Broadway Baker
Santa Monica, California
Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do:
Jim, Tom, and Michele @ Broadway Baker in Santa Monica
I love to bake. I always have. Growing up, I remember always being in the kitchen helping my Mom + Dad and Grandma O prepare delicious, creative meals. My favorite part of the meal was (and still is) dessert. All three had such wonderful recipes and ideas--especially about sweets. We often picked our own berries and fruits from local orchards and farms (or even our own backyard) and used them to make pies, cookies, bars, cakes, and jams. I continued making my family favorites and would bake for my friends and castmates (I did alot of theatre and shows) and often I would give my baked goods to casts, crews, teachers and neighbors as gifts. I eventually started packaging my goods and would walk them to local shops to see if they’d be interested in selling them to their customers. And they did! I needed a name…and one day I came up with the idea of combining by two favorite worlds: Broadway and Baking…and so Broadway Baker was born. I would bake all the treats and my partner, Tom, would help with packaging and delivering the goods to our local shops and eventually to almost all of the Broadway theaters in NYC.
What is your signature style / item? How did it become so?
My inspiration has always been pure and simple. And this started with my family. We used real, fresh and clean ingredients to prepare tasty treats. I love homemade and each cookie and bar and cake looks a little different (kind of like snowflakes). Everything looks handmade. At Broadway Baker, we take pride in that everything looks and tastes delicious and is full of flavor. Our signature cake comes from my love of chocolate and peanut butter and Tom’s love of caramel. It’s a four layer chocolate cake filled with chocolate buttercream, dark chocolate fudge, house made salted caramel and peanut buttercream…and it’s covered in chocolate and peanut butter buttercream and topped off with a pool of our house made salted caramel. It’s intense, rich, flavor-packed and is a customer favorite.
What makes your business unique to the industry?
We create and bake our goods in small batches, using as many local and organic ingredients as we possibly can. I go to Santa Monica’s famers market weekly to source the freshest berries and fruits to add to our mini loaves, muffins, pop tarts, tarts, and cakes. All of the recipes we use are family based: Grandma O’s shortbread is a huge staple at Broadway Baker and Grandma’s Mix-Up Bars continue to be one of our top sellers. My Mom’s banana bread and granola are also tops with customers. We create delicious + beautiful gift boxes of all sizes for all occasions: birthdays, congratulations, thinking of you, thank you, corporate + business. And we decorate our gift boxes with fun, colorful ribbons and fresh cut florals. Also in our shop, we feature many fellow local artisans and their goods: pottery, jams, candles, honey, greeting cards and t-shirts.
Broadway Baker’s Lemon Raspberry Tart
What's been your biggest roadblock when it comes to business and how have you been able to overcome?
The Pandemic! We've set up social distancing in our store. We’ve implemented all the health, city and county safety guidelines. Tom set up and created a #socialdistancing PreOrder, PrePay, PickUp Menu. We feel lucky in that our shop was open 6 weeks before stay-at-home orders were in place. Being open pre-pandemic gave us the opportunity to meet so many locals, neighbors and online followers. The community support we’ve received (and continue to receive) has been absolutely amazing and we are so very thankful and grateful to the many people who order with us online, stop in at the shop, pre-order with us over the phone or thru our pick-up site. We love our customers! They make us so happy! And we absolutely love baking for them!
How has your business had to adapt amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic? What are you doing to navigate the situation?
We've had to limit our vast menu. Currently, only 1 person is allowed in store at a time. Our PreOrder PrePay PickUp Menu changes daily and for Saturdays, we expand our menu to include Scones, Donuts, Mini Loaves, Pop Tarts + Muffins.
We ship nationwide and currently are doing Doorstep Delivery in Santa Monica and curbside pick-up at the shop (1209 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica 90403) our current hours are Mondays-Saturdays 9am-3pm(ish).
What is your favorite part of what you do?
I love to create. And what I love about baking is that one can use similar ingredients to create many different things. And baking can be a solo or group activity. I love the process of creating from scratch (we make our own graham crackers for Grandma’s Mix-Up Bars). I love sharing our creations and I love hearing and seeing people’s reactions when they taste our goods.
What is your *must do* local activity?
Tom and I love to support fellow local businesses. We order from local restaurants and food companies about once a week. And love to shop small and shop local. And we both love (and miss) the beach! Feet in the sand, feet in the water, the sounds of the water (Tom loves searching for stones). It’s all very relaxing, calming and rejuvenating.
Where to find Broadway Baker:
Retail Store: 1209 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90403
Online: www.broadwaybaker.com
Instagram: @broadwaybaker
Facebook: @broadwaybaker