Riverside has a new spot for fresh bread, scones, and more baked goods. Cobs Bread opened their doors on September 2nd and have been making the people of Greenwich happy ever since. Not only are they baking fresh every day for their customers, but they have an End of Day Giving program that helps local nonprofits in town.
Cobs Bread Riverside is the second U.S. location. The store is part of a large bakery chain that was founded in Australia. Rob Hyden and his wife Louise first opened a Cobs Bread franchise on High Ridge Road in Stamford in 2015. Meanwhile, there are 600 bread stores in Australia and 120 in Canada.
Robert Hyden, along with his wife, Louise, came to Greenwich in 2004 from Melbourne, Australia. Rob and Louise really missed the bread and baked goods they loved in Australia and wanted to find a way to bring them here. Since expanding two of their sons have joined with them to help run the bakeries, a true family business.
The shop has a highly trained staff, knows the products thoroughly, and everything is baked from scratch, said Hyden, who had to take his own training courses in Canada to secure the franchise. Some 16 employees are working out of the store, most of them locally hired.
The work isn’t easy and requires knowledge, patience and exactitude. The they make 70-90 different products a day from scratch, work at the Greenwich shop starts at 2 a.m. Since freshness is at a premium, the store has an End of Day Give Back program where they give away a large portion of its products to local food banks and nonprofits.
Cobs End of Day Give Back program allows for the bakery to always have fresh bread to sell, cut back on food waste, and it’s good for philanthropic outreach. The program provides more that $1000 of food to local grassroots partners in the community per day. Currently, they are partnered with Abilis, Food Rescue, Neighbor to Neighbor, Kids in Crisis, and the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich.