MAY 9 • 2024 | 13
Josh White, manager at Dakota
Bakery and Jacob’s boss, says
what Jacob brings to the bakery
environment is priceless.
“When Jacob walks in, there’s a
smile on everybody’s face. And when
he walks in, you know he’s there,”
White says. “He walks in every day
and the first thing he does is give
people hugs, to the front of the bakery
all the way to the back, and he’s not
starting his day until he makes sure he
says ‘hi’ to every single person in that
place. It’s a great environment when
he’s there.”
White has witnessed Jacob’s passion
for baking up close and in person
for a while now, and he’s seen how
talented he’s become at it as a result.
“I’ve never seen the kind of passion
he has. He wakes up and breathes
baking,” White says. “He calls me
every day. He’ll talk to me for an
hour about what he’s going to do the
next day, and then he’ll tell me all the
desserts and food he made at home
that evening as well. He lives for it.”
A CREATIVE TOUCH
Jacob loves doing a little bit of R&D,
or research and development. He
often bakes original ideas for desserts
at home and then brings it into work
for his bosses to try. If they like it,
they’ll start making it and selling it at
the bakery.
“Our kitchen looks like a
professional bakery, and it’s not
like we have professional bakery
equipment. Right now, we’re at our
kitchen island and there’s a bag of
flour, a bag of sugar and a food
processor full of something,” Ethan
said over the phone. “Jacob comes
home, he takes a nap and then instead
of going and watching TV or whatever
else, he just starts baking again.”
Jacob loves interacting with
customers. The table where he
perfects his R&D and his baking is
right up by the register.
“He has no problem asking people
if they want to try this or try that,”
White says.
Jacob takes great pride in his work,
but his favorite aspect of baking isn’t
about himself — it’s all about
what others get out of it due
to his hard work.
“When customers come
into Soul or Dakota and they
eat my treats, it makes them
happy,” Jacob says.
Since childhood, Jacob has
been going to Camp Morasha in
Pennsylvania as part of its Yachad
bunk, which provides Jewish camping
opportunities for individuals with
disabilities and offers a wide variety
of programs catered to each person’s
needs.
Jacob spent several years working
in the baking room as part of its
vocational program, and last year
they pulled him into the camp’s main
kitchen where he helped bake for
the whole camp. Jacob was gifted a
chef jacket because of how much he
excelled in that role.
For Ethan, seeing his son’s passion
and hard work lead him to such
success brings great joy.
“It’s exciting because he’s a sweet
kid and has an amazing work ethic.
But obviously, as a child, we really
didn’t know what his future would
hold, and we wanted him to be happy
and productive. And now he’s doing
something he loves, and it’s very
fulfilling for him,” Ethan says.
“He works a job he likes, everybody
there is very nice and they treat him
well. They love his ideas, because all
he thinks about for the most part is
baking, and occasionally cooking.
And then Legos, those are the top
three.”
A major goal for Jacob in his baking
endeavors is making a cookbook.
It makes sense, considering he has
a massive library of cookbooks at
home and almost exclusively follows
cookbook authors on social media.
“We’ve been talking about it for
a while; it would have a lot of his
recipes,” Ethan says. “It would try to
make it simple so that anybody, even
someone with special needs, can
follow along and bake like he does.”
If there’s one thing Jacob could tell
someone, it’s to do what he’s done:
“Follow your dreams.”
RIGHT: Jacob with
his cookbooks and
his puppy, Babka.
BELOW: Jacob with
his father Ethan
Gross in the kitchen,
of course.