Walking into a dessert shop of any kind is a surefire way to pleasantly ignite the senses. From the aroma that kisses your nostrils just before you enter, to the sites of endless treats, sweets have a way of tugging at our heartstrings ― and stomachs.
Since the start of the pandemic, COVID precautions have taken away the commonality of bakery banter, taste testing, and simply being able to dwell in the space. Yet still ― like many other restaurants ― the owners of sweets businesses are making the most of sacrificing nostalgia for safety by putting creativity at the forefront.
Clyde Greenhouse, Kessler Baking Studio
In late February, Kessler Baking Studio owner Clyde Greenhouse was watching his business reach new heights. After being selected as a James Beard semifinalist, there was a substantial uptick in traffic at the Oak Cliff-based shop.
“People were traveling in from other cities at that time,” Greenhouse says. “A lot of new faces were in the bakery. And that continued into mid-March.” Once COVID-19 hit though, Greenhouse saw a 50% decrease in business from the shutdown in March through May. The change required a shift to focus to online sales, a move Greenhouse wasn’t sure would lure in his conventional customers.
“People are usually very visual when it comes to bakeries,” Greenhouse says. “Even if it’s a chocolate chip cookie, they want to see what the chocolate chip cookie looks like. But we went to doing almost no sales online, to almost immediately doing 75% of sales online.”
Another boost came from the Black-owned business movement that started in June. The high level of support not only revved up sales, it led him to expand the store’s days and hours.
“We had reduced our hours and gone to weekends only, a total of 18 hours,” Greenhouse saysid. “In June, we added Wednesday and Thursday back. We were on track to get back to five days a weeks, but the rise in COVID cases changed that.”
Kessler Baking Studio has also cut back their cookie flavors. “You have to limit the items you sell or you’re going to generate waste if you don’t; especially in this climate where you’re trying to make every dollar stretch,” Greenhouse says. When things return to being safe, he has plans of extending the store’s baked goods line.
1129 N. Beckley Ave. kesslerbakingstudio.com.
Valery Jean-Bart, Val’s Cheesecakes
For Valery Jean-Bart of Val’s Cheesecakes, one of the bitter moments brought on by COVID was having to fully shut down one of his three locations. “The biggest dropoff was the Fort Worth location closing on March 16,” Jean-Bart says. “Right off the bat, that’s a third of the revenue cut. From then on you have to restructure your business in a way that you can deal with the new reality.”
Add that to the numerous returned wedding and event deposits, and Jean-Bart was in need of finding a way to excite customers. So throughout the month of July, he introduced a new cheesecake flavor ― like funnel cake, rocky road and honey butter ― every day, an idea that he’s toying around with continuing once a week. “Every day I wake up and say, ‘What can we do different?” Jean-Bart says. “What can we entice people with today?”
As Val’s Cheesecakes continues to come up with creative ways to reel in customers in the present, Jean-Bart is already laying out plans for the future. “The Val’s Cheesecake ATM is the next big thing for us,” Jean-Bart says. “Just having more accessible things at an airport or at a mall where they can get the cheesecake quicker. We’re slowly being more strategic about it. Seeing which machine works, when we’re going to release it. That is my dream.”
The Greenville Avenue and Fort Worth locations are reopening Aug. 17. valscheesecakes.com.
Don Carter Jr., Cobbler Gobbler
Don Carter Jr., who started Cobbler Gobbler two years ago, has had a different struggle. His business ― which is most popular for its peach cobbler and sopapilla cheesecake bars ― doesn’t have a brick and mortar shop, but instead teamed up with Brunchaholics under The Shed at the Dallas Farmer’s Market pre-Covid. While overhead isn’t a worry, the market’s vendor restrictions for safety purposes caused for a swift switch-up.
“You always have to have a plan A, B, and C ― then sometimes D and E,” Carter Jr. says. “Once there was no more market, I had to go into survivor mode.” So he started deliveries ― which he does all on his own ― during the week in addition to the weekends. “That kind of took off,” he says. “It started with maybe 10-15 orders a week, to double, then triple.” Now, in addition to deliveries, Cobbler Gobbler is being sold on Saturdays at Pop Up DFW in Deep Ellum.
Not only has the pandemic caused Carter Jr. to explore venues to sell his product, he’s been exploring different recipes. Most recent Cobbler Gobbler launched their Dr. Pepper brownies ― as an ode to his first job as a delivery helper with the company during his high school years, and his childhood.
“As a child, my grandpa would sit me up on the counter in the kitchen, and while we wait on my grandma to finish cooking, he would hand me a handful of peanuts and a cold can of Dr Pepper ― or as he called it, ‘soda water,‘” Carter Jr. said in a social media post. The Dr Pepper-infused brownies are topped with a Dr Pepper-infused cream cheese sauce, red sugar crystals and powdered sugar.
Places orders for delivery through Instagram at instagram.com/cobblergobbler_ and visit him at Pop Up DFW at 3409 Main St. Suite B on weekends.
Cindy Pedraza Puente, CocoAndre Chocolatier
In 2020 B.C. ― Before COVID ― ChocoAndre Chocolatier was booming in many facets of their business. The family-owned shop not only had a strong customer base, they serviced a handful of clients in the hospitality industry. But it all came to a screeching halt. “We were on American Airlines, we were at the Gaylord, we were in different hotels,” owner Cindy Pedraza says. “The hospitality business was our biggest seller and buyer and right now none of it is happening. Everything has declined to basically zero.”
Add that to the lack of foot traffic, and CocoAndre needed to find a way to gain some momentum. Surprisingly, the answer came in the form of horchata.
“Horchata has become a really big deal for us,” Pedraza says. “I make fun of my mom by asking her, ‘Did you ever imagine going from a chocolate shop to a horchataria?’ Horchata has always been a staple in the Hispanic community. We used to just carry the dirty horchata, which is espresso and horchata together. Then more flavors like strawberry, pecan, pineapple, and chocolate, and people have really received them so well. It’s fun to see them react to products we never thought we would carry.”
In addition to horchata, CocoAndre recently launched take-home concha kits, allowing customers to create ice cream conchas at home. The box includes CocoAndre’s homemade ice cream, four conchas, one container of their chocolate syrup, and an instruction card. They plan to release chocolate bar kits in the coming months.
508 W. 7th Street. cocoandre.com.
