Santa Ana bakery giving away free food

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- Bakery owner Jason Quinn started Dough Exchange in downtown Santa Ana as a way to make bread for his restaurant next door.

As it grew into a full-fledged business, however, Quinn realized the foot traffic to the bakery was lacking.

"Frankly, we have this beautiful product and we weren't moving it. We were finding ourselves throwing it away at the end of the night and I said 'Maybe we should just give it away. I would rather do that than throw it away,'" Quinn said.

Now, every person who walks in gets two free items. In exchange, the bakery just asks that customers sit on the patio and fill out a comment card.

Quinn calls it research and development. He estimates he gives away thousands of dollars worth of product every day.

"What we've been interested in is your admiration, your loyalty and frankly the enjoyment of our products," Quinn said.

"They're taking feedback from the community, from the people that would eat here, and they're going to pour themselves back into this and give everybody what they want," Santa Ana resident Nan Li said.

He hopes the experiment will bring people together and help revitalize downtown.

"We started to realize how special it (downtown Santa Ana) was and then we fell in love with making the area something spectacular," Quinn said.

The bakery is expected to give away food for three to four weeks more, when the 4th Street Market opens up across the street. The complex will house several vendors and eateries.

Quinn hopes that's enough time to build a customer base before the competition moves in. Some customers say it's working.

"The gesture itself makes you want to come back and help them out as a new business," Santa Ana resident George Puangdokmai said.