When Jesse Hellen-Lloyd picked up baking as a hobby, he didn’t expect it to start dominating his life. But for the past 10 years, he says, he’s focused on nothing but bread.
“I pour everything I have and am into this project and this process,” Hellen-Lloyd said.
A self-taught baker, Hellen-Lloyd started running a wholesale pastery and bread business out of his garage as a sidehustle to his job as an audio engineer. But word about the quality of his products quickly spread, and soon enough, Long Beach’s elite chefs were ordering and even holding a spot specifically for him at a local farmers market aimed at other restaurateurs.
Now, Hellen-Lloyd is hoping to share his passion with a broader segment of the public. After years of selling out of his single-car garage, Hey Brother Baker has finally soft-opened a brick-and-mortar location on Anaheim Street near Terminao Avenue, with bread, pastries and coffee to offer.
Hellen-Lloyd will keep selling wholesale and at local farmers markets, but he’s excited about offering a new customer experience.
“It gives the people a place to come and actually buy fresh products,” Hellen-Lloyd said. “Not that they weren’t fresh before, but every morning, while there’s people in, we’re pulling pastries out of the oven and putting them in the case. The fact that I can give someone a pain au chocolat that’s hot out of the oven is magic. Like, I love that.”
The news space comes with another bonus: proper bread ovens.
“Working in a real bread oven has been an absolute joy to say the least,” Hellen-Lloyd said.
Despite the changes, the brick-and-mortar will be the same Hey Brother Baker customers have come to know and love, with the signature loaves like ciabatta and levain, Hellen-Lloyd said.
Partially by necessity and partially by design, he has always kept his process relatively simple.
“I tend to aim for a bit of approachability in some of the breads,” he said.
Each new product he’s developed has been guided by personal curiosity: “Honestly, we chase down things that interest us.”
A new space, Hellen-Lloyd said, gives the chance to expand those offerings even further and see customers’ reactions to them first-hand.
“Seeing people come through the door and be really excited for us and be excited to drink the coffee, eat the pastries and hang out with us, that’s been very cool,” Hellen-Lloyd said.
Hey Brother Baker’s grand opening will be coming soon, Hellen-Lloyd said, though he doesn’t have an exact date set yet. Updates on the opening will be posted on their Instagram.
During its soft-opening, Hey Brother Baker, 3929 E Anaheim Street, is currently operating Tuesdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.