Dozen is a place
we can share.
Dozen was never intended to make it this long. In 2009, founder Claire Meneely started Dozen as a one-woman holiday cookie pop-up, baking in a rented commercial kitchen and selling at local farmers markets. Thanks to word-of-mouth, some good press, and building an excellent team, Dozen continues to this day. Dozen's bakery/cafe was opened on February 2nd, 2015- Groundhog Day!
Today, our team at Dozen provides pastries and bread to many local Nashville restaurants, and serves customers from Nashville and beyond our full line of bread, pastries, and menus for breakfast, lunch, and brunch. Thanks to your continued support we are moving to a larger space to better accommodate you in early 2025!
Our Commitment to the Planet:
We recognize the importance of working towards a better future for our planet. After setting a goal in 2021 to become Climate Neutral Certified within 5 years, Dozen obtained Climate Neutral Certification through the Change Climate Project in April 2024. In addition to decreasing our emissions through improving our business practices in accordance with suggestions from Change Climate Project, we purchased carbon offsets for our calculated 2023 emissions. We chose to purchase these carbon credits from Tradewater, who dispose of used refrigerants to keep their harmful emissions from entering the environment.
Dozen’s Values:
Integrity
We recognize that the success of our business is dependent on the trust and confidence we earn from our employees, our customers, and our community. We operate every facet of Dozen with ethics and integrity as our guiding principles.
In Practice at the Bakery:
We offer all of our full-time employees healthcare, PTO, and 401k matching as well as paid parental leave. We offer all of our part-time employees PTO, paid parental leave and 401k matching.
We never sell day-old baked goods or bread.
We respect our employee’s time and work through healthy work/life boundaries and competitive pay.
Every menu change, we pick a new local charity to which we donate a portion of sales from our rotating seasonal loaf.
We offer 100% pay visibility to all employees.
We thoughtfully source ingredients, packaging, and equipment to maintain our Carbon Neutral certification and continue to reduce our carbon emissions.
We compost with The Compost Company, recycle, and use a waste-tracking system to reduce our waste and carbon footprint.
In Practice at the Bakery:
We host pop-ups at the bakery partnering with local food and beverage businesses as well as artists and makers.
We buy local produce, meat, and supplies when available and maintain good relationships with the farms we partner with.
We use local Nashville coffee roaster Crema as our coffee supplier and supply their shops with baked goods.
We stock retail goods from small, sustainable businesses for all occasions throughout the year.
We donate our leftover breads and pastries to local non-profits such as Project Return, the farm at Trevecca, and Room in the Inn.
We have a rotating seasonal loaf that we donate $1 of each sale to a local non-profit like Nashville Cares, Nashville Book Connection, Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition, Nashville Launch Pad, and Oasis Center.
We offer donations to local charities and groups throughout the year for their giveaways and events, including Turnip Green Creative Reuse and the Nashville Poetry Library which are located right in our neighborhood.
We work with dozens of local restaurants and coffee shops, supplying bread and pastries across Nashville and choose those partners thoughtfully.
Community
We value ourselves, those we work alongside, our customers, and all members of our community at large. We're free to be who we are and put our unique selves into everything we make and do. We recognize that our privilege as individuals and as a collective require us to support and stand up for those who are less privileged.
Quality
At Dozen, we believe that putting our best into everything we do always yields the greatest result. We choose to support vendors, farmers, and artisans who consistently deliver the finest and freshest ingredients available.
In Practice at the Bakery:
We bake all of our bread and pastries fresh daily, ensuring the freshest product possible.
We source ingredients from high-quality suppliers, and use only organic flours and sugars.
We focus on seasonal ingredients to ensure freshness and variety.
We focus on retaining our employees, which aids consistency and builds expertise needed to expand and grow.
We make as much as we can from scratch - our hot sauce, our cookie crusts, and even our almond paste.
Education
We constantly seek to expand our knowledge and skills in order to improve our work. We pass on our collective knowledge and skills to those who seek to learn. We foster an environment that encourages growth, both personal and professional.
In Practice at the Bakery:
We pay for our team members to take outside classes meant to hone and develop skills for the future benefit of their careers.
We offer 101 classes in the Bread, Pastry, Coffee, and Savory departments for all employees to gain a deeper understanding of every piece of the Dozen puzzle.
We are always happy to share knowledge (and some sourdough starter!) with home bakers.
We belong to the Bread Bakers Guild of America, providing our bakers with a community of fellow professional bakers, forums, and educational opportunities to further their careers.
2025 Donation Recipients