Have been waiting with anticipation for the new bakery to open (in the spot where Olde Town bakery used to reside) as the village is low on baked goods options.
Stopped by today. The renovation is nice, it is much brighter and now has a few indoor tables so that you can sit in and eat/drink there. The coffee set up also looks greatly improved with an espresso machine and bean coffee. They also have some home goods for sale (gift ware etc). Appeared clean and the counter staff were pleasant and friendly. Always a plus!
They also take apple pay and credit cards (unlike Olde Town) HOWEVER please be aware that they have jumped on the bandwagon of several establishments out here and charge for using a card or digital payment. Hampton Coffee does the same. It is 3% which is not nothing. I.e. it was about a dollar on my $30 order. I did not think to ask if they take cash. I assume they do.
The selection has definitely changed direction from the original bakery. Today they had;
- croissants, plain and chocolate
- cinnamon buns
- choc chip cookies (small number)
- small selection of italian cookies
- foccacia with various toppings (personal pie size, like you could eat them for lunch) veggie & one with ham
- savory puff pastry (looked like leek and something)
- a few loafs of bread (I think GF as they were in the GF section), also a couple of GF muffins and an olive oil cake also GF by the slice)
The main refrigerated case was filled up with mini tarts. Think baked by Melissa-sized one-bite desserts. They also had a plate of brigarderos similarly sized, and a couple of what they were calling beignets with 3 fillings.
My overall impression is that they have less traditional 'baked goods' than the prior bakery. Obviously, I only visited on one day so it could be different when you visit. Specifically, I did not see any rolls, baguettes, english muffins, fresh pretzels, challah/speciality breads, large size donuts or non GF muffins, full size pies, full size cakes etc. We (and others) would buy rolls and breads in addition to breakfast items from Olde Town. This is more of a sweets selection, I don't think I would come here to stock up on bread per se.
In general, the items are all quite small compared to both the prior bakery and also other bakeries. I would categorize the cinnamon buns as 'mini's and also the croissants. The croissants are half the size of the ones in citarella for comparison.
I bought a selection of croissants and cinnamon buns. I would have bought the beignet with jam however they were each about the size of a Dunkin' donut hole so I decided to hold back.
Croissants are $4
Pain au chocolate are $4.50
Mini cinnamon bun is $4.75
Beignets (one-bite) are $3 each
The mini tarts (one-bite) looked to be around $4.50 each
I don't mind paying high prices for really great pastries, and love to support independent businesses but I think the pricing is a little off for the size of the item. The product quality on the items I tasted was only a marginal improvement on the prior vendor. The Croissants fall somewhere above a packaged one but not quite close enough to one from a proper French bakery to justify the price point for the small size. Better lamination is required!
Saying that, the pastries smell good and were very fresh. I would return to try the focaccia in particular. It looked good. I would buy the croissants again but not sure if it will be at frequency due to the pricing and size, if you were eating them for breakfast you would need at least 2 per person to be satiated. My kids would need 2 for certain. At $4.75 each for the mini cinnamon buns (which were good but exceptionally small) they aren't a viable breakfast option.
So... mixed feelings. I'm glad the bakery is up and running, and I hope it succeeds. My advice would be to:
- expand offering to include reasonably priced fresh rolls and baguettes to provide an alternative to Citarella/Stop & Shop
- fresh pretzels flew out of Olde Town... so delicious
- increase size of croissant items (and tweak recipe to improve lamination)
- consider selling full size pies. Might want to look at Briermere Farms for inspiration, they do a huge trade and Olde Town always had one or two fresh pies available regardless of time of year. Price correctly.
- offer a breakfast special with a coffee & croissant before 10am
- don't forget you need to maintain the business off-season. Prior business did well with their pricing and product offering to appeal to a large demographic, the place would still get good traffic in fall and winter.
Good luck! read more