Slow Dough’ quick rise in 40,000-SF kitchen in Houston

HOUSTON – Slow Dough Bread Co. has completed a year-long negotiation with organic grocer Whole Foods Market to purchase the company’s 40,000-sf production kitchen and bakery.

Located at the intersection of the Sam Houston Tollroad and US 59, the facility is almost three times the size of Slow Dough’s current, 15,000-sf facility on Westpark.

"We’re taking over their entire commissary and all their existing equipment," Slow Dough owner and fifth-generation baker Heath Wendell said. "They built it in 2007. They equipped it very nicely."

Acquiring the Whole Foods facility immediately increases Slow Dough’s retail presence, which will grow to 38 grocery stores spread across Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. The increased capacity will also allow it to increase distribution in Austin and move into San Antonio.

Wendell explains that one of the new facility’s big advantages is the ability to control the temperature in each separate area of the building: dough room, ovens, packaging areas, etc.

Slow Dough’s existing employees will move to the new facility. Wendell says he’ll retain some of the existing Whole Foods employees to help grow the business, but he isn’t ready to commit to a number.

Whole Foods provided its employees with the required 60-day notice on May 1. Slow Dough assumes control on July 1.