bloom Bakery locations have been closed for two weeks, but new owners plan to get back to baking at the 1938 Euclid Ave. location in the Campus District early next year. [Gayle S. Putrich / ideastream]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/6019af3/2147483647/strip/true/crop/980x551+0+0/resize/840x472!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F11%2F22%2FBloomClosed.jpg)
A new bakery is set to open at the site of Bloom Bakery. The venture doesn’t have a name yet, but the owners say it will continue Bloom’s model of hiring people who face barriers to employment.
Bloom Bakery, owned by non-profit organization Towards Employment, announced its closure earlier this month. Towards Employment then issued a statement saying they hoped to reopen the bakery soon.
Now, another on of the bakery's original founders, the Fahey Group, has made a deal with the organization to open a bakery at the Bloom Campus District location, on Euclid Avenue near Cleveland State University.
Fahey Group CEO Logan Fahey said the new bakery will continue to hire people who face barriers to employment, a central part of Bloom’s business model. Employees will go through culinary training and work full-time. From there, the bakery will help connect them to future jobs.
“We’ll continue to work with the community partners who have hired Bloom employees since day one, which are many different organizations in the hospitality space in Cleveland,” Fahey says. “That’s integral to the model and certainly one of the most important elements that we’re keeping.”
The Campus District location, which includes a commercial kitchen, will become the main branch of the new bakery. The former Bloom location on Public Square will remain closed, Fahey said, but there is a plan to open new satellite locations in Cleveland neighborhoods, starting with one in Ohio City in 2020.
“We believe it needs to be in the neighborhoods, so we’re spending a lot of time focusing on what are the right areas for Bloom’s concept, long-term, and how do we really focus that into the community in Northeast Ohio,” Fahey said.
London-based chef Maurice Chaplais, who developed Bloom’s original menu, will create gluten-free and vegan options alongside some of the original Bloom staples for the new bakery. The team also hopes to expand catering and wholesale options, Fahey said.
The new bakery is set to open in January. The hiring process will begin next month.
