We often happen to perceive a smell that instantly takes us back to a place / moment when that smell has strongly catalyzed our actions, thoughts, senses forever impregnated in our memory under that olfactory imprint. I don’t know about you, but I have a top three of those olfactory moments, and they are all positive just like luck. One is the smell of pine in the house, which automatically takes me back to Christmas Eve. Classic… I know. Then, there is the smell of coffee that I always associate with weekend mornings when, being at my grandparents’, I always dipped my nose in the box of ground coffee, which caused me a brief moment of euphoria, although the bitter taste of the coffee disappointed me deeply. But the smell that has always been perfectly congruent with the taste is that of fresh bread! The most wonderful smell! You can hardly find a child who will not give in to the temptation to bite from the bread crust, on the way home, after being sent to buy it. I often went to buy bread, and no matter how full my stomach was, that crispy crust with irresistible smell was welcome. Every time I go past a bakery, I slow down just to catch the scent of freshly baked bread. Even more so if the bread is made with passion and dedication, if its ingredients are carefully selected, if it is seasoned with patience and skill… then the smell must be in line with it at Claudia’s Bakery!
A few months before the bakery opened, my husband and I printed out several possible names for our bakery. I said from the beginning that we should avoid English words, and look for a name as personalized as bread. After many possible (and impossible) names, we have reached the conclusion that a more personal name than the name of the one who creates the product, does not exist! So, we called it Claudia’s Bakery.
I knew for a while about Claudia’s bread and, beyond ingredients, taste and technique, the fact that there is a brand of 100% natural bread, which is a small miracle in this industry so marked by consumption. Who created the brand identity?
After choosing the name and thinking what we would like the logo to look like, we went to a PR firm and came to PMA. They presented us several variants and after a few discussions, we chose the current version. I should mention that I went to the PR firm because I needed someone to build us the lit banner that would be above the store.
However, Claudia, along with her husband, promotes their products in the simplest and most honest way possible: quality!
The thought of a brand was really far from us! We invested very little money in promotion, branding, marketing etc. Besides, I do not really agree with the importance of this matter. We preferred to invest in books, people, ingredients. For us, the best promotion was the product created. We came to make this bakery after many years of searching for good bread. After long searches and tests, I got to read about leaven. I made my leaven and started making bread several times a week. I was working in retail at that time. I was bringing a few slices to work, and I gave it to my colleagues to taste. So, I started making bread for my colleagues, too. After that I made bread for my colleagues’ acquaintances until I realized that I like bread more than working in a multinational company. Supported by my husband, we started our small bakery project. It took about a year from idea to opening.
For one year, two people worked in the bakery: me and a colleague. I didn’t do marketing at all. I only had time for bread, it was word-of-mouth marketing. The main concern was to make a clean bread with the most natural ingredients: only water, flour and salt, without commercial yeast.
As for the customer relationship: As much transparency as possible, in the sense that we do what we say and say what we do. It was not easy but the reaction of the clients and the satisfaction from working with the dough motivated me. I really like to make bread and I like to watch it in the oven as it grows and bakes. The moment I remove the bread from the oven, and I smell it, and I hear the ruddy crust bursting, it comforts my soul😊.
Few things are more beautiful in this world than making and giving bread! That’s why Claudia’s bakery message is: Simplicity. Quality. Passion.
Where do we find Claudia’s bread?
Come directly to our bakery in Florești, str. Stejarului nr. 1 B or str. Ioan Rațiu no. 8 Cluj-Napoca and our parteners.
Hassium by Anca B.