in search of a pastry supplier

[villagejoe]

I'm opening up a new coffee shop in Atlanta, hopefully by the first week in February. I'm in the process of nailing down our menu and such, and I'm trying to find out the best way to do pastries. At this shop we won't have the equipment to prepare pastries or sandwiches on-site.

I've contacted some nearby bakeries, but it looks like most of them are either too expensive or won't deliver, or both. I'm tossing around the idea of simply going to the most local bakery and seeing if I could do a daily pickup of pastries and wrapped sandwiches, in order to do this the most affordable way.

Any advice? How do other small independent shops do it?

 

[davidsbiscotti]

pastries & sandwiches

What equipment is necessary to make sandwiches?
A small cooler, prep table & cutting board?
Panini grill. Oh yeh, toaster oven too. What else am I missing?
Oh well, I'd still make my own sandwiches (to order of course),
if I were you.
Getting quality fresh bread delivered regularly would be important.
Pastry production is a different story altogether.
Good luck, Atlanta is a great city.

 

[villagejoe]

One of the reasons we won't be preparing food on-site is because of grease trap requirements. The county says that we don't need to install a (quite expensive) grease trap for the shop as long as we don't prepare food ourselves and instead have it delivered daily. I've worked coffee shops before where all the food was strictly delivered and not prepared by us, and it worked out fine... I'm trying to see the best way to work that for this new shop of mine.

 

[davidsbiscotti]

Aha, of course, with food prep comes all those necessary, but pesky codes and regulations.

Darn it, I gotta get into the coffee business.

 

[davidsbiscotti]

pastry supplier

Made any decisions on your pastry supplier?

Let me know if you'd like some biscotti samples.
We've got all the codes and regulations covered for you.

Just pm me and I'll get right on it.

 

[villagejoe]

Well I found a lady who quoted me:

8x4 cakes - $25
Bundt Cakes - $16
8x2 cakes - $15
loaves -$18

Does this pricing seem reasonable? Sadly, I still haven't found a local shop that can do muffins, scones, and such.

 

[davidsbiscotti]

Sounds a bit pricey to me, unless we're talking tiramisu.
But, what do I know about cakes.

 

[Miss Java]

Check out this company:
http://www.seattlesfavoritecookies.com/
they have absolutely fabulous products which you can order individually wrapped or not. They keep well in the freezer and I can't even begin to tell you how delicious their biscotti, muffin tops (hhmm, orange cranberry!), and dessert bars are. They have great service too, I was totally surprised by how quickly the product arrived and how fresh it all was. Plus the wholesale prices are reasonable. Your customers will love them!