Mark Friend

Mark Friend is the founder and president of Farm to Market Bread Co., a local artisan bread bakery in Kansas City, Mo. Established in 1993, Farm to Market Bread Co. is a fixture in Kansas City’s local food scene, delivering fresh bread daily to more than 300 grocery stores and restaurants in the Kansas City metro area, and Lawrence and Topeka, Ks. Mark has nearly 50 years of baking experience. He started in seventh grade at a doughnut shop across the back alley from his home. From there, he built a career working in French bakeries and hotels. To add to his on-the-job training, Mark trained at both the San Francisco Baking Institute and the American Institute of Baking. Mark was mentored by a San Francisco sourdough expert and third generation Italian baker, Claudio Cantore. As a founding member of the Bread Baker’s Guild, Mark organized the guild’s first seminar – “the Sourdough Seminar” – in 1993 at the Las Vegas International Baking Industry Exposition. Mark is considered among industry professionals as one of the leading experts on natural sour starters, and has lectured on sourdough at the American Institute of Baking and other national conventions.