MAY 9 • 2024 | 11
J
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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