Loaves of Leidenheimer's bread at the Oak Street Po'Boy Festival 2011
Leidenheimer Baking Company is a bakeryinNew Orleans. It was started in 1896 by George Leidenheimer, an immigrant from Deidesheim, Germany. Initially located on Dryades Street, it moved in 1904 to Simon Bolivar Avenue, where it continues in business as the city's largest and best-known maker of po'boy bread,[1][2][3][4] a fiercely competitive niche.[5][6] Leidenheimer bought out its largest competitor, Reising's Sunrise, in the early 1990s, and still manufactures products under the Reising name. It bought another competitor, Angelo Gendusa, in the 2000s.[7][8]
The bakery was forced to close for a short time after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In the interim, Leidenheimer produced its bread in a Chicago bakery.[9][10] In recent years, Leidenheimer has made the round, seeded bread for the muffuletta sandwich at New Orleans' Central Grocery (the former baker, United Bakery, did not reopen after Katrina).[7][11]
Leidenheimer Baking Company is one of the historic businesses in the Central City section of New Orleans. To mark the company's centennial in 1996, the artwork of Bunny Matthews, creator of the "Nint' Ward"-based cartoon characters "Vic and Nat'ly", was added to the bakery's delivery trucks.[7]
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Phillips, Valerie (August 23, 2006). "Rebuilding New Orleans, a meal at a time". Deseret News. ProQuest351505850. Everyone seems to agree that it's the bread that makes a true "po' boy" sandwich -- a French bread known for being crispy on the outside so that it can hold up to the filling, with a light, airy interior. And a lot of that bread is made by G.H. Leidenheimer Baking Co. Copy available here(subscription required)
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Kolb, Carolyn (May 1, 2006). "Upper Crust: The rise and survival of Leidenheimer". New Orleans Magazine. Vol. 40, no. 7. ProQuest206638452. We arranged for our operations manager to travel to Chicago and produce our product in a friend's bakery. Even the muffuletta loaves came out of the Chicago ovens, ready for olive salad and cold cuts. Copy available here(subscription required)
