Community Bakery owner, Joe Fox, is a well-educated man. He attended UA Little Rock for his undergraduate degree in Engineering Technology, then studied Economics at Stanford University and earned an MBA from Harvard. His time in Boston coupled with his love of business led to his weekly habit of reading the Sunday New York Times.
When he returned to Little Rock from Boston, he found there were no bagel and coffee shops that carried the Sunday edition of the Times. This inspired him to become a distributor and ultimately led to him buying Community Bakery.
The original Community bakery was started by Ralph Hinson in 1947 in Rose City North Little Rock. It changed hands in the late 1970s and was sold to Mr. Fox in 1986. In 1993, Fox relocated the bakery to its current location at 12th and Main.
He employs 65 people. Recently Fox partnered with John Brandenberger, whom Fox is grooming to take over the business. In October, 2018, it was announced that Community Bakery would transition over to solar power. They have another location on Shackleford in West Little Rock.
