How an old-fashioned bread bakery inspired a career for Watertown native

Most high school jobs do not turn into a career, but Watertown native Andrew Holden’s high school gig at an old-fashioned bread bakery, called Iggy’s Bread of the World, was a game-changer.

Today, Holden is the owner of Branchline in Watertown and, in August, he opened the doors to his new all-day cafe, Shy Bird, in Cambridge's Kendall Square.

Working at Iggy’s

Holden’s career in the food industry began in 1994. Husband and wife duo Igor Ivanovic and Ludmilla Luft had just opened Iggy’s in the East End of Watertown on Arsenal Street.

A high school student looking for a part-time gig, Holden said he walked into Iggy’s not knowing much about the store or what they did. He asked for a job anyway and got hired.

“It turns out they were the first people to bring old-style artisanal bread to the Boston area,” Holden said.

Holden worked at Iggy’s for three years, where he said he did a little bit of everything. He ran the retail store, went to farmers markets, made deliveries and learned how to bake bread, croissants and flatbread.

During this time Ivanovic and Luft became Holden’s mentors.

“I got to work with some people who treated their employees really well, and who you wanted to do a good job working for,” he said.

Although Holden enjoyed the job, it would take him many more years working in restaurants until he decided to commit to a career in the food industry.

Jobs in restaurants

After high school, Holden moved south to New Orleans to attend Tulane University. He continued working in restaurants and served on the waiting staff at a Ralph Brennan restaurant in the city’s French Quarter as well as at the Upperline, a fine dining establishment in the Garden District.

Holden said he enjoyed his work in the food industry and found it to be fun, but he was hesitant to say this was what he wanted to do for his whole life.

“When I was growing up, no one I knew talked about a career in restaurants,” he said. “If anything it was just a job until you figure out what you were going to do in life.”

After a few years in New Orleans, Holden returned to the Greater Boston area. He transferred from Tulane University and enrolled at Boston University’s School of Hospitality and Administration.

Again, Holden found jobs at restaurants. He became the manager at Ambrosia on Huntington, then went on to manage Ken Oringer’s restaurant Clio in 2002.

Right before Holden accepted the job at Clio, he said something clicked for him.

“I had that moment where I knew I always loved this, and I was looking at a job opportunity at what I considered to be the best fine dining restaurant in the city,” he said. “Something finally clicked that said why are you fighting this? It’s what you love.”

From then on, Holden did not consider anything other than restaurants for work.

More than a transaction

Holden worked at Clio for four years, then became general manager at Eastern Standard in Kenmore Square in 2006. He went on to partner with Eastern Standard's owner Garrett Harker, who had also become a mentor, and together they opened Branchline in 2016.

Last month, on the corner of Third Avenue in Kendall Square, Holden opened Shy Bird, something he has been planning for over two years.

Holden said restaurant openings are hard and that, at first, you make a lot of mistakes but, so far, everyone in the neighborhood has been welcoming.

If there is any key to his success, Holden said it is letting the people around you have a part in everything you are doing.

“I have learned over the years not to influence when and where you can, but to spend more time worrying about what you can do a little bit less, and letting people on the team contribute,” he said.

Part of the community

With more than two decades in the food industry, Holden says the part that stands out the most to him are the incredible guests and regulars he has met, and who, in some cases, have become close friends.

"When our restaurants do what we want to do right, it is not about a transactional experience," Holden said. “It is about looking for a moment to have the restaurant be a little part of the community."

This article has been updated Sept. 18 to reflect that Andrew Holden partnered with Eastern Standard owner Garrett Harker to open Branchline in 2016.