ORLANDO, FL — Following in a parent’s footsteps at a family-owned commercial bakery is never easy, especially when the next generation is brimming with fresh perspectives and out-of-the-box ideas.
OJ DeSouza, president of Signature Baking Co. and a fourth-generation baker, shared his experiences with modernizing his family’s business during BakingTECH 2025, the American Society of Baking’s annual industry conference, held Feb. 15-19, in Orlando, FL.
Fortunately, DeSouza’s father was open to future-proofing the baking company from the start.
“My dad was always open to new ideas,” DeSouza said. “On the first day I worked with him, he said, ‘Pretend this is your company. What do you want to do?’ We implemented a lot of those ideas. Some worked, some didn’t. It was the opportunity to try that hooked me from the beginning.”
Not long after DeSouza joined the business, COVID-19 hit. The bakery’s customers were 100% wholesale, and the business had to get creative. The team created a Shopify website for online ordering and launched a subscription-based home delivery service. It also hired a PR company and partnered with influencers who were effective at getting the word out and introducing Signature Baking to the public.
“Another thing that changed was that I stopped looking at other bakeries as competitors and more as collaborators,” DeSouza said. “We tried to figure out what other bakeries did well and how we could work with them to provide that value to our customers. It’s something we do to this day.”
Into the future
One of the biggest changes DeSouza made when he took the helm of Signature Baking was investing in technology both on the backend and production floor. He digitized essential functions such as employee training, inventory management, invoicing and customer signatures.
His investment in a bread bagger — the bakery’s first piece of new automated equipment — reduced the amount of time and manual labor required for packaging bun. It opened DeSouza’s eyes to what might be possible in the future.
“Increasing our capacity is what we’re focusing on so we can launch the brand into retail channels and strengthen our wholesale business,” DeSouza said. “At the same time, we’re trying to understand what our limitations are as a small bakery and trying to change the perspective of those limitations to advantages.”
Part of that involves keeping an eye on new trends, being adaptable and taking inspiration from other industries.
“As a customer myself, I look at what other companies do that inspires me, and I think about how I can make that a part of what Signature Baking is building for our customers,” he said.
