Great Harvest Bread Company. Any opinions?

Our daughter and her two young children have told us how much they love the GHBC, but we'd never been in one until today.

Today we stopped in to have a sandwich, and it was quite good: Undeniably fresh, super quality ingredients, made to order, and freshly baked bread used. The place was mobbed too. With lines for the sandwiches, and lines for the bread orders both busy. It was obvious that quite a few of the folks were repeat customers too. And they were purchasing a great deal of bread.

So far I've only experienced two slices of bread---the ones on either side of my club sandwich---and it was obviously freshly baked, with that mealy texture and fresh flavor that only fresh-baked can give. It was pretty good, although frankly I generally prefer crustier styles rather than traditional "bread loaf" bread.

We purchased a loaf of pumpkin cake bread, but haven't tried it yet, so can't report.

Just wondering what others here think about the GHBC and their products.

Our daughter and her two young children have told us how much they love the GHBC, but we'd never been in one until today.

Today we stopped in to have a sandwich, and it was quite good: Undeniably fresh, super quality ingredients, made to order, and freshly baked bread used. The place was mobbed too. With lines for the sandwiches, and lines for the bread orders both busy. It was obvious that quite a few of the folks were repeat customers too. And they were purchasing a great deal of bread.

So far I've only experienced two slices of bread---the ones on either side of my club sandwich---and it was obviously freshly baked, with that mealy texture and fresh flavor that only fresh-baked can give. It was pretty good, although frankly I generally prefer crustier styles rather than traditional "bread loaf" bread.

We purchased a loaf of pumpkin cake bread, but haven't tried it yet, so can't report.

Just wondering what others here think about the GHBC and their products.

Don't like it at all. The loaf of bread I bought there was just a cut above Wonder bread.

Hoke,

I love their bread. Especially the spinach feta and garlic cheddar. Sadly, they do not serve sandwiches at the one by my office. Only whole loaves of bread and cookies. If your Son still lives in Shorewood, there is one next door in Whitefish Bay.

Don't like it at all. The loaf of bread I bought there was just a cut above Wonder bread.

Just a cut above Wonder Bread....not so.

They have been in our town for about two years and I have found their bread to be very nice. Fresh, healthy, lots of options and nothing like that gooey, thin, tasteless Wonder Bread. I have a partial loaf of their whole grain wheat bread in the freezer right now and I can tell you that it is dense and full of flavor. In fact, one slice of it, toasted, with a wedge of partially mashed avocado, fills me up at breakfast, along with my usual tomato based drink. We have not tried all their breads, but the whole grain wheat and the pumpkin, with the chocolate bits are very good. From what I understand, ours is locally owned and the family can add their own touches to the breads, plus experiment with their own recipes.

From what I understand, ours is locally owned and the family can add their own touches to the breads, plus experiment with their own recipes.

Yep, that is true with the ones I visit and they try to use local ingredients. I have had nothing but good luck with them.

With the caveat that we buy crusty loaves almost exclusively and could easily live on a steady diet of baguettes, I have to say that we give no business to the GHBC that is within walking distance of our house. They seem to excel mostly at sticky-sweet baked things, but we don't go in for those by and large. The fluffy breads that they make don't fit in with our uses for bread, so that's pretty much the end of the story.

Mark Lipton

Yeah, Mark, I'm a crusty bread guy too. If we want loaf bread we usually have a multi-grain loaf around; but we don't use much of that even, just the occasional sangwidge for a quickie.

At dinner it's always crusty bread. We do have a friend though who goes through the cook-it-yourself routine, and I do like her bread because it's grainy and dense and chewy; and quite frankly, it's an out of the ordinary experience for me.

The GHBC loaf bread was pretty tasty on the sandwich though----had that dense chewy character I mentioned. I think the Chef was a little harsh in his WonderBread snap shot, but then, that's the Jefe's style, right?

I did try the Pumpkin Choco Chip Cake Bread earlier this evening. It was pretty good---but remember, it was cake bread style, so it was rich and gooey and thick and heavy, so you might not care for it. I don't think of it as bread, really; more as a cake slice, a la pound cake. Or what some people call breakfast bread.

What I'd give the kudos too though is the deli style sandwich: it was fresh, freshly prepared and good quality. I'd go back for that without hesitation. And the clientele certainly is loyal; that, to me, is high praise.

Of course, McDonald's customers are loyal too.

Another thing I noticed---impossible not to notice---is that a whole bunch of people were availing themselves of the free slices of bread they had front and center. They would put huge slabs of fresh creamery butter out, along with three or four loaves of different bread, and people were encouraged to slather and munch. Good sales technique, obviously, because the people were definitely into the home hearth comfort feeling of bread and butter.

slabs of fresh creamery butter

They didn't have any of that stale butter made in the mattress factory?

Folks, I must be living in an alternate universe. I REALLY don't like their bread at all. Once was quite enough.

We have had a GHBC store in Lexington for probably 20 or more years. For several reasons I don't frequent it very much, not the least is their price(s). A loaf of white bread is around $4.50 and while quite good, it is a bit heavy. The GHBC bread is as you have said very dense, and a loaf the size of a regular 1 pound Wonder bread will weigh at least twice that from GH. If the truth be known though, it does remind me very much of what my Mother baked twice per week for as long as she had a family to feed. I do admit to buying that occasionally for use as toast, and always buy a half dozen loaves of it to take to my family reunion each Memorial Day weekend. My siblings (whats left of them) always think I have brought them a treat. Like some others here, my choice is almost always a crusty French style of bread, and I am lucky to have a bakery producing that less than a mile from my home.

Perhaps they vary in different parts of the country but the offerings at GHBC in my town are totally ghastly - not only is there no crust, the crumb is dense, wet, sweet, sweeter and did I say sweet. Even the whole grain, pseudo-rustics have so much sugar that you would think it was a cake gone wrong.

There are none near me, though I have heard good things from others (and thought about stopping at one last week in CA, which is why I opened this thread). But a curious thing struck me:

So far I've only experienced two slices of bread---the ones on either side of my club sandwich-

Doesn't a club sandwich have 3 slices bread?

Doesn't a club sandwich have 3 slices bread?

Not in this economy, Dale. The Club Corporation hired a consultant to advise on how to lower costs. The consultant told them they could reduce costs by 10% if they downsized and reduced the number of slices of bread from three to two.

There are none near me, though I have heard good things from others (and thought about stopping at one last week in CA, which is why I opened this thread). But a curious thing struck me:

So far I've only experienced two slices of bread---the ones on either side of my club sandwich-

Doesn't a club sandwich have 3 slices bread?

Ah, you touched on one of my petty gripes, Dale.

Used to be you knew what you would get when you ordered a "club sandwich". Not so, anymore. People seem to feel it's okay to free interpret the club sandwich as anything they wish it to be; or they add their own moniker to the phrase to turn it into anything they want it to be.

This was a 'club sandwich' only in the fact it combined turkey and ham. Suppose that combination was what they deemed a club. And yes, only two slices of bread.

Feh. At least it was better than a burger.