KANSAS CITY, KS — Mark S. Friend, co-founder of Farm to Market Bread Co., passed away January 23. He was 68 years old. Friend was born Dallas and began his vocation of baking in seventh grade at a donut shop across the back alley from his home. In 1979, he moved to Kansas City, where he later started a family and graduated from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
After years as a pastry chef, Friend became the plant manager for Pacific Baking Enterprises in 1987. Pacific Baking sent him to Monterey Baking Co. in Monterey, CA to learn how to bake Sourdough under Claudio Cantore. In 1992, he became Pacific Baking’s head of R&D and later became technical service manager for Chr. Hansen’s Labs, where he provided technical assistance and consulting to more than 100 bakeries nationally for FloraPan, a series of four pure strain lactobacillus cultures from Chr. Hansen.
Friend led workshops on sourdough cultures and sourdough production at AIB International and at the American Association of Cereal Chemists’ annual convention. He was also a founding member of the Bread Baker’s Guild, where he organized and presented at the Guild’s Sourdough Seminar, featuring international sourdough bread experts Dr Sugihara, Dr Brümmer, and Prof. Calvel, following the 1993 International Baking Industry Exhibition in Las Vegas.
"Mark will be remembered as a visionary and pioneer in the artisan bread movement, an expert on sourdough bread and a tenacious entrepreneur ... but most of all, as a loving father and husband." —John Friend | president | Farm to Market
Also in 1993, Friend and his partner Fred Spompinato, started Farm to Market Bread Co. in the back of a restaurant in Kansas City, MO. They raised enough capital to purchase a mixer and an oven and traded bread for rent. They would bake in the evenings after their day jobs, and the company slowly grew from there. Friend and Spompinato pioneered artisan baking in Kansas City by focusing on small batch, hand-crafted breads made with all-natural ingredients. They started a model of fresh daily deliveries, only closing for Christmas. In 1999 Farm to Market created an in-store baking program with Hen House Markets in Kansas City.
Today, Farm to Market delivers fresh dough formed, proofed and ready to bake by the store’s trained bakers, and the program has grown to seven stores in the Kansas City Metro area. The bakery now has 60 employees and services more than 40 grocery stores and more than 200 food service customers.
Friend stayed true to his principles of all natural high-quality ingredients and never taking shortcuts, and that legacy is carried on by his son, John Friend, Farm to Market president.
“Mark will be remembered as a visionary and pioneer in the artisan bread movement, an expert on sourdough bread and a tenacious entrepreneur,” John said, “but most of all, as a loving father and husband.”
