Local Entrepreneur Lane Levine Sinks his Teeth into the Frozen Grilled Cheese Industry

Lane Levine of A Friendly Bread: "Sourdough bread with fancy cheese — which is what we bring to the table — is the marriage of two fermented masterpieces, which provide a variety of our favorite tastes and textures.” (File photo by Joshua Rosenstein)

Lane Levine admits he’s a bit late to the grilled cheese world and stumped when pontificating on the allure of the iconic all-American sandwich.

“Growing up, I didn’t like bread or cheese very much, so I can’t speak to why the classic white bread with American cheese is so popular,” says Levine, 39, who was raised in Owings Mills and now lives in North Baltimore. “But sourdough bread with fancy cheese — which is what we bring to the table — is the marriage of two fermented masterpieces, which provide a variety of our favorite tastes and textures.”

A graduate of Pikesville’s Krieger Schechter Day School and Franklin High School in Reisterstown, Levine is the founder, owner and operator of A Friendly Bread, an artisanal bread business launched six years ago.  

A Friendly Bread now produces a line of frozen, restaurant-quality, heat-and-eat sourdough grilled cheese sandwiches that can be found in more than 500 supermarkets — such as Giant Food, The Fresh Market, Eddie’s of Roland Park and Martin’s — throughout Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Jmore: Why did you shift the primary focus of your business to frozen grilled cheese sandwiches?

LL: I was given great advice early on telling me to keep my eye out for a fresh take on the standard bakery business model, because it is hard to make money selling artisan bread. My bread customers always used to tell me about the delicious grilled cheeses they would make with our product. Creating a unique frozen version of America’s most popular sandwich seemed to fill a void in the convenience grocery world.

Ultimately, the initial advice proved true — the artisan bread game was not great money, and frozen grilled cheese has the potential to help us build a strong and successful business.

How did you manage to get your grilled cheese sandwiches into more than 500 markets in such a short span of time?

I learned a bit about the grocery world when I began selling our fresh bread to local grocers like Eddie’s and Graul’s. Working in this context prompted me to delve into a program called Retail Ready, which is designed to train packaged food business owners to get their items into grocery stores. Using the templates and processes I learned, I was able to get my foot in the door with a few national retailers.

Beyond that, the product speaks for itself, and it seems retailers agree that we are on to something special. Our first big break was securing distribution in all 160 locations of The Fresh Market, including four in Maryland. When a national tastemaker like The Fresh Market shows their trust in us, it makes the subsequent sales pitches easier.

Grilled cheese is considered the all-American sandwich, but is there a Jewish angle? Ever have grilled cheese on challah?

One of our four grilled cheese flavors is a challah with Swiss cheese. Since we are a sourdough bread company, we add some depth of flavor to the challah by adding sourdough starter, but besides that this is our flavor that is the most soft, sweet and mild while still being elevated.

Additionally, we put out videos about how to “fancify” your grilled cheese by opening it up halfway through the heating process and adding extra ingredients. Lots of Jewish or Middle Eastern ingredients like sauerkraut, zhug, pickled onions and more make their way into these creations.

Do you think your philosophy degree from Harvard has helped in your business journey?

One thing I was taught in philosophy was brevity and clarity of expression. Being able to bring clarity and directness to everything from running my production staff to entering into deals with large retailers helps me to limit miscommunications and mistakes.

You previously worked as a community organizer for such groups as CHAI, LifeBridge Health and the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network. Do you continue to dabble in community service?

I have come back very cautiously to doing community work. I have placed an emphasis on high wages and benefits for my employees, and this commitment led to my participation in statewide legislative efforts to make health insurance more accessible for small businesses. I now serve as a co-chair of the Small Business Programs Advisory Committee, run by the Maryland Health Benefits Exchange.

OK, back to grilled cheese. What did it feel like to get your sandwiches into a market the first time?

One of my favorite small retail partners, Farm Chicks Corner Market in Reisterstown, used to sell our fresh bread. I had mentioned to them the idea of the frozen grilled cheese more than a year before I was ready to start producing it. Every week along with their bread order, they would jokingly add one case of grilled cheese to their order. Once it was finally ready, Farm Chicks got the first ones and sold them like crazy.

When the grilled cheese launched in all 160 locations of The Fresh Market, it was a different experience entirely. The rollout of a launch like that involves building up inventory, onboarding into new systems, troubleshooting supply-chain problems, checking the stores obsessively and working with the corporate team to fix implementation problems. Seeing the product on the shelf is certainly a climactic moment, but it also marks the moment that the retailer begins scrutinizing your sales to make sure your product is performing well on their shelves.

A Friendly Bread offers a wide variety of flavors. Do you have a personal favorite?

When we sold fresh bread, we had a rotating cast of about 20 different sourdough flavors, ranging from plain sourdough to butterscotch macadamia, and everything in between. I loved our walnut date, as well as our olive bread.

Among our current flavors of grilled cheese, I am in love with our newest, Jalapeno Gruyere, which is only starting to hit shelves locally.

Aside from bread, what products do you think are best to buy locally?

I have always been skeptical of the exhortation to buy local for lofty intangible reasons like supporting the local economy and reducing carbon footprint. While those are good things, those reasons alone don’t truly force local businesses to strive for excellence. I believe you should buy local for reasons that make a tangible difference to you as a customer, such as superior quality and intimate customer service. Any local business or product that can compete against non-local vendors on those metrics certainly deserves your hard-earned money.

Thankfully, being local makes it easier for businesses to achieve those higher standards because they have a direct feedback loop with their customers.

Describe your business philosophy in three words.

Friendly, obviously, because I make it a point to be easy to work with, kind to everyone involved and accessible to our customers.

Focused — once we have committed to a product or business model, we strip away the other parts of the business that don’t support it and keep focused on efficiency and excellence.

Dignified — I make it a point to provide a respectful, well-compensated, nurturing and balanced environment for my staff to thrive and feel good about their employment. I also have a “no resentment policy.” I don’t allow the business to get involved in any situations, partnerships, etc., that look like they will lead to us begrudging our commitment either due to poor compensation, indecent treatment or outsized inconvenience. Avoiding these types of situations allows us to keep our self-respect.

Izzy Reed is a local freelance writer.

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