A New Orleans Black-owned bakery wants to nourish the nation

6th July 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Todd A. Price
Contributing Writer

(USA Today – The American South via AP) — Kathryn Conyers is not a baker, but she tried. And she failed. When she sought advice from her friend Carla Briggs, a trained pastry chef, Conyers was too embarrassed to send photos of the lackluster loaves. In the end, Briggs decided that she needed to come over and bake the bread herself.

A month later, as the coronavirus pandemic ramped up, the friends saw shelves in New Orleans barren of bread and thought, ‘maybe baking bread could be a business.’ Soon after that, Viola’s Heritage Breads was born.

“Viola just sounds nice and homey, like somebody’s grandmother that maybe would have a recipe that exists today but didn’t really get the recognition,” Conyers said.

Conyers and Briggs said they didn’t see many Black-owned bakeries and wanted to bring a business to New Orleans that celebrates both Black entrepreneurship and heritage. The recipes draw on their roots, using local Southern ingredients like Louisiana sweet potatoes.

The breads, which the pair deliver themselves around New Orleans or ship nationwide, are generous sandwich loaves like whole wheat brioche, sweet potato rosemary and white einkorn wheat. They’re about goodness, not being gourmet. The fanciest thing that Viola’s sells are tea cakes.

“This is an untapped market of providing quality sandwich bread,” Briggs said. “So, we jumped right in and it has been fun.”

Conyers and Briggs have a larger mission: they want to celebrate the too often overlooked Black cooks and chefs in the South.

“I’ve worked at Emeril’s and I’ve worked at the Ritz Carlton,” said Briggs of her time cooking in New Orleans, “and the people making the stocks and things that make these chefs great are mostly African Americans. They are creating the basis of this food, but their names aren’t on it.”

For now, Viola’s Heritage Breads is run from Brigg’s kitchen. Louisiana’s cottage food law allows businesses with less than $20,000 in sales to operate from a home with some limitations. The two still have their day jobs. Conyers, who has degrees in finance and law, works for a New Orleans non-profit organization that builds playgrounds around the country. Briggs, who left restaurant work due to a carpal tunnel syndrome, founded Eat Your Words, which teaches literacy through food.

Though the start is small, the women have big aspirations for Viola’s.

“It’s not something that’s a hustle. Can it grow and live on to be a staple?” Conyers said. “Can we build wealth and knowledge that could be passed on generationally?”

Briggs wants Viola’s to create better opportunities for New Orleans restaurant workers.

“I’ve been trained with the best people ever,” said Briggs, who graduated from the prestigious culinary school at Johnson & Wales University, “but it’s hard to get a job here and get respected and get paid for the knowledge and experience that I have in food.”

One day, they hope that Viola’s breads, baked in New Orleans, will be sold in grocery stores across the nation.

“What does it look like to have a bread or item that reflects me? That reflects us. That I see on the shelf that’s not necessarily like Aunt Jemima,” Conyers said.

To order Viola Heritage Breads, visit www.violaheritagebreads.com.

This article originally published in the July 6, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.