The Daily O’Collegian

As the door opens, the mouthwatering scents of doughnuts, fresh-baked bread and cookies waft through.

From morning treats such as coffee and blueberry doughnuts to baked potato lunches and sandwiches on thickly cut multigrain bread, Red Rock Bakery and Deli stays busy, bustling with customers from college age to senior citizens.

Although the establishment opened its doors in 2002 as Mickael’s Bakery, a longtime employee decided to buy the bakery and make it his.

While keeping the delicious doughnuts, breads and pastries that kept morning dwellers at the bakery, Brad Essary, a 2005 OSU alumnus who earned a degree in accounting, changed the name of the bakery, but not the taste.

Essary said he worked at Mickael’s Bakery throughout college. His family bought the bakery, which a family friend originally owned, in June 2005.

“I didn’t want a traditional job,” Essary said. “I didn’t want to be a (certified public accountant).”

Essary decided to keep things traditional at the bakery while improving the functionality of the kitchen.

“When I was working here, I saw a lot of things that needed to be changed,” Essary said. “I am young, so if there is ever a time to take a chance I thought it was now.”

Keeping the menu the same, Essary changed the structure of what the bakery staff offered customers.

“The menu was barebones,” Essary said. “I made it more consistent.

“Daily specials meant customers didn’t know what they were going to get when them came in.”

Now, if a customer wants a Granny Smith apple salad for $5.59, he or she can get it every day without waiting for it to appear as a special once or twice a month.

The bakery draws in many morning customers. A typical Thursday at about 9 a.m. draws in customers from all walks of life for a near-capacity bakery.

The patrons come in for the 65-cent maple long johns, apple fritters for $1.25 and sausage rolls at $1.25 each, but they might not think about how those baked goods are created.

Although the customers do not show up until about 6 a.m., a baker almost finishes the day as the bakery’s doors open.

“Most of the bakers come in around 2 a.m.,” said Allie Spencer, who manages the bakery’s downtown branch. “Sometimes they come in at 1 or 3, depending on what we need baked.”

Spencer said the bakery usually has four bakers working each morning.

“We have a doughnut fryer and a doughnut maker, someone who bakes the quick breads and cookies and someone else who bakes the bread and cinnamon rolls,” Spencer said.

Spencer said bread takes the longest to bake.

“Baking bread is a long process,” she said. “You can’t just make one loaf if you run out.”

Baking bread is a full-time job, Spencer said.

The bread bakers first make the dough, Spencer said. Next, the bakers wait until the dough rises, which takes about an hour. After the dough rises, the bread bakes for about 45 minutes.

Spencer said the bakery makes three varieties of bread. Customers can choose from white, wheat or multigrain.

Customers can buy white or wheat bread for $3 a loaf. Multigrain bread costs $3.50.

Saara Jones, an early morning baker at the bakery, makes all bars, from classic lemon bars to decadent raspberry-white chocolate bars ($1.59 each), and loaf breads, like lemon blueberry and banana nut ($4.59 per loaf), at the bakery. She also does dishes, prepares meat for lunch sandwiches and is an all-around helper at the bakery.

“I work from 3 in the morning until 11,” Jones said. “I usually go to bed between 7:30 and 8 at night.

“I have two kids, 6 and 3, who go to sleep when I do.”

Jones said she leaves work to take her son, who is in kindergarten, to school every day. She said her schedule varies from day to day, but she always has time for her kids.

“Sometimes if the bakery has a large bar order, I have to adjust my schedule to take care of my kids,” Jones said. “The amount varies every day.”

Jones said her work schedule does not allow for much sleep at night, but she also said she is able to sometimes take naps during the day.

“It depends on my 3-year-old,” Jones said. “Sometimes I take an hour nap.

“I’ve been doing this for 2 1/2 to 3 years, so I have adapted.”

After working at the bakery as long as Jones has, she said she knows how to make just about everything at the bakery. She said she likes making loaf breads like almond poppy seed, which bakery staff call quick breads.

“Quick breads are the easiest to make,” Jones said. “I don’t have to wait for the dough to rise and I can make 25 loaves in each batch.”

Sometimes even the best bakers hit snags, which are beyond their control.

Jones said she remembers times when the ovens would not heat and the doughnut fryers stopped working.

“Sometimes the pilot light goes out in the oven,” Jones said.

If the light goes out, the bakers have to wait for a technician to come relight the industrial-sized oven, Jones said. This delays the baking, which is means customers might have to wait for their breakfast.

Erin Daniel, the manager at the main bakery and also Jones’ boss, says Jones is a hard worker.

“She was a front-end waitress before she started baking,” Daniel said. “So she knows what to do if something happens.”

Daniel said fresh food is important at the bakery.

“Since we’re so committed to having fresh stuff every day it helps to have someone like [Jones] because it also gives the bakery consistency,” Daniel said. “A lot of people don’t realize someone bakes everything fresh in the morning before the bakery opens.”

Bakers prepare everything that is consumed at the bakery as the day progresses, Daniel said.

“We prepare everything as we go,” Daniel said. “Things have to go on at a certain time in the morning so they are ready for lunch.”

Daniel said Jones slices cheese and meats to prepare for lunch sandwiches. Jones also makes the soup, which simmers all morning before it is served at lunch.

But life at the bakery is not always sweets and treats. Daniel said she has witnessed some odd situations while at work.

“Sometimes, before we got our new ice maker, our old one would flood,” Daniel said. “We’d get here at 3 a.m. and there would be standing water all the way to the doors.”

Drinks can be served without ice but no one can eat doughnuts if they are not fried.

“If the ovens or fryers go out it’s a disaster,” Daniel said. “But it doesn’t happen that often.

“The doughnut machine was on the fritz one time and we couldn’t make anything until it got fixed.”

In Oklahoma, summer is warm. Any place with an oven running with 100-degree heat outside depends upon an air conditioner to keep employees and customers comfortable.

“We got a new air conditioner,” Jones said. “But last summer, it was a million degrees here because the air conditioner wasn’t working and the ovens are hot.”

Despite the heat, customers bought their share of baked goods and continued to eat sandwich lunches, Daniel said.

From fresh-baked goodies to prepared-to-order sandwiches, making food at the bakery takes planning and hard work.

Essary said he spends most of his day at the bakery. He said he can perform any job at the bakery, from baking the bread to paying the employees.

“My day starts between 6 and 8 depending on my schedule,” Essary said. “I am usually in-store until 3 or 4.

“I bounce back and forth.”

Although he said he usually does bookwork for the bakery like accounting and payroll, Essary works the dough if an employee calls in sick.

“I fill in for someone who is sick at 2 or 3 in the morning,” Essary said. “I can do everything.”

Daniel said having people on staff who know multiple jobs at the bakery helps managers adapt better when employees call in sick. She calls this cross-training.

“We’re trying to cross-train more people because when someone calls in sick, [Essery] has to be here at 3 in the morning,” Daniel said.

Daniel said training more employees could alleviate some of the managers’ stress as well as improve functionality at the bakery.

Daniel, who graduated from OSU with a degree in hotel and restaurant administration in December, has worked at the bakery for three years and said she is trained to function as Essary if he is out of town.

“I work from 8 to 4 every day we’re open,” Daniel said. “I do paperwork, invoices and scheduling and solve employee conflicts.

“I do all purchasing minus the bakery, but I am learning to do that, too.”

But, Essary said his job is hard work, usually without a break.

“My first vacation in three years was last summer,” Essary said. “But now that I have good managers who are good leaders, I can take a break.

“But without them? No way.”

Aside from running the bakery, which added the downtown branch earlier this year, Essary is starting a horse ranch with Spencer, whom he married on Saturday.

Spencer, an OSU alumna, earned a degree in animal science with a focus in ranch operations.

“My [wife’s] passion is horses,” Essary said. “I was very passionate to chase my dream out of college.

“I wanted to give her that, too.”

Aside from renovating a home on his recently bought land, Essary and Spencer run a horse boarding company.

“We take care of other people’s horses for them,” Essary said. “We board the horses, ride them.

“There is an indoor riding arena; all around equine.”

Essary said he encourages anyone who is interested in starting a business to do it.

“Don’t let fear ever be a factor in decision making,” Essary said.

But, he also cautions young entrepreneurs to play it safe.

“Really do your research,” Essary said. “Just because you think it’s a good idea doesn’t mean someone else will.

“Think small. I thought I knew a lot more about running a business before than I actually did.”

For Essary, success is something he can taste.

Essary said his favorite thing to eat at his bakery is either the chicken salad or a beef and cheddar sandwich. He seems to enjoy his job, which is his life.

Essary employs 41 people and all but five are college students.

“I am my own boss at a really fun place to work,” Essary said. “I feel I am a laid-back, easygoing boss.”