(photo by Rose Mattrey)

Started as a small neighborhood bakery nearly a year ago, Five Points Bakery has evolved into a general store of sorts, offering fresh and local everything, processed and imported nothing. Their mission is clear and adamant: Sustainable is the way to go.

All of their products have a traceable history. The grinds from their Gimmie Coffee (out of Ithaca) are composted to grow the spinach used in their pizzas. “The pigs where that lard comes from, they eat the spent grains from the Pearl Street Brewery,” says Kevin Gardner, who co-owns Five Points with his wife Melissa. “That’s one of the things about local food that I think people are going to start to see, is that these things are all interconnected.”

Homemade brown sugar, freshly ground flour, and dried corn are all packed in reusable mason jars that customers are encouraged to return. Their wheat, yogurt, and cheeses are provided by producers that are just as much friends as they are business partners. “Our relationships with our grain farmers, our meat producers…we have a personal relationship with them, and it has to mesh in principles but also in people,” says Kevin.

It goes without saying that all of their products are local. This of course means that the seasons have more say in the inventory than the Gardners do. “We had a cool wet summer,” Kevin says. “That’s horrible for wheat. That’s okay for us, because we’re not trying to please a massive market. There is a market of people in Buffalo that care about where their food comes from, they care that it’s healthy, they care that it’s made well. And that’s enough for us to exist, and that’s all we need. And if we don’t appeal to a lot of people, so be it. We’re not interested.”

—ann marie awad

Green Profiles: Dave Majewski • Jason Briner • Brandon Majewski & Emily Gadanyi
Dorian Gaskin • Scott Redding & Sarah Buckley • Adam Hovey • Kevin Gardner

Green Stories: Dig a Little Garden • Eating in One Place

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