Bread Winners Café & Bakery Transfers Ownership after 28 Years
Jim and Cindy Hughes, the founders of Bread Winners Café & Bakery, sold their iconic brunch-focused Dallas restaurant to Josh Bock of Stratega Captial after almost three decades of ownership. Bock plans to keep the management team in place, according to a press release, which the couple said is a “dream scenario.”
Bock will take over the four Bread Winners locations in Dallas-Fort Worth, the restaurant’s catering, and Quarter Bar in Uptown.
Bread Winners is best known for its brunch menu, which boasts standards like eggs benedict and french toast, as well as a killer cocktail menu. But it’s also a true family-owned establishment. The Hugheses bought the Bread Winners’ name for $1 from a friend who was closing a restaurant with the same name.
They opened the first Bread Winners in 1994 on the corner of McKinney and Hall streets in the former Verlaine’s space. The couple, their parents, and their children all worked at the restaurant in some form.
Andrew Popp, the Hughes’ eldest son and chief operating officer of the company, worked at the Inwood location throughout college in many front-of-house positions. He tells D Magazine that the decision for his parents to sell the company was bittersweet, but that they found a partner in Bock who plans to grow the restaurants.
“He’s going to help us enhance the current experience that we have already in the four Bread Winners locations,” Popp says.
In a press release, Bock said he Bread Winners “invented” brunch and that he wants to dominate it again. Popp says that could mean potentially expanding catering opportunities, opening new locations, and adding new menu items.
“We found the perfect match with Josh,” Popp says. “He’s come in and said, ‘let’s just keep this thing moving forward.'”
Bread Winners Café | multiple locations
Andrew’s Brings Five Pizza Styles to Plano
The family who owned Picasso’s Pizza & Grill is opening a new pizza and pasta restaurant in Plano this fall. The pizza joint, called Andrew’s, will serve five different pizza styles, including Chicago, Detroit, tavern, New York, and Dallas—a hand-rolled thin-crust pizza topped with homemade sauces and a combination of toppings. Picasso’s closed in early 2020 (not pandemic-related) in Lake Highlands after 30 years and has had a claim on the “Dallas-style” pizza since 1991. Andrew’s | 1401 Preston Rd., Plano.
Chefs Are Making Pies to Raise Money for Culinary Scholarships
Need a delicious pie and to feel generous? Forty North Texas chefs are participating in the Piehole Project, an online fundraiser that will auction off specialty pies to help raise money for a culinary scholarship. The event, which is in its third year, has expanded to Austin and is expected to raise a total of $40,000 for students who want to go through culinary programs at Dallas College, Collin College, and more.
You’ll recognize some of these chefs: John Tesar, Katherine Clapner, Anastacia Quinones-Pittman, Misti Norris, and many others are expected to present some stellar pies for the fundraiser. The pies are savory or sweet, depending on what you’re feeling. Tesar of Knife is making a caviar pie, Nikky Phinyawatana of Asian Mint is making a Thai tea custard pie, and there are plenty more to choose from.
They also aren’t cheap: pies are valued at $500 each, and bidding starts at $95. Or, if you need the pie now, you can buy it immediately for $1,500. The auction starts Oct. 17 and lasts through Oct. 27. Winners will be contacted for pie pickup.
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