KANSAS CITY, MO — Joining a startup bagel shop after working for the world’s largest bakery for 30 years would be considered a significant career move by some. For Armando Carapia, head baker at Boichik Bagels in Berkeley, CA, it was the right move at the right time.
Before joining Boichik, Armando had spent most of his baking career with Horsham, PA-based Bimbo Bakeries USA (BBU), producing a variety of baked goods, including bagels for the Thomas’ brand. He enjoyed his job and had no plans to leave.
But plans change, sometimes unexpectedly. In 2019, BBU announced it would shutter the Bay Area bakery where Armando worked and move its operations to Canada.
“They asked me to move with them,” Armando said. “But I didn’t want to move to Canada. My family is here, and I wanted to find a good job here.”
He started applying for local bakery positions, including the head baker job at Boichik Bagels, where founder and CEO Emily Winston had just opened her first brick-and-mortar location. At the time, the shop produced authentic New York-style bagels by hand using the traditional boil-and-bake method.
Emily was looking for an experienced baker to oversee operations in the 1,200-square-foot space. When Armando walked through the door, the pieces fell into place.
“I found this small business that was just starting out making bagels by hand,” Armando said. “I was used to making bagels with machines. Bimbo had an 80-foot tunnel oven that produced tons of bagels every minute.”
Boichik had some equipment, but it was older and often required a little coaxing to run. Armando wasn’t intimidated by the labor-intensive work or the lack of automation. He embraced the opportunity to learn every facet of the small bakery and served in every capacity, from baker to fix-it man.
Boichik Bagels grew quickly over the next few years. In March 2023, it moved into an 18,000-square-foot facility with a highly automated front-end production process consisting of a customized LP mixer and bowl lift, a two-lane BakTek bagel forming line, and an integrated Apex Motion Control Baker-Bot cobot that picks and places bagel boards from the line onto baking racks.
Armando and his team immediately reaped the labor-saving benefits and efficiencies the technology brought to the previously manual production process.
“I enjoy the robot and the mixer,” Armando said. “They make it easier for us. There’s no more lifting.”
While the new system reduced the physical attention required, the production process still requires a baker’s touch and eye.
“You must always have your hands on it,” Armando said. “The machine will do about 80 percent, and I will do about 20 percent, checking it all the way.”
A true baker, Armando grabs every opportunity to get his hands in the dough — literally.
“I make our custom-made bagels and challah bread by hand,” he said. “I enjoy it.”
As head baker, Armando is also responsible for training new employees, both in the technology and the artisan baking process. He welcomes the opportunity to pass along the knowledge he’s gained after 30 years.
“I teach them to go step-by-step with focus,” he said. “I teach them how to roll the dough by hand. My job is really easy because everyone knows what to do. When I am sick, I do not worry because I know they will do a good job.”
Despite his position as head baker, Armando sees himself as a student.
“I never stop learning,” he said.
When Armando walked through the doors of Boichik Bagels five years ago, he was simply a baker searching for a good job. He had no idea his next adventure would offer him the best of both baking worlds — producing New York-style bagels using Old World techniques with a technological twist.
This story has been adapted from the June | Q2 2024 Craft to Crumb mini-mag. Read the full story in the digital issue here.
