JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Community Loaves is back open after dozens of people bought gift cards when the owner put out a call for help after a electrical fire ripped through the business, forcing it to temporarily close.
Community Loaves bakery opened up 11 years ago to serve unique dishes to the Murray Hill Community.
“As a sourdough bakery, you can’t get that everywhere so a lot of people love coming here even from out of state," Amelia Gained, who was hired six months ago, said.
But that all changed when an electrical fire broke out in the bakery on Feb. 9.
“We can't bake anything," Community Loaves owner Meredith Corey-Disch said. “We normally make sourdough bread with all organic flour and croissants from scratch. And both of those things take our specialty equipment."
Owner Meredith Corey-Disch says she had to close down for nearly two weeks to replace wiring and tear down burnt dry wall.
She recently reopened after a nearby business offered up their kitchen to help, but the menu is smaller, less money is coming in, and Corey-Disch says it’s been hard to pay her over 20 employees.
“We're not able to do like the quantity we normally are used to. So it's way different,” Corey-Disch said.
Corey-Disch asked the community to help by buying bakery gift cards. The response she describes as amazing.
“We've been able to keep staff a lot busier than we otherwise would through single loaves of banana bread, because a lot of our regular customers have come in and bought gift cards. And that has taken so much of the stress away and allowed us to know we're gonna make payroll, you know, the big stuffs covered by insurance, but it's really keeping our employees that is our big concern," Corey-Disch said.
The bakery is open on limited menu until new equipment can be brought in.