Tom Frainier, Semifreddi's self-proclaimed Chief Boot Licker stands in front of the original Semifreddi's bread oven.

Semifreddi’s – the people’s bakery

When I asked Tom Frainier to describe his Semifreddi’s Bakery business,  the UC Berkeley graduate exclaimed with a smile, “we’re the people’s bakery!” Frainer joined his sister and brother-in-law in their tiny Kensington, California bakery after ditching corporate life at Clorox back in 1988.

Tom Frainier, Barbara & Mike Rose in the original Kensington, California Semifreddi's Bakery

Dreamer of dreams Tom Frainier

Like Willy Wonka of chocolate fame, Frainier is a dreamer of dreams who, along with his partners, has successfully grown the family-owned business from Kensington to a 33,000 square foot, environmentally-friendly bakery production center located in Alameda, California. Frainier has kept his sense of humor intact, swapping his CEO title for Chief Boot Licker and truly values his hard-working employees.

Tom Frainier and the Hand-Crafted Dough Factory

With his spiked blonde hair, Frainier dons a hairnet and opens the gates to Semifreddi’s Bakery to give me a first hand look at his bread factory. While Frainier insists this is not a factory, the magic of the place is reminiscent of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

Watching the flour travel from the silo in one room, up through pipes, hugging the walls and ceiling of the wonderland, to ultimately dump into vats in another room, reminded me of Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, sans umpa lumpas. Yet instead of chocolate, my nose was pleasantly over-whelmed with the aroma of cinnamon and fresh baked bread.

Racks of Semifreddi's artisian breads await delivery to bay area locations

Focaccia bread -  is good sheet…bread

The Alameda company is known for their sourdough, sweet and seeded baguettes, as well as  challah, cinnamon twist,  ciabatta, country levain, rosemary focaccia – this is good sheet….bread, rye, sourdough and the sweet batard. While high tech machines help the bread baking process along, it is the employees who hand craft the artisan breads.

Frainier points out that his breads contain four ingredients: flour, water, salt and yeast. “The less ingredients,” says Frainier, “the fresher and the more local it is.” In fact, 75% of the companies sales are within 30 miles of Alameda.

Semifreddi's Bakery worker prepares bread dough

Semifreddi Pasteries

You may know the bay area bakery for hand-crafted breads, but did you know Semifreddi’s also bakes morning buns, cinnamon morning buns, cinnamon swirl bread, biscotti, almond biscotti, almond croissants, chocolate croissants, apple turnovers, muffins, scones, blueberry cream cheese danish and pecan swirls? Dessert fans may enjoy chocolate chip, oatmeal or snickerdoodle cookies and seasonal breads such as pumpkin or ginger bread. Salad lovers have not been over-looked; try the super garlic croutons. Frainier hands packets of garlic croutons out to his neighborhood trick-or-treaters during Halloween night.

Semifreddi's Super Garlic Croutons

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Tour Semifreddi’s Bakery

Tours of the 33,000 square foot bakery are free and open to the general public with a minimum of 10 people – children and school groups welcome – advance reservations required.

Travelers will like Semifreddi’s for their almond biscotti and chocolate-dipped biscotti. Packed with nutritional value, the biscotti is available on line, as are the garlic croutons, and fit easily into backpacks and earthquake kits.

Follow Semifreddi Bakery on Twitter or friend them on Facebook. For all things travel related, follow Travel Expert Nancy D. Brown on Twitter.

Semifreddi breads rest in proofing baskets

If You Go:

Semifreddi Bakery (510) 596-9930

1980 North Loop Road
Alameda, CA 94502

Have you been to Alameda? What are your favorite things to do in Alameda, California?

Semifreddi's Bakery, located in Alameda, California, is open to the public for tours with advance reservations

Article, photos and YouTube video produced by Travel Writer Nancy D. Brown

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Norwegian Sami Dolls on a trip to Bergen, Norway

Whenever I’m asked what I do for a living, the title of travel writer elicits responses of envy. It’s true, I have one of the best jobs in the world. However,  travel writing does require hard work, plenty of research and writing and endless amounts of time spent at airports waiting for flights.

For those who hope to follow in my travel writing flight path, I wish you smooth sailing, be it over San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge in a Zeppelin or on the Hurtigruten discovering Norway’s authentic West Coast.

To my newspaper, magazine and on-line readers, my continued thanks for subscribing to the Contra Costa Times, Diablo magazine and this What a Trip blog.

2010 Travel Writer Year in Review – What a Trip

January: The cowboys and cowgirls of Kay El Bar Ranch invited me to launch Writinghorseback at their ranch in Wickenburg, Arizona. I couldn’t have started this horseback riding vacation blog without the support of Trisha Miller of Travel Writers Exchange. Trisha was kind enough to feature me in her travel blogger case studies.  Additionally, I look forward to miles and aisle of new food trends at San Francisco’s annual Fancy Food Show.

February: I was looking forward to my first visit to Yellowstone National Park via Cody, Wyoming. However, a torn rotator cuff on my husband’s left shoulder left me playing Nurse Nancy.

March: Anyone who knows me is aware of my keen fondness for Alaska. I was thrilled when the PR gurus behind Travel Alaska invited me to cover the 2010 Iditarod Sled Dog Race.  Thanks also goes to Karen Lundquist of Fairbanks CVB for arranging my Alaska lodging, travel gear and visits to Chena Hot Springs and the World Ice Art Championships. I think the sled dog ride was a highlight of my 2010 travel experiences! That’s not to say I didn’t have a wonderful trip my first time visiting Ojai, California.

April: For the horse lovers out there, my visit to Graham, Texas and Wildcatter Ranch was my first encounter with Long Horn cattle and horseback riding by the Brazos River. Steak lovers will love this place!

Surfboards in Oahu, Hawaii

May: The Netherlands invited me to visit Holland during a cold snap in early May. This was my first trip to Brussels,  Bruges and Ghent in Belgium, as well as The Hauge, Zeeland and Zeil in the Netherlands. If you plan your trip for early May, be sure to catch the Holy Blood Procession in Bruges – it is quite a visual and auditory treat for the senses with its floats, costumes and music.

Have you heard of the No Hoku Hanohano Awards? I was a guest of the Hawaii Tourism Authority for a culture-focused trip to Honolulu. There is plenty to do on Oahu, including the Prince Lot Hula Festival.

June: I love meeting CVB and PR people on Twitter. One of these social media pros is Lisa Gerber of Big Leap Creative. Gerber hooked me up with a Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho adventure, as well as horseback riding at Red Horse Mountain Ranch, an all inclusive resort in Harrison, Idaho.

July: Travel bloggers know that we often spend as much time in front of the computer as we do traveling. This July we gathered in the Big Apple for TBEX New York, our annual travel blogger conference. While in New York I asked a group of travel bloggers for their insider tips on things to see and do in New York. Next year TBEX will converge in Vancouver, Canada.

Each year we take a family vacation to Sunriver Resort in Central Oregon. When the kids were young, we traveled as a family of four. Now that we have two teenagers, we travel in multiple vehicles as the kids like to bring friends on our family vacation.  There are many things to do on an outdoor vacation in Oregon.

August: Late summer I went horseback riding in the Sierra Foothills of Copperopolis and then traveled to Half Moon Bay for horseback riding on the beach.

As my father’s side of the family hails from Norway, I was delighted to be a guest of Innovation Norway. In addition to horseback riding on a Fjord horse in Bergen, I was able to visit many Norwegian cities sailing Norway’s authentic coast on the Hurtigruten.

Travel Writer Nancy D. Brown lands a Chinook with Canada's West Coast Fishing Club.

September: For the fishermen and women out there, I have a favorite new fishing lodge thanks to a Twitter introduction from Hawksworth Communications in Vancouver, Canada. The West Coast Fishing Club in Canada’s Haida Gwaii offers luxury accommodations, first rate food and excellent halibut and salmon fishing. For those who ask if I ever travel with my husband, it is difficult to coordinate schedules with jobs and teenagers. We were fortunate to celebrate our 24 year wedding anniversary and watch the leaves change colors at Cathedral Mountain Lodge in Yolo National Park and Moraine Lake Lodge in Banff  National Park.

October: Thanks to Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau and the folks at Geiger PR, I was able to go up in a hot air balloon at the International Balloon Fiesta in New Mexico. What a trip!

Travel Writer Nancy D. Brown about to lift off at International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM

November: Having never visited Hawaii’s Big Island, I was happy to join Jessica Ferracane of Iron Dog Public Relations and the Big Island Visitors Bureau for a trip to the Kohala Coast.

Thanksgiving had me visiting Carmel, California to give thanks with family. I was supposed to go horseback riding with the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center, but a scheduling snafu prevented a glorious day of horseback riding on Pebble Beach.

December: Celebrating the holidays in the San Francisco Bay Area and busy working my public relations job at KRT Marketing.

Where will your travels take you in 2011?

Surfboard photo courtesy of Hawaii Tourism Authority Joe Solem

Posted by Nancy D. Brown

2009 What a Trip - Nancy Brown's Travel Year in Review

What a Trip 2009 has been! I am blessed with a supportive husband and two awesome teenagers who understand my travel addiction. Thanks to all of the folks who have invited me to share their piece of paradise, to the travel gear producers who have sent me products to review and to my friends new and old in the travel blogging community.

2009 Year in Review

January: The folks at Napa Valley Wine Train, Carneros Inn and Meritage Resort helped me celebrate my birthday in Napa, CA

February: Katherine Hoppe made a Twitter connection and invited me to Coos Bay and North Bend, OR, while Unique Inns invited me on a Southern CA Roadtrip with my Vacation Gal buddy Jennifer Miner where we visited Laguna Beach and Avalon.

March: began with a quick trip to Napa, CA for a visit to a green hotel and a Southern California college tour with my high school senior and another mother-daughter duo.

April: Sean Carroll of New Media Strategies invited me to Cozumel, Mexico as a guest of Royal Holiday; Oregon Governor’s Conference on Tourism asked me to speak about Travel Blogging in Salem. Of course, I flew into Eugene, OR for a quick visit to my alma mater.

FYI, The tourism conference will take place April 11-13,2010 in Bend, OR.

Nancy Brown visits UNESCO Biosphere in Entlebuch, Switzerland

Nancy Brown in Entlebuch, SwitzerlandMay: The folks at Switzerland Tourism introduced me to Entlebuch, Fribourg, Gruyere, Lucerne, Lugano, Murten and Schwyz; while the Kaanapali Beach Resort Association showed me all that Maui, Hawaii has to offer. I managed to squeeze in a trip to Carmel, CA for Memorial Day and met my sorority social media soul sister Sarah Browne.

June: A family vacation brought us to Sisters and Bend, Southern Oregon’s Crater Lake and Grants Pass for a jet boat ride on Oregon’s Rogue River.

July: I spoke on a travel panel at BlogHer & met fellow travel bloggers at TBEX, Chicago, IL; Whatcom County wined and dined me during a Washington Culinary Tour, while I checked out a new hotel in Half Moon Bay, CA

FYI, TBEX takes place in NYC, June 26-27, 2010 as does BlogHer August 5-7, 2010  See you there?

August: Royal Caribbean invited me to sail on Radiance of the Seas,where I did a land and sea tour in Anchorage, Denali, Fairbanks, Ketchikan and Juneau, Alaska. I was supposed to visit Macau, China, but a nasty cold stopped me from flying.

September: I sailed thru Alaska’s Glacier Bay to Ketchikan, Juneau and the Inside Passage with Holland America Line on the MS Westerdam.

October: The friendly folks at McNeil Wilson showed me around Kauai, Hawaii‘s Garden Isle where I went horseback riding and swam in a waterfall.

Girls at Mercado 28 in downtown Cancun, Mexico

Did you #FollowMeAtSea on the Western Caribbean Princess Cruises Twitter Trip? I also gave thanks with my family in Carmel, CA.

December: I was one of nine #Bloggers in Paradise at the Cancun JW Marriott Resort and then sipped hot chocolate in Napa AVIA, wine at the Pink Mansion and blissed out at the Roman Spa Resort in Calistoga, CA

clock photo by findstuff22