Who we are:

Ida's Gourmet Breads is a wholesale, commercial baker of gourmet bakery products. We sell wholesale to retail food establishments, restaurants, specialty shops, and food service entities. Our products are slack thawed. They arrive frozen and are thawed as needed. We have two lines, one specializes in all natural quick breads. The other specializes in 3 oz regular cookies, 3 oz whole grain cookies, and (1.5 oz, 2 oz, and 4.25oz) muffins. All of our products contain no hydrogenated oils, and are transfat free We serve the tri state areas: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. We are happy to work with local distributors or use a domestic shipping service to deliver your products to your doorstep, in a timely fashion.

Many clients have complained about the non-availability and/or lack of quality of commercially available quick breads, made with fresh fruits and vegetables. Current products utilize ingredients that contain refined sugars, bleached flours, artificial preservatives, and other artificial ingredients.

Additionally, clients have voiced their inability of finding home baked goodness, like the fond memories and aromas of yesteryear. The memories of sitting in their mother's and grandmother's kitchens that are evoked when you take a bite of freshly baked, wholesome bread.

Ida's Gourmet Breads quenches the thirst for a product that causes you to reminisce about your formative years, when baked goods were baked the old fashioned way. The recipes used have been handed down from a family recipe over fifty years old. In addition, they have been perfected over the past 15 years when the recipe was handed down to Ida.

This experience and love are evident in each loaf that is produced by Ida's Gourmet Breads. It met Ida's grandmother's strict standards, and I hope that it meets yours.

Clients

Al's Foods

 

Harper Foods

Mr. Z's Market

 

 

 

County Fair Foods

Riverside Foods

 

 

 

Our Mission:

· Adhere to the highest standards for quality and the continued use of the most exceptional ingredients in our products.

· Establish, cultivate, and maintain strong relationships with suppliers that meet our own strict standards.

· Innovate new products that meet our customer's needs, as they evolve.

· Back our products with R&D, sampling, and testing services.

· Satisfy our retailers and customers by delivering the very best quality products.

· Improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of our operations

Our Team:

Ida McCarty
President

Prior to founding Ida's Gourmet Breads in April 2004, Ms. McCarty volunteered her baking services to several local school, church, and fund raising endeavors. Ms. McCarty, a native of Chicago, Illinois graduated in 1989 with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from Loyola University of Chicago. In 1996, after several years of working in the legal community, she graduated with a Masters in Leadership and Policy Studies from Loyola University of Chicago. Subsequent to undertaking baking on a full time basis, she worked in the information technology industry.

Ms. McCarty has extensive experience in strategic planning, business process analysis, system implementation, product evaluation and testing, and management of highly experienced professionals. She also has fifteen years experience baking quick breads and other baked goods in a high volume environment. She is a client of the Women's Business Development Center, in which she has participated in several Jump start and Entrepreneurial workshops and gained invaluable business related advice. She is also a client of Chicago Minority Business Development Council. She is certified as both MBE/WBE. Ida's Gourmet Breads is an Sodexo Food Service Approved Vendor with a minority profile.

Ms. McCarty's primary responsibilities at Ida's Gourmet Breads include supervising the bakery operation, formulating long-range strategy, participating in product development, managing product growth, and interfacing with investors, customers and suppliers. Ms. McCarty is the president of Ida's Gourmet Breads.

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