Hi Elizabeth, thanks for being comfortable sharing how our recent messages have left you feeling. Your openness is appreciated.  

We understand the discomfort some feel when companies publicly express their values. Big picture principles are shared by nearly everyone: show kindness, care for others, give generously, be thoughtful caretakers of our planet ... But when defining the more difficult “how?” and “how much?” it’s common to disagree and for the ideas to be assigned to one side of the political aisle or the other. Though conditions make it challenging to separate them, neither politics nor division are our goal. The importance of all people’s lives — their humanity and dignity — isn’t something we question or devalue. As a baking company that’s made it our business to widely spread joy and knowledge, and to create community over many years, there should be no doubt about our feelings on this.

It’s precisely the reason we’ve chosen to amplify the voices of groups and people who have historically been excluded from many parts of the baking world based on qualities like their race, color, gender, and sexuality. We feel that it’s particularly important to go out of our way to let people know that they have a place in our kitchen as their whole, authentic selves, where it’s not necessary to hide or downplay parts of their lives that make up a key part of how they experience things. We feel welcoming everyone to our table in this way enriches all of us. 

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