{{Short description|Type of business that sells bread-based food}} {{Redirect|Bakehouse}} {{Use American English|date=November 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2021}} {{For2|the Gambian footballer|Bakery Jatta|other uses|Bakery (disambiguation)}} {{More citations needed|date=February 2024}} {{Stack begin}} [[File:Belgium 2013 (11620905224).jpg|thumb|The exterior of a Bakery in Brussels.]] thumb|A bakery sales counter in Paris. {{stack end}} A '''bakery''' (also known as a '''bakehouse''', '''baker's shop''' or '''bake shop''') is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, pizzas, bagels, pastries, and pies.<ref name="Theory">{{cite book |last=Sivalingam |first=Yogambal |date=2023 |title=Textbook of Bakery and Confectionery |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/TEXTBOOK_OF_BAKERY_AND_CONFECTIONERY_THI/LU65EAAAQBAJ |location=Delhi |edition=3rd |publisher=PHI Learning |page=1 |isbn=978-93-91818-89-0 |access-date=11 December 2025}}</ref> Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish to consume the baked goods on the premises. In some countries, a distinction is made between bakeries, which primarily sell breads, and {{Lang|fr|pâtisseries}}, which primarily sell sweet baked goods.
==History== {{See also|Baking#Baking in ancient times|Baking#Commercial baking}} {{Globalize|date=August 2024|2=the Western world|section}} In the Roman Empire, baking was a highly esteemed profession, as Roman citizens used them frequently for important occasions such as feasts and weddings. Around 300 BCE, baking was introduced as an occupation and respectable profession for the Romans. Bakers began to prepare bread at home in an oven, using grist mills to grind grain into flour for their breads. The demand for baked goods grew in tandem with the empire, and the first bakers' guild was established in 168 BCE in Rome. The desire for baked goods promoted baking throughout Europe and expanded into eastern parts of Asia. Bakers started baking bread and other goods at home and selling them on the streets.{{Citation needed paragraph|date=February 2024}}
[[File:Paneum - Ägypten Bäckerszene 1.jpg|thumb|left|Egyptian {{Lang|egy-x-old|ushabti}} statues of a bakery, {{Circa|2500|1800 BCE}} at the Paneum museum in Upper Austria.]] This trend became common, and soon, baked products were sold on the streets of Rome, Germany, London, and other European cities. A system for delivering baked goods to households arose as the demand increased significantly. This prompted bakers to establish places where people could purchase baked goods. The first open-air market for baked goods in Europe was established in Paris; since then, bakeries have become popular places to socialize.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}
On July 7, 1928, Otto Frederick Rohwedder invented an automatic bread-slicing machine, in a bakery in Chillicothe, Missouri. While the bread initially failed to sell, due to a perceived "sloppy" appearance of the loaves and the fact that it went stale faster, it later became popular.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Latson |first=Jennifer |date=7 July 2015 |title=How Sliced Bread Became the 'Greatest Thing' |url=https://time.com/3946461/sliced-bread-history/ |magazine=Time |location= |publisher= |access-date=18 February 2020}}</ref> In World War II, bread slicing machines became rare, as the metal in them was required for wartime use. When they were requisitioned, creating 100 tons of metal alloy, the decision proved very unpopular with housewives.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=1 February 1943 |title=U.S. At War: Trouble on the Bread Line |url=https://time.com/archive/6781620/u-s-at-war-trouble-on-the-bread-line/ |magazine=Time |volume=XLI |issue=5 |location= |publisher= |access-date=6 October 2017}}</ref>
World War II had a profound impact on the bread industry in the United Kingdom. When the war began, baking schools closed due to food rationing, manpower shortage, and other material factors. Once WWII came to a close, there was a lack of skilled bakers in the UK. This baker shortage resulted in new methods being developed to satisfy the world's desire for bread, including chemical additives, premixes, and specialized machinery. Old methods of baking{{which|date=December 2025}} were almost completely eradicated when these new, mechanized processes were introduced, and the industry became industrialized and dominated by large commercial firms. The older, more labor-intensive methods were, by and large, seen as burdensome, out-of-date, and commercially unprofitable. As a result, few traditional bakeries were left open by the end of the twentieth century.{{Citation needed paragraph|date=December 2025}}
== Specialities == {{stack begin}} [[File:Bakery-2.jpg|thumb|A bakery inside the former Burton's Saw Factory in the Eugene Blair Boulevard Historic Commercial Area.]] [[File:Village bakehouse in Geyerbad (2019).jpg|thumb|A village bakehouse in Meßstetten, a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.]] {{stack end}} Some bakeries provide services for special occasions (such as weddings, anniversaries, birthday parties, business networking events, etc.) or customized baked products for people who have allergies or sensitivities to certain foods (such as nuts, peanuts, dairy or gluten, etc.). Bakeries can provide a wide range of cake designs such as sheet cakes, layer cakes, wedding cakes, tiered cakes, etc. Other bakeries may specialize in traditional or hand-made types of baked products made with locally milled flour, without flour bleaching agents or flour treatment agents, baking what is sometimes referred to as artisan bread.<ref name="Theory" />
In many countries, many grocery stores and supermarkets sell cakes, sliced bread (sometimes prepackaged or presliced) and other pastries. They may also offer in-store baking, with products either fully baked on site or part-baked prior to delivery to store,<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=North |first1=Amy |last2=Smail |first2=Jerome |date=28 April 2021 |title=How do UK supermarkets operate their in-store bakeries? |url=https://bakeryinfo.co.uk/retail/how-do-uk-supermarkets-operate-their-in-store-bakeries/655567.article |magazine=British Baker |location= |publisher=William Reed |access-date=15 September 2022}}</ref> and some offer cake decoration.<ref name="bakery business">{{cite news |last= Rush |first=Morgan |date=n.d. |orig-date=13 October 2010 |title=About the Bakery Business |url=http://smallbusiness.chron.com/bakery-business-4683.html |work=Chron.com |location= |publisher=Hearst Communications |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024071501/https://smallbusiness.chron.com/bakery-business-4683.html |archive-date=24 October 2021 |access-date=24 February 2014}}</ref>
==Products== {{Div col|colwidth=12em}} * Bagels * Barmbrack * Biscotti * Biscuits (unleavened) * Biscuits (quick bread) * Bread roll * Bread * Buns * Cakes * Brownies * Cookies * Cornbread * Crackers * Croissants * Crumpets * Cupcakes * Donuts * Flatbreads * {{Lang|fi|Kalakukko}} * Muffins * Pandesal * Pastries * Pasties * Pies * Pita * Pizzas * Pretzels * Puff pastry * Pumpkin bread * Sausage rolls * Scones * Soda bread * Sourdough * Tarts * Waffles {{Div col end}}
==See also== {{Portal|Food}}{{div col}} * {{Annotated link|Bakehouse (building)|Bakehouse|}} * {{Annotated link|Baker}} * {{Annotated link|Baking}} * {{Annotated link|Cake decorating}} * {{Annotated link|Coffeehouse}} * {{Annotated link|List of doughnut shops|Doughnut shop}} * {{Annotated link|Konditorei|link_lang=de}} * {{Annotated link|Pâtisserie|link_lang=fr}} * {{Annotated link|List of baked goods}} * {{Annotated link|List of bakeries}} * {{Annotated link|Pie shop}} * {{Annotated link|Sliced bread}} * {{Annotated link|Tea house}} {{Div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{Commons category-inline|Bakeries}} * {{wiktionary-inline}}
{{Bread}} {{Pastries}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Bakeries Category:Restaurants by type