Grand Central Bakery’s origins are baked into Seattle’s food history. Now the famed bread makers are among a handful of mission-driven food businesses working to make sure their legacy and values will continue long-term.

It was, we have to say, easy as pie to find the winner: Grand Central Bakery, which sells frozen U-Bake crusts at its stores, was the overwhelming favorite for its fresh and rich taste, distinctive layers, and a lovely ruffled edge that was neat and yet clearly formed by hand.

Claire Randall is guiding Grand Central Bakery through its next chapter, one that will see it become one of the few organizations to test out a new type of steward ownership intended to protect it from ever being sold or losing sight of its mission

Buttery scraps of croissant dough are stuffed into a muffin tin loaded with pecan sticky-roll stuff for a waste-not, want-not triumph of craggy edges and Sugar Daddy chew.

“There was no straight career path of studying business, getting an MBA, and becoming a CEO…”

Grand Central Bakery is changing its ownership to a perpetual purpose trust in a move designed to shield the 33-year-old company from any future sale and protect its mission in perpetuity.