MAY 9 • 2024 | 11
J
N
J
acob, you need to stay over here,”
I heard Ethan Gross say to his son
while I spoke with them over the
phone.
“He’s trying to bake something while
we’re talking,” Ethan laughed to me.
You would be hard-pressed to find
someone as passionate about something
as Jacob Gross is about baking.
When you have an unshakeable pas-
sion, you do everything you can to turn
the passion into something greater — so
it becomes your life.
Jacob, who has special needs, didn’t
allow anything to stop him from doing
just that.
His passion has led to him becoming
a fixture at Dakota Bread Company/
Bakery and Soul Café, the adult
vocational programs of Friendship Circle
of Michigan, which provide hands-on
learning and employment for adults with
special needs.
The 27-year-old has enjoyed baking
since he was a student at West Bloomfield
High School, where he spent time
working in the cafeteria.
After high school, Jacob spent time at
a transition center, a place to work on job
skills. It was there that he started baking
for Shalom Shomer, Friendship Circle’s
director of food operations. Shomer now
operates Dakota Bakery, Soul Café and
Epic Kosher/Milk & Honey Catering.
Jacob
started
working
for Shomer
before Shomer’s
involvement with
Dakota Bakery. It was during
that time in which Jacob started
baking as a form of employment, rather
than simply for fun. And even though it
became a job, he enjoyed it just as much
as he did previously.
When Friendship Circle acquired
Dakota Bakery in 2020, Jacob started
working there as soon as it reopened. He
was already working at Soul Café by that
point. Those in charge knew of his baking
capabilities — it was the perfect fit.
It’s now 2024, and Jacob has been
working at both locations ever since.
He currently works at Dakota Bakery
three days a week and one day a
week at Soul Café. He’s become
integral to the operations at
both places.
His main role at Dakota
Bakery is being a pastry
assistant.
Every day is different. On
one day, Jacob can be seen
making red velvet cakes. The
next day, he’s concocting a
new and improved chocolate
chip muffin.
He’s been
working on pies
for the past six months. All the pies that
have been coming out of the bakery are
thanks to master pastry chef Jacob.
Jacob receives assistance at times — but
his bosses trust him. He knows what he’s
doing.
He also has a passion for helping others
learn how to bake. Dakota Bakery offers
weekly training opportunities for other
adults with special needs, and Jacob
makes the challah dough that the trainees
then learn how to make into the bakery’s
famous challah bread.
Jacob focuses on pastries at Soul Café
as well but makes different items at that
location even though they’re under the
same ownership.
One of Jacob’s baking specialties, you
ask? Babka.
AN EXPERT BABKA BAKER
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when
Jacob’s brother and sister still lived at
home, they had him make tons of babkas
each week and then sold them to neigh-
bors. It was a huge hit.
continued on page 12
Jacob Gross has become
integral to the operations at
Dakota Bakery and Soul Café.
Baking
Up a
Storm
DANNY SCHWARTZ SENIOR STAFF REPORTER