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.’”