By Tom Kessler

Boudin Bakery, established in 1849 and the creator of the Original San Francisco Sourdough French Bread, is discontinuing its print catalog. The company says it products will be available exclusively online as part of ongoing efforts to reduce paper consumption and the overall environmental impact of its operations.

“We, like many businesses, have been doing what we can in a more environmentally friendly manner. We’re proud of the steps we’ve taken and every day we strive to learn more about how we can become as eco-friendly as possible,” Lou Giraudo, co-chairman of Boudin, said in a statement. “Then, it occurred to us, there was a giant step we could take – we could drastically reduce our paper consumption by stopping production of our paper catalog, and instead rely on our Web site and online orders.”

Boudin says it typically printed 450,000 catalogs annually.

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