KANSAS CITY, MO — The excitement of summer months being just around the corner is about more than just warmer weather. For many, June signals a time of celebration as Pride Month commences and welcomes a surge of engagement from people around the globe. To honor the cause, retail bakers can show their support by tailoring products for the occasion and planning events to unite their communities.
For bakeries looking to get involved but aren’t sure where to start, the first step is recognizing the importance of the month-long observance and identifying what it means for the bakery.
Acknowledging the history
Pride Month originated from the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969, with the first Pride march held a year later on the anniversary of the riots. Today, the entire month of June recognizes LBGTQ+ culture, achievements and activism.
Doughnut Plant in New York acknowledges its important role in observing the holiday.
“We recognize the significance of the Stonewall Riots of 1969, a pivotal moment in the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement,” said Mark Isreal, founder of Doughnut Plant. “We’re proud to celebrate and support the LGBTQ+ community every June and all year round.”
The bakery keeps its themed lineup simple by offering one Pride Month product featuring carefully designed elements. The yeast donut is triangle-shaped and raspberry-flavored as a nod to the pink triangle symbol of the LGBT community. The donut is topped with a pink glaze and rainbow stripes created with all-natural, plant-based colors.
The donut is the bakery’s most popular limited-time offering, and each year, Doughnut Plant sells thousands of them.
“Our Pride Doughnut is the centerpiece of our Pride Month celebration,” Isreal said. “We focus on making it a standout treat that honors the occasion in both flavor and design.”
The gift of giving
Three Brothers Bakery in Houston kicked off its lineup in 2016 when one of its business consultants tied the knot with his partner, and owners Bobby and Janice Jucker gifted the couple a custom rainbow-tiered wedding cake. From that moment, they recognized the power of participation.
“The rainbow cake kicked it off,” said JJ Benka, marketing director for Three Brothers Bakery. “But it quickly turned into rainbow cupcakes and printed cookies. Now, we have a whole section of Pride Month products.”
The menu includes rainbow cupcakes, gingerbread cookies, petit fours, shaped sugar cookies and cake slices, but the bakery offers more than just sweet treats. Three Brothers also created a “Baking with Pride” T-shirt and a pride lapel pin shaped like a gingerbread man.
To extend the celebration and honor the cause behind it, every year, Three Brothers Bakery picks a different LGBTQ+ community organization and donates a portion of the proceeds from the themed baked goods for the entirety of Pride Month. Past proceeds have gone to the AIDS Foundation and the Montrose Center.
“Anytime we partner with a charity, we see an uptick in business,” Benka said. “People buy our Pride Month products because they want to help support the cause.”
Doughnut Plant also experiences an increase in customers when its Pride Month donut rolls out, especially when parade goers from all over the state convene for the NYC Pride March, the largest such event in the world.
Supporting inclusion
How bakers see and deliver on the yearly observance doesn’t go unnoticed by their communities.
“I see Pride [Month] as an incredible celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community and an opportunity to give back,” said Melissa Ben-Ishay, founder and CEO of New York’s Baked by Melissa. “For more than 10 years, we’ve partnered with The LGBT Community Center during Pride, donating 10 percent of proceeds from the limited-edition pack to support the nonprofit, where everyone is celebrated for who they are.”
Baked by Melissa’s limited-edition Pride assortment is filled with a rainbow of the brand’s vanilla cupcakes with an additional Pride flag sleeve.
“The Pride assortment is one of our bestselling assortments in June,” Melissa said. “It’s incredible to see because it shows how many people want to support inclusion, diversity and love.”
The lasting effects of actively participating in Pride Month reverberate well past June and can even originate back to the bakery’s roots. Accepting — and celebrating — diversity, history and pride can reflect positively on a bakery and its employees.
Supporting Pride Month can mean a number of things. From donating proceeds or product to curating a themed lineup, retail bakers can find opportunities to engage their customers and celebrate the diversity in the communities they serve.
