Proof Bakery opened in 2010 by chef/owner Na Young Ma in Atwater Village, in a space that housed a bakery for almost as long as most locals can remember.

Before we moved in, it was a Viktor Benes bakery; Benes took over from Toni’s Rollin’ Pin. Before Toni’s, it was The Dutch-American Bakery, and before that, it was the Rollin’ Pin Bake Shop. The Rollin’ Pin was the very first bakery in this space, in fact, and it opened in the early 1960s.

In 2021, Proof Bakery entered into a new era: It is now a worker cooperative owned and managed by the working employees of the bakery.

Since opening the bakery in 2010, Na Young Ma’s goal has been to create an inclusive, sustainable environment for everyone who works at the bakery. For over two years, Na Young and a group of employees worked together to assess, dream up, and craft an equitable model of ownership. After much discussion and planning, the business was successfully sold and converted on August 13, 2021.

We are proud to honor the lineage of Proof and work hard to continue to be a gathering spot for our neighbors for many years to come.

Our Mission and Vision at Proof Bakery

At Proof, our Mission is to deliver seasonal creative food, using the highest quality of raw ingredients, where traditional handmade methods are an integral part of the finished product. We are committed to working as a team to care for everyone who comes through our doors and to contribute to the betterment of our local economy.

Our Vision is to be a responsible food business by making choices that support our team, values people, respects our environment. Our food should be delicious to nourish us, our work should be challenging to teach us and our place of work should empower us for change.