By By LYDIA GRIMES – Features writer
Christmas baking is taking a priority with many people, but no one is as busy as Kirkland D. Brandow, who owns the new Brandow's Mill Town Bakery.
Things are really hopping in the old building on the corner of St. Joseph Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue. It had sat empty for some time before Brandow took over earlier this year.
With two other bakeries already in business in the area, it would seem that they might be a lot of competition, but such is not the case. Kirkland said his product is completely different.
What may be surprising to some of his customers is the fact that he can also cook other things. And the list of places where he has cooked is long and impressive.
His first job in a restaurant was as a pot washer. It led to leading the kitchen when he took a recipe and changed it to make it better.
In 1991 he returned to his high school class reunion and met up with a classmate, Angela Hope Stokes, who was going to nursing school in El Paso, Texas.
While in El Paso, Brandow also worked at Lomart International Bakery. He assisted the pastry chef and helped with the daily bread production.
When his dad became ill in Atlanta, Brandow came back to Georgia to look after him while Hope finished school. They planned on meeting up later in Milton, Fla.
He sent out resumes and found a job at the Pensacola Country Club where he was in charge of salads, desserts and all cold items. He managed, trained and scheduled a staff of six to eight people and did all the purchasing/receiving for the cold side of the kitchen. He stayed there about two years when he said &#8220kitchen politics” came into play and he got out.
He went next to Nichol's Seafood Restaurant in Milton in 1994 as the kitchen manager. He was in charge of all recipes including the specialty of the house, yeast dinner rolls. He oversaw a minimum of 12 kitchen staff.
In 1995, he went to Krehl's Bakery where he was in charge of making doughnuts, averaging 150 plus dozen each shift. In 1996, he moved to Woodbine Country Caf