2017 Marks 95 Years for Valley Lahvosh Bakery

Valley Lahvosh Baking Company, located on the corner of M Street and Santa Clara in Downtown Fresno, has been making Lahvosh and pita bread for the central valley since 1922.  The bakery, originally named the California Baking Company, began when Armenian immigrant and master baker Gazair Saghatelian moved to Fresno and began baking, using recipes he developed while living in Armenia.  The Saghatelian family settled in Little Armenia, where the bakery is also located.

“It was a wonderful, thriving Armenian neighborhood,” says current president Agnes Saghatelian.  “Our family, we had the bakery and lived right next to it.  So, the family lived and worked right here in Downtown Fresno and my mom and her siblings grew up here.”

After Gazair died, his son, Sam, began baking to keep the doors open.  At the same time, Sam’s sister, Janet, began working the day to day operations and the storefront, eventually becoming president after her brother’s death in 1982.

As Janet continued running the company, she was also raising Agnes on her own.  In 1993, Agnes began working the storefront, where she would eventually take her mother’s position in 2010 as president of the Valley Lahvosh Baking Company.

Now, Agnes operates the bakery, and like her mother before her, she is also raising a child on her own- balancing work and motherhood.

“I think any working mom has that struggle because you know you have the responsibility of your business, but then you have your child who you love with all your heart, so you just keep trying,” Agnes Saghatelian says.  “Every single day you just do what you have to do to make it work.  Danielle, my daughter, she’s nine and, you know, my pride and joy and she’s my priority.  So I do whatever I can to make time for her.”

This year marks the 95th that Valley Lahvosh Baking Company has been in downtown Fresno. Agnes Saghatelian and her coworkers hope to hit the 100 mark.

“Well, my personal goal has always been to see it reach 100 years in the same family, same location, and I just think that would be so wonderful to get it to 100 years.  Quite an accomplishment,” Saghatelian.