I recently checked in with Berkshire Mountain Bakery owner Richard Bourdon and Operations Manager Dennis Iodice to learn what is new and around the corner for this iconic local bakery celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. And I left with a large bag of irresistible (yet healthy!) treats from their beautiful retail case.
KATY SPARKS
You’ve shared that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the bakery. Congratulations, and how do you want to celebrate this impressive milestone?
RICHARD BOURDON
(Laughs) Just keep making great bread for the next 40 years! I actually structured the bakery and organized it so that there is no reason it shouldn’t be here for the next 700 years. I started my career in Europe, and I used to walk around a lot, and in one particular small town there was a bakery that had been there for 900 years—so it’s possible! We’re in a brick building, and everything is built to last.
SPARKS
What kind of small everyday changes are you making that will support this goal of longevity for the business?
DENNIS IODICE
We’re constantly reinvesting in the bakery. We have a new generator, and we put up new solar panels a few years ago that now provide 34 percent of our energy.
BOURDON
The freezers and refrigerators use a lot of power!
SPARKS
What has been your business arc over the last five years, which encompasses the COVID and post-COVID era when a lot of changes occurred in the food industry?
IODICE
Sales never went down during COVID, and in fact they’ve been going up five to six percent consistently for the last eight years. COVID was challenging because we paid ‘hero pay’ to our workers so our costs were higher, but we didn’t raise our prices. We were able to keep going and we never closed—not even one day.
SPARKS
Do you have any trouble attracting and retaining staff these days?
IODICE
Yes, it is difficult to staff the business. Baking bread is a demanding job.
BOURDON
I’m currently at the cusp of having a wonderful team right now, and I can see this team being solid for about three years, which is a good thing. But labor in the Berkshires is always difficult to find. Housing is expensive and scarce. But we make it through, and I’m always ready to jump in whatever needs to be done.
SPARKS
Richard, what do you make of the fact that two well-known bakeries in Great Barrington have put up ‘For Sale’ signs in their windows? Any thoughts?
BOURDON
Well, the Berkshires has always been a difficult place to do business because it is not densely populated. There are lots of small towns far and few between, so it’s not great for retail bakeries. But I’ve diversified myself so I’m big enough to go out with deliveries to say a 50-mile radius, and we do a combination of retail, wholesale, and mail-order business. I’ve learned to not put all my eggs in one basket. So, in other words, if I had to survive on just retail, I would probably struggle also.
IODICE
We deliver from Northampton to Albany and from Williamstown to northwest Connecticut four to five days per week. It’s an efficient route so our energy costs are not too bad.
SPARKS
Dennis, you serve as president of the board of BerkShares and BerkShares Local Inc. (the educational, 501(c)(3) entity that operates BerkShares). You also serve on the board of CDCSB (Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire). You are clearly very engaged with the community. What does accepting BerkShares at the bakery mean to you?
IODICE
Taking BerkShares at the bakery didn’t start with me, but I’ve made sure to let people know that we take them. And we probably take in between 50 and 100 BerkShares a week, so it’s significant income for us. And using BerkShares is the easiest thing people can do to support the local economy. One thing that came out of COVID is a lot of competition between shipping and freight companies nationwide. So, this means the cost of shipping has gone down dramatically, and bakeries from Ohio or Minnesota or New Jersey can more easily bring their products to the Food Co-op or Guido’s or Big Y. So, it’s really important that people choose how they spend their money, and if they spend BerkShares, they are more likely to buy local products.
SPARKS
Following up on that effort to keep the money local, how do you source the raw materials for your products?
BOURDON
The most important thing is that we purchase whole grains. Sourdough is designed to ferment whole grains to make them more digestible and healthier, and the first step of that is we mill the grains fresh every day. We source the grains locally—right now we’re working with Hudson Valley Hops and Grains.
IODICE
We also have a good relationship with Marty’s Local (a locally focused food distributor) which allows us a greater reach for our products. Right now, we are focusing on broader distribution of our frozen sourdough pizzas. And through our connection with Marty’s, we have recently switched our cheese supplier from Wisconsin to Narragansett Creamery in Rhode Island. We keep our eyes on how to make everything a little better quality wise and support our local food makers. Now in addition to other cheeses, Narragansett is working on making a sharper cheddar for us. They source their milk from two dairy cooperatives: one in Massachusetts and one in Vermont, so it all feeds back into this local food economy.
SPARKS
Dennis, how do you spend the BerkShares you take in at the bakery?
IODICE
I spend them at Kwik Print, the Berkshire Food Co-op, and we’d really love to spend them at Carr Hardware and Marty’s Local if they start taking them!
SPARKS
Richard, any personal goals for 2026?
BOURDON
This year, as soon as I can get my team in place and I have some free time, I’m planning to travel around the country and the wider world to visit as many bakeries as I can. I have a lot of baking experience, but I’ve always been here in a roughly half-mile circle, and I need to be re-inspired and bring back the best processes and creative approaches I find to this community.
