PAN-o-RAMA BAKERY

Vendor: Ruben Barrera and Anna Niederholzer
Location: San Francisco, CA
Website: www.panoramabaking.com


Ruben and Anna displaying their amazing baked goods
Photo: Gary Mandelstam

Pan-o-rama Baking Company opened its doors in 1993, and ten years later started selling its delicious breads and sweets at the PAFM. Pan-o-rama provides PAFM customers a great variety of products including organic artisan breads, flavored breads, foccaccias, croissants, brioche, cookies, cakes, and baguettes.

Ruben Barrera and Anna Niederholzer, along with Omar and Emilio, are the smiling faces you see behind the Pan-o-rama display on Saturday mornings. Ruben began working for Pan-o-rama as the assistant baker in 1993 when they first opened. In 1994 he was promoted to head baker and in 1995 he became a partner in the business. Ruben “has a passion for bread baking. He takes it very seriously and he is always striving to make his bread the best,” says Anna.

Anna was educated as a chef in Peter Kump's Cooking School in NYC. In San Francisco she worked as a pastry chef in some of the City's finest restaurants, including Rose Pistola and Gordon's House of Fine Eats. Four years ago, while working at the latter, she met Ruben whose Pan-o-rama Baking Company was next door. They became friends, and eventually a couple, and now in a sense, business partners.

Pan-o-rama originally opened in Petaluma but outgrew its original space and moved to its current spot in San Francisco in 1999. Even though Pan-o-rama is one of the PAFM vendors closest to Palo Alto, the crew still needs to leave San Francisco at 4:30am in order to set up their extensive stand and be ready for the 8:00am Market opening.

Anna thinks that people keep coming back to Pan-o-rama because “we have a very good product and a very good selection. People seem to like our quality and the huge selection they have to choose from at our booth.” Anybody who has seen the line at their stand on Saturday morning knows they must have a good thing going in the flavor department!

What do Anna and Ruben find special about the PAFM? Anna says, “The community that supports the PAFM is truly wonderful. They are an educated and well-informed bunch. We love our interaction with them. Also, the volunteers add a lot to the Market – they make us feel more connected to the Market. Nancy [the PAFM Market Manager] is a huge part of the special and unique closeness that the Market has.”