Pay What You Will Pricing!

2/6/26: We are trying out a "Pay What You Will" pricing structure for all our breads!

With so much (very) bad news everywhere you look, we wanted to try doing something good. We are going to allow people to pick their own price, with a suggested price of $8 for most loaves, for the month of February and hopefully beyond. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Since we started the bakery, we have tried to strike the balance between making our products both accessible to the average person, and adequately priced to actually compensate our team and invest in our business. With 5 years of successful farm-to-table bakery production and sales under our belts, we think it's a good time to step out in faith to try a "Pay What You Will" pricing structure.

Bread is a staple, a basic human need, it is the ancient symbol of sustenance. Around the world, revolutions and social unrest have been triggered by surging bread prices. Although we want our bread to be beautiful, delicious, easy to digest, and nutrient dense, we don't want our bread to be fancy, expensive, or out of reach for people who are struggling to make ends meet. We trust that God will provide for us, and we trust you, our community, will understand and support our decision! Join us in this local grain experiment in kindness, justice, and mercy.

Were you recently laid off from your job? Has fear of harassment and deportation kept you from earning your income? Come without money, buy and eat! Have you been blessed with abundance? Rejoice! For the Kingdom of God is among us! All are invited to the feast.

We also want to give credit to the people that have worked so hard to make food stamps (SNAP) redeemable at the farmers market! Since there are people in our community that are not eligible for food stamps, and because each individual/group can do their part to make sure our neighbors are taken care of, we still choose to let our customers pick their own price for bread. In short, we think we are all accountable for loving our neighbors.

Out of consideration to our dear customers, and our North American context, we are not offering a price range, but a specific suggested price. This hopefully removes the unpleasant feeling of guilt, where the customer worries he or she has underpaid. We have also not chosen a "sliding scale" model where people pay more or less based on their income bracket; sliding scale didn't seem appropriate or practical in a farmers market context. Instead, we hope to quietly and respectfully accept what our customers offer, be it the suggested price, more, or less. Our pastries, pretzels, and holiday breads, which are not a staple food in the way bread is, will be sold at full price.

The "pay what you will, with suggested price" model we settled on is not at all perfect. It still requires a good deal of vulnerability for someone to actually get reduced/free bread pricing. The highly public and face-to-face nature of the open air marketplace makes anonymity impossible. We hope this can be a good thing. Vulnerability is a common component of many of the happiest and most fulfilled people. We, the Mill Song Bakery team, are being vulnerable towards God and with you, our community, to provide for our needs. We hope our stand at the farmers market can be a place of safety for you to be vulnerable with us too; that is, don't let guilt or shame stop you or someone you know from the getting nourishing bread we need. And if you have been blessed with abundance, it takes vulnerability to offer more than the suggested price.

Note: If a customer simply hands us money, without specifying what they are offering for payment, we will assume they are paying the suggested price. If they let us know what they want to offer as payment, we will honor their request. We hope to provide adequate signage to communicate this to all our customers. Please be in touch with any stories of how this touches your lives, or add your comments, critiques, or concerns.

Contact us at (540) 434-1001 or millsongbakery@gmail.com

Blessings and Peace!
- MSB