com-pan-ion \kum-'pan-yun\ n [fr. L com with + OF pain bread] 1: someone with whom you share your bread

For a few days every year, we break away from the daily bakery routine to attend the Great Harvest Annual Owners Meeting.  We look forward to this event every year for several reasons.  It's a chance to rejuvenate our bodies - exercising in the morning, laying by the pool, catching up on sleep -- easy to do this year, with the meeting in Tuscon. 

Secondly, we rejuvenate our brains -- attending seminars to make our business even better.  JP and I gained lots of information on upcoming trends in the food industry and learned how we can enable our customers to have a phenomenal experience at our bakery.

Finally, we rejuvenate our spirit -- our favorite part!  We relish the time visiting with other owners.  We are companions on the journey!  We have a chance to talk to the owners who are excelling in different facets of the bakery business.  We look for Greg from Owensboro to talk sandwich issues.  We hunt down Dirk from Anchorage to get his latest checklists and find out how he has 7000 likes on his Facebook page!  We cornered Jeanette and Jeffrey from Burke to talk Farmer's Markets details. Great Harvest is such a unique franchise - known as a Freedom Franchise.  We embrace our individuality and our commonality with other owners.  We are grateful for the wisdom that these folks share with us! We have learned so much from our Great Harvest family. 

com-pan-ion \kum-'pan-yun\ n [fr. L com with + OF pain bread] 1: someone with whom you share your bread

Well, if you haven’t heard yet, Café Cohen no longer resides inside Great Harvest Bread Co.  Yes, we are still serving espresso, cappuccino, and pour-over coffee. It was easy to brag about having the best coffee in Lafayette because coffee is Jason’s passion and he really knows what he’s doing.  That was evident when he started training us.  Let’s see, we spent 4 hours learning about steamed milk (and I hadn’t gotten my hands on the steam wand yet!!).  It was like learning from a professor!

It’s been an honor to have Jason’s top notch team in the store.  Jason, Jenny, Tory & Dan became members of our Great Harvest family – companions on the journey... We want to thank you, Café Cohen, for going the extra mile when we were slammed with customers and for teaching us what a latte is really supposed to taste like!  To our customers, we hope that we can serve you as well as Café Cohen has in the past. It was hard to say goodbye to our friends: Jason, Jenny, Tory, and Dan, and it will be hard to fill their awesome “espresso-making” shoes (Dan’s, literally!).  They have trained us well; we are up for the challenge!

By the way, Jason’s passion for photography is evident in his professional work! Check out his website. 

When traveling, JP & I always make a point of visiting other Great Harvest bakeries.  We were fortunate to hook up with Brad & Alicia, owners of the Temecula, CA bakery.  We spent a magical night at their home enjoying delicious food and great live music.  The setting: their home  on the edge of a cliff overlooking the city; large fire pit keeping us warm; a homemade bandstand adorned with lights; foot-stomping, hip-swaying live music  -- I felt like I was in a video!

The musician, Lee Koch (pronounced "cook") was a baker from the Temecula bakery -- who happened to be a contestant on NBC's The Voice.  We knew he was going to be traveling so we told him to come by Lafayette if his travels took him to Louisiana.   Well....sure enough, we got a call a few weeks later...Lee and his wife Nicole were a couple of days away from Lafayette!