How a century-old bakery is weathering inflation in the US’s worst hit city

theguardian.com:

For 106 years, La Segunda has baked bread in Ybor City, a neighborhood in Tampa, Florida. It’s a Cuban bakery where the loaves are scored with palmetto fronds and reach 36” in custom ovens. Between the longstanding traditions and myths that shape the place, the owners that span four generations have never seen prices rise as they have in the past year.

Across America, inflation affected the food industry acutely, and in the case of La Segunda, the cost of wheat doubling in just 12 months left a bruise. “That’s 30% to 40% of our manufacturing,” said Copeland More, a partner alongside his father in the business.

The jump in cost added nearly $40,000 to overhead each month, and it left More to navigate just how to raise prices, retain customers, and keep the 140 employees across three bakeries above water.

In Tampa, the cost of living rose at a rate in the past year that dwarfed the rest of the United States, by more than 3%. For Daniel Mitchell, who started working at La Segunda just six months ago as a technician, he felt the pressure.

His days just kept stretching. The more time he spent traversing Tampa Bay as a construction contractor, the less troubling the increasing cost of living for his family seemed. But after long days, he’d make it home just in time to tuck his kids into bed and leave before they opened their eyes.

By the time the pandemic reached Tampa, construction ground to a halt, so he took a second job. Then, he took a third. Twelve hour days bled into fifteen hours. Soon, Mitchell left construction completely to keep pace with the 10% increase in rent and 7% in food alongside childcare.

His wife, Ciera, who already worked at La Segunda, suggested talking to her manager. She made good on the promise, and