The Baker's Son

There once was a Baker who lived in a small village just outside of a major city. He made the finest, tastiest bread around. It was so good, in fact, that people would come from hundreds of miles to buy his bread. The years passed, and one day the Baker drew his son close to him and said, "When I am gone, you must continue to provide the very finest bread available anywhere. You must always use the finest ingredients."

"I will do exactly as you say, and follow your recipe to the letter," said his son.

Soon afterwards the Baker died, and the son took over the small production facility, which he ran successfully for many years, providing the finest bread in the world. There was no other bread like it, and there was no other bakery in all the world with such high standards. The president of a large garment factory visited the bakery to learn ways he could improve his business. Every morning, while drinking his coffee, the baker's son reread the instructions his father had given him. He remembered his father's words, "You must continue to provide the very finest bread available anywhere..."

One day, three of his employees left the bakery to start bakeries of their own. One of the employees, Good Intentions, had spent many hours with the Baker before he died, had helped him make his famous bread, and had even managed to get a copy of the recipe. He would make the bread at his own bakery, and his friends could help him distribute it. After all, shouldn't everyone have an opportunity to taste this wonderful bread? And he could do it cheaper! He would almost give it away, then everyone could taste the best bread in the world.

Good Intentions thought and thought of how he could make the wonderful bread cheaper. Then he remembered how the Baker's son had installed quality checkpoints to make sure that each loaf of bread had just the right amount of fluffiness, was nice and golden, and on and on. There were people to make sure the supply of flour didn't run out, to make sure the bread didn't stand too long before it was packaged and put onto trucks for delivery, and to keep the machines spotless and sanitary. Good Intentions thought about all of this, and then decided that what was really important was not how the bread was produced, but that the right ingredients were used. He jumped up and went to work.

Six months later The Good Intentions Bakery was underway, churning out "The Original NutraBread". Every few batches the flour would start to run low, or the oven conveyor belt would jam and some of the bread would burn, but Good Intentions was insistent on not letting one batch go to waste. Everything was packaged and sat waiting for the delivery trucks, who were often late. Several weeks after opening day a television news program announced that many customers had found maggots in loaves of "The Original NutraBread". But according to one of the affected customers, "It still tastes great! I just pick the maggots and burnt parts out...I don't see no problem with it."

Good Intentions' friends were also doing well reselling his bread, and a few other bakeries had started selling their own versions of "NutraBread". By now, they had all acquired copies of the Baker's original recipe, along with his admonition to, "...continue to provide the very finest bread available anywhere. You must always use the finest ingredients."

One day they received a lengthy letter from the Baker's son, admonishing them for not respecting his father's wishes. They laughed at the letter, and analyzed the Baker's dying words to his son until they had removed any trace of guilt or wrongdoing. They continued to sell "The Original Nutrabread" to their growing list of customers who didn't see any problem with it.

The Baker's son, too, continued to sell to his small but loyal group of customers, who knew they were buying the finest bread available anywhere, made with the finest ingredients.

Moral: "Cheaper" does not mean "better".