Good Bread - 1515 Madison Street
Have you driven down Colfax and noticed a line of socially-distanced people standing in a parking lot at Madison Street? Chances are they were waiting for bread. But this isn’t run-of-the-mill bread - it’s Good Bread. Inside, an enclosed counter dons an assortment of freshly baked pastries, lovingly made by someone who started baking at 3:00 a.m. And now you’re standing happily in line for them. In the rain. That’s how good Good Bread is.
“It’s a lot of hard work, but at least we made it through 2020,” says owner Gabby Yezbick. Good Bread opened officially in August 2020. The pandemic didn’t keep the community from showing up. Socially distant lines began forming every weekend since, even enduring questionable weather.
“I always used to say that baking chose me because it wasn’t really something I sought out,” says Gabby. She holds a Bachelor’s in nutritional food science from Michigan State University and an MS in Food Science from The Ohio State.
Fresh out of Michigan State, Gabby worked at a sliced bread factory in Fort Wayne, Indiana assisting with their nutritional panels. Despite its premise, it wasn’t the best job. Unsure what she wanted to do, Gabby decided to head back to school at The Ohio State University.
Because of her experience at the bread factory, she was selected to work on a project studying a soy-supplemented sourdough bread that was in development. Clinical trials were performed on prostate cancer patients, analyzing the health-promoting compounds in the sourdough and how the fermentation affected compound profiles. Baking is considered a science by some, and this is further proof.
After moving to Denver, she worked at Thump Coffee in Capitol Hill developing their baked goods program. While working at Thump, she met her current business partner, Oliver Miller-Finkel. Gabby stayed at Thump for five years, while Oliver went on to open Lula Rose General Store on the south side of Colfax at Madison Street (3434 E Colfax Ave.) where he baked his own pastries in-house. Gabby kept in contact with Oliver; they always talked about the possibility of doing something together. Then finally took the leap and left Thump to pursue the bakery.
During a short transition, Gabby baked bread and other delicious pastries at Lula Rose with Oliver before they started Good Bread. When the space across the street at 1515 Madison St. became available, Gabby was finally baking for herself.
They are a small, but mighty team. Gabby and Oliver do the baking while their one employee handles the counter. Oliver’s girlfriend is in charge of the Good Bread Instagram account. (Follow it now)
As a group, they brainstorm ideas for new pastries using what’s in season for inspiration. Most pastries are developed “on the clock,” tasting to make sure the flavors work or a new pastry cream is on point.
“There’s little time for R&D,” says Gabby. “Over the years I’ve developed a sense for what will work. I think about all the factors pretty intensely before I start and have a pretty good idea how a pastry is going to turn out.”
Recently they purchased and installed a wood-fire oven for pizzas, bagels and anything else they can creatively throw into it.
“When I was growing up Friday’s were always pizza night. Right now we are only selling to friends and family, but we’re hoping to utilize it with the warmer weather.”
There are plans in the future for Good Bread. Currently the bakery occupies a small portion of the building. Long term, Gabby would like to rent the entire building and serve brunch with cocktails and espresso bar drinks (The Normandy French restaurant was once located at 1515 Madison St). She plans to dress up with the front patio this summer to encourage people to enjoy the Colorado weather and Good Bread pastries.
“Expanding into the rest of the building is going to be a little bit further down the road and don’t have a full timeline for it. But we’ll see. It’s baby steps right now.”
Gabby and Oliver are working with Denver graphic designer Andy Diaz to design a logo and signage, along with new packaging for orders.
“We are just taking every opportunity we have and turning it into something. So I would stay tuned.”
The 411:
Located at 1515 Madison Street (faces Colfax Ave). Recently expanded business hours - Thursday-Sunday, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Pre-orders for bread are available on the website for Thursday pick up. Order bread at www.goodbreaddenver.com. Follow their delicious Instagram and Facebook accounts to ‘stay tuned’ @goodbreaddenver.
