The Essential Baking Company was founded in 1994 by George DePasquale and the late Jeff Fairhall. Jeff founded Essential Foods, a startup company that made and sold wrap sandwiches. George came to Seattle from San Francisco to pursue his passions of baking and playing bass guitar. Luckily, George and Jeff’s paths crossed and they started a business selling George’s signature breads at the Fremont Farmers Market.
In 1998, the bakery moved to the old Buchan Bakery building in Wallingford and established its first bakery café. A dozen years later we joined with Parisian Star Desserts, founded by French native Pierre Fauvet. Pierre brought decades of experience making exquisite desserts that look as good as they taste. Having outgrown our original bakery space, in 2010 we relocated to the Georgetown neighborhood in south Seattle. In 2012, we acquired Delphina’s Bakery in Portland, Oregon.
Today we proudly provide breads, pastries, crackers and desserts to the finest establishments throughout the Pacific Northwest including grocery stores, cafes, restaurants, schools and hospitals.
Some 15 years after the Company’s founding, you can still find George sharing his passion by teaching bread and pizza making classes around Seattle.