{"id":87969,"date":"2025-12-30T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/?p=87969"},"modified":"2025-12-30T16:22:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T00:22:51","slug":"hey-brother-bakery-storefront-garage-best-bakery-long-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/eat-see-do-2\/eat\/hey-brother-bakery-storefront-garage-best-bakery-long-beach","title":{"rendered":"One of the city\u2019s best bakeries has outgrown the garage where it began; Hey Brother Baker finally has a storefront"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Jesse Hellen-Lloyd picked up baking as a hobby, he didn\u2019t expect it to start dominating his life. But for the past 10 years, he says, he\u2019s focused on nothing but bread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI pour everything I have and am into this project and this process,\u201d Hellen-Lloyd said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A self-taught baker, Hellen-Lloyd started running a wholesale pastry and bread business out of his garage<\/a> 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\u2019s elite chefs were ordering and even holding a spot specifically for him<\/a> at a local farmers market aimed at other restaurateurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 Termino Avenue, with bread, pastries and coffee to offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Several types of breads and pastries on display at Hey Brother Baker. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hellen-Lloyd will keep selling wholesale and at local farmers markets, but he\u2019s excited about offering a new customer experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt gives the people a place to come and actually buy fresh products,\u201d Hellen-Lloyd said. \u201cNot that they weren’t fresh before, but every morning, while there’s people in, we\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news space comes with another bonus: proper bread ovens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWorking in a real bread oven has been an absolute joy to say the least,\u201d Hellen-Lloyd said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partially by necessity and partially by design, he has always kept his process relatively simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI tend to aim for a bit of approachability in some of the breads,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jesse Hellen-Lloyd, co-owner, works with his staff at his brick-and-mortar bakery, which is in a soft opening in Long Beach, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. Hey Brother Baker was started in a home garage in 2016 by Hellen-Lloyd. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Each new product he\u2019s developed has been guided by personal curiosity: \u201cHonestly, we chase down things that interest us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new space, Hellen-Lloyd said, gives the chance to expand those offerings even further and see customers\u2019 reactions to them first-hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeeing 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\u2019s been very cool,\u201d Hellen-Lloyd said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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