Thinking about entering the baking world? We share guidance for coffee shop owners looking to launch in-house bakery programs.
BY EMILY JOY MENESES
ONLINE EDITOR
Featured photo by Josh Wilburne
Are you a coffee shop owner or manager looking to expand your coffee menu with house-made bakery items? Doing so can help you widen your customer base, and it doesn’t have to be as daunting of a task as it sounds. Today, we’re sharing tips on how to start a bakery program at your coffee shop and hearing from café owners who have done so with success.
Tip #1: Start Simple
When introducing house-made pastries to your café menu, don’t bite off more than you can chew. Try starting small with a “soft opening” of two or three well-made items that you know will be crowd pleasers. Take your time to perfect this handful of recipes and get staff on board with preparation. Then, test the waters and see how customers take to the new offerings before considering expanding your menu.
Tip #2: Keep Your Customer Base in Mind
When deciding what pastries to offer at your shop, keep your customers and their preferences in mind. Do a lot of them have an affinity for matcha? Consider offering matcha cookies or any other pastries infused with the ingredient. Or maybe your customers tend to prefer drinks that aren’t too sweet—if so, you’ll want to keep that in mind when making your baked goods, too. Taking your customers’ preferences into consideration will help you create a more successful pastry menu at your shop.
Tip #3: Work with Ingredients You Already Have
You can minimize waste at your café by using ingredients your shop already has on hand. For example, if you’re already using strawberries to make a drink on your menu, you can think of a pastry recipe that makes use of strawberries, too.
Jessica Durrie of Princeton, N.J.’s Small World Coffee shares how her café offers both cardamom ginger scones and ginger tonics. By making use of ginger in both her food and beverage offerings, she’s been able to draw a smooth connection between her pastry and drink menus, and the cardamom ginger scones have grown to become a customer favorite.
“Launching our in-house bakery program was driven by the challenge of sourcing the right menu items locally. We’re just far enough from major hubs like New York City and Philadelphia to make wholesale options limited,” Jessica says. “We started with scones, including our standout cardamom ginger scone, and gradually expanded to cookies like miso chocolate chip, seasonal breads, granola, overnight oats, and more.”
“Our kitchen now produces not only baked goods but also house-made beverages like cold brew, New Orleans iced coffee, chai, and ginger tonic, as well as breakfast sandwiches, burritos, and toasts,” she continues. “What began with scones has grown into a bustling commissary kitchen and short-order grill that significantly boosts revenue and enhances menu quality.”
Tip #4: Consider Kitchen Space + Equipment
An in-house bakery requires specific tools, even for a small-scale operation. Start with essentials such as a commercial-grade oven, a mixer, and baking sheets. Look for multi-functional equipment to maximize space and utility in smaller kitchens: Combi ovens, for example, combine convection, steaming, and combination cooking methods in one unit. You may also want to consider renting out a kitchen space, if space at your shop is already limited.
Next week, we’ll delve into part two of this guide and share more tips for café owners looking to start a bakery program.
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