I’ve been getting loads of questions about the new developments at our Gloucester bakery. To answer, I thought I’d gather all the answers in a little blog post for you to enjoy! There are also some bonus questions about how much the move means to me. It has honestly been an epic journey with you all, so I wanted to share!
Where is my new Gloucester bakery going to be?
It’s gonna be on the Gloucester Morelands trading estate, which is where our current Bakery & the Cake Hatch is located. So, it’s across the car park and down a little side alley. You can get there through the tunnel off Bristol road by turning right immediately as you come in the tunnel and then left down a street that runs parallel to the tunnel.
The new place is diagonally opposite our old Bakery next to the BBQ Society and Momentum Pole Fitness.
What’s going to be on the menu?
We will start off doing a similar menu to the brownie bar. Brunch & Lunch items like grilled cheese sandwiches and fancy french toast. Things you could sit down and enjoy with coffee. We’ve only recently started brunch at The Brownie Bar, but it’s been a really good opportunity for us to learn what works and then expand on that at the new Cafe. We will have a little bit more space in the new bakery, and we will definitely have more tables. So we can build on The Brownie Bar menu with even more variety.
What are the opening hours?
Initially we will be opening 9am-5pm Tuesday- Saturday. We would like to do Sundays eventually, but that’s something for the future.
When will it be open?
I’m planning for mid to end of May because we are leaving our current bakery at the end of April, and the cafe is mostly set up to go, we’ll just need a few weeks to settle in before opening. There won’t be a Cake Hatch at the new place, just the Café, so we won’t be selling Brownies and Coffee’s to go for a couple of weeks until the Café opens.
Is there parking?
Yes, there’s onsite parking but it’s in an industrial estate and it can be a little bit busy. Sometimes people do prefer to park in the Quays or in the Hobbycraft car park and just walk over, as it’s just a couple of minutes away.
Can you click and collect from the Gloucester bakery?
Yes, on our website, you can choose to collect your order rather than posting it. We’ll just change the collection point on our website from the hatch to the new bakery.
Are there any job vacancies?
We’ll be recruiting early May for café staff and possibly an extra baker as well as a Summer temp. We usually post our vacancies on Indeed and Instagram stories so keep an eye out or email in a CV if you’re interested!
What’s the experience of moving my business been like? Stressful?
Yes, stressful; but to be honest, I haven’t stopped being stressed since I started the business. There’s always been something, you know? Like trying to run the business through two maternity leaves, and then coming back from maternity leave into a pandemic. So, now, with moving to the Gloucester bakery, it feels like it’s just washing over me. What will be will be. I just have to go with it – because you can’t control all this chaos!
How do I feel about leaving the cake hatch behind?
Ridiculously sad – but it’s really necessary. There’s no way around it, we do just need more space. We found there’s been certain points where we’ve had to stop orders on the website because it’s been too busy and we physically didn’t have the capacity.
In the old bakery, we have to think about what flavours we can logistically do with the space we have. We can’t have loads of brownies waiting to go in the oven; we don’t have the surface space. Like with decorating – we can only have one or two flavours in a lucky dip box that need more decorating, because we just don’t have the table space to let them set. Plus, if you start doing fancy decorations or sticky toppings, you can’t stack them. So the new improved bakery will make such a big difference.
We are also really looking forward to being able to do a Café with the extra space. I’ve always wanted to have a cafe or coffee shop. I think it will give us a bit of a creative outlet to try new things and it gives me the opportunity to have that face to face interaction I used to get at the market – I miss that. I really just want to create something lovely and homey, like a happy space for people to come and enjoy.
I hope this has answered all your questions about the new bakery, I can’t wait to open the Cafe and to see you all there!
