the cherry on top

taste of austin

Plate of a chocolate souffle accompanied by an assortment of ice cream flavors. Photo by ulterior epicure..

An inside look at the everyday challenges and routines of local Austin Bakeries!

he molten chocolate scorching an eager tongue, awaiting the joy from a delicious Austin treat. This tends to be a common experience for Austin citizens due to the vast amount of dessert shops populating this growing city. As a thriving city full of sweet lovers, Austin is home to countless local bakeries with creative menus and diverse themes. The Austin dessert scene has emerged with a multitude of community businesses, especially in the past decade. With over 1000 unique bakeries, local desserts have come to be a significant part of Austin’s appeal and culture. When asking various local bakery managers, many expressed their love for their job due to their passion for treats and the innumerable opportunities present in this growing city. “It’s just really nice to have a business where you’re doing something that is making people happy,” said

TWritten by Dedeepya Rudraraju Dawn Hennessey, manager of Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop. “Every time I come in, there are different customers popping in and we get to see so many different cakes that are being made. It just doesn’t feel monotonous like other jobs do.” Managing a bakery is a dream job for countless. Alot of people believe that running a bakery simply consists of finding a location, selling some treats, and gaining immediate success. Despite the

common misconception that focusing on the classic chocolate revenue, fundraisers are also a this endeavor is exceedingly easy, chip cookies. “The key is to make great way to give back to the Austin challenges and obstacles have sure we have a good amount of staff community and help those in need. actually proved to be a constant while also keeping our labor costs “We really pride ourselves on our in dessert management. “There low enough that our operations support of local farmers and Texas are hiccups constantly,” said can continue,” said Hennessey. artisans and have raised $50,000 Anthony Sobotik, founder and “It’s just hard to keep extra people for local nonprofit organizations” co-owner of Lick Honest Ice around when we don’t have a lot said Sobotik. “These families have Cream. “But building a strong of extra hours on the regular.” owned and operated their farms team and persevering through One way that bakery owners can for generations and are some of the those challenges together lends overcome the difficulty of numbers kindest, hardest working people to an even greater sense of is through advertising. Gaining you will ever meet. The Austin accomplishment that’s shared by recognition in Austin is crucial for community was so welcoming to the entire team.” It’s well us when known that the supportive we first Austin community and moved shared passion for desserts here and makes it possible to flourish opened and succeed. Austin is up our described as a city with shops, various hotspots and a rising we want popularity for delicious to make treats. It truly is one of the sure best places to start a bakery. we are “Our biggest challenges always currently are hiring enough giving staff and working around back.” the uncertainties in the Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop, a thriving local bakery, sells treats to sweet supply chain,” said Sobotik. lovers in Austin, Texas. Photo By Rachel from Cupcakes Take the Cake.According While Austin contains an to popular overflowing population, staffing a successful business, whether it’s local bakery managers, some of the has actually proved to be difficult through ads or campaigns. Social best local non-profit organizations for a lot of new bakery owners due media accounts, connecting with are Austin Pets Alive, Ronald to the competition between the food bloggers, creating a clean McDonald House, Urban Roots, various bakeries in Austin. Finding website, and bringing samples to and the Central Texas Food Bank. the specific type of people that events are great ways to promote a Another hurdle many bakery would suit a particular bakeries business. “We’ve definitely tried to owners encounter is creating a aura in such a large city can be make sure that we do a lot to kind successful dessert menu. Many burdensome. Additionally, most promote ourselves and make sure owners struggle in deciding bakery owners are specific in that we stay relevant in the city as it whether to go for the classics or their hunt and prefer a long-term, continues to grow,” said Hennessey. unique flavors never tasted before. dedicated staff with workers who are consistent and reliable. “Getting “This way, the staff In reality, a mixture of both can be described as ideal to reel in people to work for you can also be quite challenging because you will come to us.” customers. “Focusing on just a specific flavor or dessert has flaws,” want to really have that great said Hennessey. “Classics are a great environment that they’ll want A common approach, and one of way to start off a menu and play to stay in,” said Elisia Velasquez, the best, that many bakery owners it safe, but there’s nothing major owner and founder of Teddy utilize is fundraising. While they that’ll distinguish us from other V. Patisserie, a dessert business bring in more customers and places.” Popular dessert shops are

mainly known for a specific item on their menu or a special type of dessert. However, there’s always a chance that a customer will dislike this new dessert or flavor due to its uniqueness. Despite this, it’s still better to go with a unique flavor to separate a specific bakery from others. For example, local Austin bakery Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop has a menu consisting of various iconic Austin flavors. “We have 12

different flavors with a lot of classic ones on the menu right now and we make dozens of those every day,” said Hennessey. “But we also follow the Austin style of taking a classic and making it weird. We love creating unique savory flavors that customers won’t find anywhere else.”Overall, many bakery owners have claimed that it’s essential to find some unique flavors/treats that’ll make customers come back for more. Each bakery will have a unique menu and theme, bringing different types of people together despite this over a shared joy of sweets. Additionally, every bakery will function a bit differently. The daily routine of different bakeries is one of the many things that tends to differ from owner to owner. Most owner’s focus on managing and staffing rather than helping out in the kitchen themselves due to their jam-packed schedule. According to Dawn Hennessey, a typical morning in the life of a bakery manager consists of various activities that can include invoicing, dealing with catering inquiries, managing payrolls, and scheduling.

“It really depends on the day of the week, but a lot of times it’s just administrative things for most of what I do,” said Velasquez. “And then a lot of times if it’s like later in the week, I’ll spend time up at the front of the store, helping make boxes or box up orders and just kind of doing regular production. It’s just based on what needs to be done.” The dessert business life is a chaotic one, albeit a fun one. However, the biggest challenge so far has been the impact of the recent pandemic. Bakeries have encountered several difficulties in managing, but this one really takes the cake. The widespread effect of Covid-19 has forced various bakery owners to adapt to the challenge of social distancing. Many opted for an online ordering system in hopes of staying afloat during the difficult times of 2020. While the measures and protocols have become less severe, the uncertainties in the supply chain and aftereffects still remain today. Many local businesses vyed to get their dessert products implemented into local grocery stores and sold things such as butter and eggs themselves in hopes of revenue. “While keeping our original menu, we also tried mixing up what we sell to fit with what’s going on in the world,” said Hennessey. It was a challenging time all over the world, but now the impact is gradually lessening as people attempt to go back to their normal lives. However, the changes made during the pandemic will remain for future generations in bakeries due to their practicality in the modern world today. The extra sanitary precautions and technology oriented techniques that the lockdown brought have shown not only to be advantageous for the future, but also makes managing a lot easier. The rampant spread of Covid-19 has proven the significance of sanitary measures and staying clean. A polished environment prevents the risk of food contamination which can be disastrous to a business’s image. “We follow all of the local and state health codes, especially because of the pandemic,” said Sobotik. “One way we do that is by sending swabs of our equipment and our products out to an independent lab for testing every week to ensure that they are free of any pathogens.” The type of environment created,

Local Bakeries accomodate Covid-19 regulations in effort to keep everyone safe through social distancing. Photo By Brechtbug.

both physical and personal, is extremely important in welcoming and drawing in customers. Before, the future was uncertain and unknown for dessert businesses. Now, many managers aspire to expand throughout the husting city and gain more storefronts due to more public contact as the virus dwindles. Over the pandemic, the rate of migration is still rising even after making up more than a third of Austin’s population. Launching more than one storefront is challenging and takes a lot of resources. There’s always room for growth, but focusing on a specific location is a priority. The concept of quality over quantity is extremely applicable to running a bakery. Whether it’s through mouth watering cookies, perfectly frosted cupcakes, or refreshing ice cream, all of these various businesses are just trying to make a positive impact on customers. At the end of the day, success is shown through the people that experienced joy through Austin treats, even if it was just a few. “I feel like mostly it’s just like a little special time for someone to just do some self care and indulge in something that they might not give themselves permission to have all the time,” said Hennessey. While it’s true that desserts aren’t the healthiest, the delight they bring to a monotonous routine is undeniable. “We specialize in sharing joy with our cookies. One of the things that I love about them is I feel like they’re a real shared experience,” said Velasquez. “People are hardly ever hoarding cookies just for themselves. They’re always sharing them with other cookie monsters in their lives, like their best friends, sisters, mom, or dad.” And while people prefer just treating themselves, the bonds desserts can create are the heart of being a seller of desserts. The hardships of managing one of the many dessert shops in Austin is worth it from the love and happiness citizens face everyday as a customer.

DESSERTS INAustinIn 2022, a survey among LASA students was conducted to find out what desserts were preferred the most in Austin. Using the information, a list for some of the best local Austin originated bakeries/dessert sellers was put together for tourists, austinites, and sweet lovers alike. Enjoy!

15%

OF LASA STUDENTS PREFER CUPCAKES

Two of the best Austin originated ice cream shops are Amy’s Ice Cream and Licks Honest Ice Cream! Many LASA students who preferred cupcakes said that it was because of the delicious frosting.