San Diego’s Star Bakery (Finally) Starts Expansion

For the last eight years, fans who wanted a kouign amann or baguette from one of the best bakeries in the land had to have the patience and passion to navigate north PB all the way to Bird Rock. They often do, because of Wayfarer Bread and Pastry.

You’ll still have to drive, but as of today, the dream starts to expand.

Baker-owner Crystal White has found local partners with plans for slow, steady growth. Wayfarer Bird Rock (in a former taco shop along La Jolla Blvd.) stays exactly as is, except now White will move into a creative director role—more tinkering, less paperwork. All employees stay.

“I’m still very much here and going nowhere,” White told me on the phone. “I’m moving into the creative director role where I get to work on new ideas, oversee quality control, and help evolve what Wayfarer is and can become.”

Her new partners will start the long, slow process of expanding the Wayfarer universe at a rational rate. “We’ve been helping restaurants grow for 17 years,” explains Rise Collective partner Randy Corrigan. “But we looked at ourselves last year and thought, ‘We want to start partnering with the Crystals of the world—smaller, independent businesses, and help them grow thoughtfully and slowly and keep the integrity and the soul.’”

This new model of slow-growth is called Rise Collective, a project with him and longtime partners McKenzie Cox and Stacy Meronoff. All three live in San Diego and have deep roots: Corrigan grew up in La Jolla; Cox has lived here for 20 years; and Meronoff was born in Bird Rock, where his mom still lives. 

“The idea is every Wayfarer is going to be a stand alone bakery,” he says. “We’re not going to bastardize it and ship bread. It will all be made from scratch, in-house, every day—the baker showing up at 3AM just like they do now. All the things they do now, which are really laborious… but make the bread taste better.” 

I ask Corrigan to give me an inkling of where Wayfarer might go next. Heavy, heavy caveat: All of this is still in the dream phase. Nothing set in stone. But you don’t partner with something like Wayfarer without having a reasonable plan. 

He says they’ll follow Crystal’s lead. “Wherever she thinks is cool, we’ll go,” he says. “We’d love to keep it mostly a coastal brand. Crystal started out of a coffee spot in Encinitas—so that’s a no-brainer. She loves Oceanside.” 

For dates, they expect to have a location open in North County by the end of 2027. After north county, maybe inch up the coast in beach towns like Dana Point, San Clemente, beyond. What about retail along with other local bakeries like Prager Bros and Sadie Rose? 

“Eventually that is the hope,” he says. “We will be selective and make sure the retailers share similar values as Wayfarer. Crystal will play a big part in that if it comes to fruition.” 

“You don’t see slow growth done well very often,” Corrigan says. “Even I see it happen and I think, ‘Oh, this is gonna be bad.’ But we’re not cost-cutting to save money, we’re not going to downsize, we’re not franchising—we’ll keep everything the same and help Wayfarer grow slowly. We can get in there and learn from Crystal, hopefully we can fill in some blind spots with operations.”

White has often said she was happy with her “little bakery by the beach” and didn’t see expansion in the cards. That always seemed a tad magical and depressing. Knowing what she and team had to do to get it off the ground—White lived in a backroom in the bakery in the early days, often finding herself on the roof at midnight, staring at a compressor and willing it not to break (watch this video)—you hope that they’re able to turn it into something grander. Put them all over the city, other cities, on the dang moon. That would create more jobs, train more bakers, expand the city’s bread arts. 

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The selfish part of you hopes she would never, ever grow, remaining a singular, tiny attraction for locals and those patient and passionate enough to make the drive through north PB. Just White and team, kneading dough and feeding starters for years until their carpel-tunnel hands are opening those AARP welcome letters.

I’m not going to tell you which you should prefer (you should prefer the moon).

“After nearly 10 years at the helm, I’m very excited to bring on partners who share my deep love for everything that makes Wayfarer so special—most especially the people—and who will be stewards of our continuing legacy in San Diego,” White says.

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