Building the Brick Oven Bakery
- March 19, 2015
- / Shannon Nickinson
- / community-dashboard
How much can you do with flour, water, salt and yeast?
Michael Frimenko can do a lot. And he wants to show Pensacola what “bread life” can be.
“Some are no more interesting than a slice of toast,” Frimenko says. “Some are jewels in themselves you wouldn’t dream of putting butter on it because it has so much flavor.”
Later this summer he will roll out the Brick Oven Bakery on West Government Street.
He hopes the bakery, which he will run with his wife, Heather, will become part of the moving the footprint of the revitalization of the downtown Pensacola Palafox corridor westward toward A Street.
[caption id="attachment_17565" align="alignright" width="364"]
The Brick Oven Bakery is coming to Pensacola.[/caption]
“Being the village bakery means being part of the community,” he says. “I want to see what is happening on Palafox corridor expand east and westward and eventually into the rest of the city. And for a startup like me, you need to be where the people are.
“There is life in that area, but we are going to be a bit of a beacon.”
Bids for contractors went out recently and should be back in a few weeks. From the time Frimenko orders the custom-made brick oven — which will be made in Italy and shipped to the U.S. — it will be at least two and half months before it arrives in Pensacola.
It will be installed by workers from the vendor, who will assemble it inside the building, the former home of Gulf Winds Federal Credit Union.
“When you walk in, to your right will be the retail area, with display cases, big display on the back wall with big beautiful loaves of bread and baskets filled with every you could imagine,” Frimenko says.
To the left, occupying three-fifths of the total space, is the bakery space and oven.
“You’ll see product going in and out of that oven, dough being mixed, croissants being made," he said. “I wanted to expose everybody to what we do and why it makes it different.”
From Napolean’s to Philly and make
Frimenko wants to be part of the westward expansion from Palafox to A and Garden north to Cervantes. “It’s going to take time, but it’s going to happen.”
He grew up as a Navy brat, but his mother is a Pensacola native. He said his parents met when father was in flight school and mom was working at the Navy Country Club in the pro shop. They were engaged just a few weeks after they met, but they were married for 33 years, until his father’s death. “They were each other’s one and only for sure.”
Frimenko has always been into food. As a University of West Florida student, he took all the course she could with Pierre Kaufke, who was part owner of Napolean Bakery on South Jefferson Street.
Kaufke heard Frimenko discussing his plans to go to culinary school, and he made Frimenko an offer. Go to culinary school in Miami, or stay in Pensacola and apprentice at Napolean’s, where he would learn from one of the bakery’s founders.
Frimenko and his wife moved to Philadelphia in 2003, where he worked in a bakery in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood.
That’s where he decided he could see himself doing this long term.
“That is where the seed of the ambition to have my own place came from.”
He and his wife Heather decided to make a big change in their lives. In August of 2012, they sold everything, except their dog and their cars and all that would fit into them a small trailer, and moved back to Pensacola. They both got jobs here in restaurant business — she in the Bodacious family of shops, he at Carmen’s Lunch Bar.
“Carmen’s put me in touch with a lot of people who have helped this process along,” he says.
The Brick Oven Bakery Facebook page started in mid-February. The Frimenkos are looking at July for opening.
To begin with, it will just be the two of them, but they are keen to hire additional help as the bakery grows.
Becoming the “village baker”
Frimenko also wants to build bread culture in Pensacola.
[caption id="attachment_20213" align="alignright" width="450"]
Owners hope to open the Brick Oven Bakery in June.[/caption]
“Bread is more than just a vessel for delivering other types of food,” he says. “Bread is food for its own sake. We’re going to give you the best possible, the most wholesome, whole grains. We’re also going to give you some stuff that’s decadent as well.”
That decadent stuff will include croissants, which could be full of butter, or chocolate or cream. Pastries that make the most of seasonal ingredients and bread that will find a home on your table.
French, Italian, sourdough, rye are likely to be staples. Other breads and pastries will be available on certain days.
“Most people eat bread with every meal, so why not make it the best bread possible. the most wholesome and healthy bread possible,” he said. “If you are going to eat something with every meal, why eat something that is full of additives and chemicals that are not necessary” but are there for convenience, to make the bread last for a longer period of time.
“Convenience foods are the reason we have so many health problems in this country.”
There will be some wholesale, but Frimenko says that aspect of the business will start out small.
“We love what we do and want to continue loving what we do. We don’t want to burn out.”
The Brick Oven Bakery is coming to Pensacola.[/caption]
“Being the village bakery means being part of the community,” he says. “I want to see what is happening on Palafox corridor expand east and westward and eventually into the rest of the city. And for a startup like me, you need to be where the people are.
“There is life in that area, but we are going to be a bit of a beacon.”
Bids for contractors went out recently and should be back in a few weeks. From the time Frimenko orders the custom-made brick oven — which will be made in Italy and shipped to the U.S. — it will be at least two and half months before it arrives in Pensacola.
It will be installed by workers from the vendor, who will assemble it inside the building, the former home of Gulf Winds Federal Credit Union.
“When you walk in, to your right will be the retail area, with display cases, big display on the back wall with big beautiful loaves of bread and baskets filled with every you could imagine,” Frimenko says.
To the left, occupying three-fifths of the total space, is the bakery space and oven.
“You’ll see product going in and out of that oven, dough being mixed, croissants being made," he said. “I wanted to expose everybody to what we do and why it makes it different.”
From Napolean’s to Philly and make
Frimenko wants to be part of the westward expansion from Palafox to A and Garden north to Cervantes. “It’s going to take time, but it’s going to happen.”
He grew up as a Navy brat, but his mother is a Pensacola native. He said his parents met when father was in flight school and mom was working at the Navy Country Club in the pro shop. They were engaged just a few weeks after they met, but they were married for 33 years, until his father’s death. “They were each other’s one and only for sure.”
Frimenko has always been into food. As a University of West Florida student, he took all the course she could with Pierre Kaufke, who was part owner of Napolean Bakery on South Jefferson Street.
Kaufke heard Frimenko discussing his plans to go to culinary school, and he made Frimenko an offer. Go to culinary school in Miami, or stay in Pensacola and apprentice at Napolean’s, where he would learn from one of the bakery’s founders.
Frimenko and his wife moved to Philadelphia in 2003, where he worked in a bakery in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood.
That’s where he decided he could see himself doing this long term.
“That is where the seed of the ambition to have my own place came from.”
He and his wife Heather decided to make a big change in their lives. In August of 2012, they sold everything, except their dog and their cars and all that would fit into them a small trailer, and moved back to Pensacola. They both got jobs here in restaurant business — she in the Bodacious family of shops, he at Carmen’s Lunch Bar.
“Carmen’s put me in touch with a lot of people who have helped this process along,” he says.
The Brick Oven Bakery Facebook page started in mid-February. The Frimenkos are looking at July for opening.
To begin with, it will just be the two of them, but they are keen to hire additional help as the bakery grows.
Becoming the “village baker”
Frimenko also wants to build bread culture in Pensacola.
[caption id="attachment_20213" align="alignright" width="450"]
Owners hope to open the Brick Oven Bakery in June.[/caption]
“Bread is more than just a vessel for delivering other types of food,” he says. “Bread is food for its own sake. We’re going to give you the best possible, the most wholesome, whole grains. We’re also going to give you some stuff that’s decadent as well.”
That decadent stuff will include croissants, which could be full of butter, or chocolate or cream. Pastries that make the most of seasonal ingredients and bread that will find a home on your table.
French, Italian, sourdough, rye are likely to be staples. Other breads and pastries will be available on certain days.
“Most people eat bread with every meal, so why not make it the best bread possible. the most wholesome and healthy bread possible,” he said. “If you are going to eat something with every meal, why eat something that is full of additives and chemicals that are not necessary” but are there for convenience, to make the bread last for a longer period of time.
“Convenience foods are the reason we have so many health problems in this country.”
There will be some wholesale, but Frimenko says that aspect of the business will start out small.
“We love what we do and want to continue loving what we do. We don’t want to burn out.”
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