Federal Bake Shop

This is the fifteenth article in a Vendor Profile Series intended to share the history and diversity of the Market through the stories of our vendors, as we celebrate our 25th Season. This article is written by journalist Barry Courter.

‍

A self-described workaholic, Glen Kagan spends his one off day a week at the Federal Bake Shop ordering supplies, greasing the oven, or looking for things to do.

He said manning the bakery's booth at the Chattanooga Market is his time to meet and mingle.

“For me, Sunday is my socializing time,” he said.

Technically, Glen is the kitchen manager at Federal Bake Shop, but he says he is “just 'the guy,'” who does whatever needs doing.

“I love going to the market because I get out,” he said. “At the shop, I'm just in the kitchen. I don't interact with the customers up front at all.”

While the pretzels are sold individually, Glen said he likes the fact that the thumbprint cookies and other things he sells at the market are mostly pre-packaged, allowing people to just grab what they want. This give him a chance to talk to customers about a variety of topics.

“Like, you look at the table and you say, I want that. And that's what you get. You know what you're getting and you chose what you're getting.”

Glen has been manning the Federal Bake Shop booth since its inception a decade ago. Courtney Espy has worked along side him on Sundays and also manages the booth at the Erlanger Market.

Glen came to Chattanooga from Germany just a few months prior to work at the bakery after his brother, Neil, recommended him to owner DeWayne Ainsworth.

“They know each other from the gym, and my brother basically sold me to my boss. He's like, 'Hey, you said you need a baker, right? My brother is a baker. He's a hard worker. He's a workaholic. You can't make him stop working. You need to hire him.'”

At the time, Federal Bake Shop, which got its start nationally in 1921 in California, had stores in Hixson and East Brainerd, as well as around the country. The latter store closed before Glen arrived and, according to Glen, DeWayne wanted to find a way to serve those former customers and “thought the market might be the way.”

They sold thumbprint cookies, apple flips and apple cinnamon bread, as well as a few other items. One of Glen's first suggestions was to sell pretzels, and he asked if he could sell a true German-style version rather than an American one.

Glen said he enjoys both, but emphasizes that there is a difference.

“It's always been hard to actually pinpoint the real difference, but from what I know or from what I've tasted, American pretzels are more on the sweet side,” he said. “And then they're dipped oftentimes in a weaker baking soda solution and then baked without salt. And then they dip them in butter and salt afterwards.

“German pretzels, you have a less sweet dough, and you dip it in a 5% lye solution. And then you salt it, and then you bake it afterwards. So it's baked with the salt and not dipped into butter and salted,” Glen said.

“Basically the lye is the part that gives the pretzel its unique flavor and the color. That nice shiny brown color of a pretzel is mostly because of the lye. It just does something to the enzymes, to the to the gluten that gives it that shine and the brown color.”

The pretzels, which sell for $5, have been a hit along with their other products, so much so that the bake shop will hit the $1 million mark in cumulative sales at the market this year. Glen said they sold about 1,800 pretzels last year during the two-day Oktoberfest weekend and sell between 100 and 150 during a typical market Sunday.

“We are front and center for Oktoberfest because we have the German pretzel. It's just one thing that, you know, it goes with Oktoberfest. Like everybody associates it with that’l he said. “So that has turned into a very successful thing for us.”

The Chattanooga Federal Bake Shop opened locally in 1974 and is the only one still operating, Glen says. The Ainsworths bought it when the franchise closed. One of the things that customers, especially those from out of town, ask is if the booth and local store are affiliated with the former chain of shops once that located in places such as Oak Ridge and Atlanta.

“People always ask if we are part of 'that' Federal Bake Shop,” Glen said.

“And yes, many of our recipes are still the original recipes, aside from small tweaks that we had to make over time due to ingredient changes.”

‍