DALLAS — One of the biggest conundrums in the baking industry is the generation gap … more specifically, when millennials entered the workforce, asking the question that has plagued parents for generations: “Why?”
It’s a question that old-school bakers — those who learned to bake with their senses instead of machines — are not often comfortable answering. Then again, when a family bakery flips to the next generation, it’s an inevitable conversation.
Oscar “OJ” DeSouza Jr., owner of Signature Baking, was academically trained in the scientific method, so asking those hard questions came quite naturally in his quest to create sustainable solutions for the bakery operation and, ultimately, the business.
“When I came in, I brought a fresh perspective, not knowing why my dad did certain things and just asking a lot of questions,” he recalled. “Sometimes, his only answer was, ‘Because we’ve always done it that way.’”
Then again, the scientific method also demands that conclusions lead to more questions, and for DeSouza, that’s the real key for growth.
“Now, I fear that I’ve been in it long enough that I don’t necessarily have that fresh perspective anymore,” he said, “and I find myself saying things like, ‘That’s just how we’ve been doing it.’”
Following his father’s cue, DeSouza looked to his family and rediscovered that fresh perspective. In 2017, DeSouza’s wife, Jennifer, left her career where she used her MBA in the healthcare industry, to join the business and cast a new light once again.
“She came in with her own expertise and brought yet another fresh perspective on what we’ve been doing, and that’s been really helpful,” he said.
As Jennifer focuses on refining internal processes and account management, Signature Baking is on the precipice of the next stage of growth.
To maintain momentum, DeSouza believes the company must focus on continuous improvement. His leadership is rooted in the open-mindedness that comes with always asking new questions.
In that quest, this year DeSouza joined the American Bakers Association and got involved with BEMA to take advantage of the associations’ respective education, networking and advocacy programs, as well as learn from other bakers and tap into new supplier networks as the operation expands.
“We’re refining all these aspects of the bakery and taking that leap from being a ‘mom and pop’ to a commercial bakery,” DeSouza said.
“We’re refining all these aspects of the bakery and taking that leap from being a ‘mom and pop’ to a commercial bakery." — OJ DeSouza | owner | Signature Baking Co.
Recent investments in automation are helping in that regard, as the company of around 40 employees leans into technology to further streamline the processes that help Signature Baking’s products stand out in the market.
“These investments are going to pour some gasoline on the fire, so to speak,” DeSouza said. “We’re ready to start growing as quickly as we can.”
For DeSouza, that means growing not only the operation but also the people. While this mid-size bakery is still relatively small from an executive standpoint, he believes in developing managerial talent with a driving principle: Treat them like family. The DeSouzas have been a family of bakers from the time his grandfather sold baked goods in India, to when his father opened a storefront in Dallas, to Signature Baking’s commercial operation today. While his goal is to keep this a family bakery, DeSouza doesn’t necessarily require blood ties.
“We’ve created a nice community for our company, and that’s something everybody here values,” he said. “We have a culture where everyone does what’s best for the company because it’s what’s best for us all.”
Then again, those blood ties are still bound the tightest.
Maintaining the CEO title, DeSouza’s dad still spends time in the bakery, tinkering with different product varieties or helping to oversee new equipment installations as the bakery doubles its footprint.
It’s been 17 years since DeSouza walked away from a career in medicine to join his father in the family business, and he has never looked back. Not once.
“I prefer to not go down that road,” he said. “It’s more fun to look ahead and think about what’s possible.”
And when he thinks about his own children — Oscar, 3, and Sophia, 2 — and his hopes for the bakery, he sees the family business as foundational.
“For me, it’s important to teach them the business in terms of work ethic and family first,” DeSouza said. “But whatever they do, I just want them to be happy. That’s all anyone wants for their kids.”
The bakery has seen its share of challenges since it opened in 1978, and the family has always banded together to see them through, whether they spend each day in the bakery or in other careers.
For DeSouza, that’s the real heartbeat of the business.
“We have stuck together as a family to make sure that what my parents built would be here to last,” he said. “Maybe secretly — like my dad — I’m hoping to keep building something that will go on for generations.”
This story has been adapted from the October | Q4 2023 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.
