Craft to Crumb is published by Avant Food Media, 1703 Wyandotte St., Suite 300, Kansas City, MO 64108. Craft to Crumb considers its sources reliable and verifies as much data as possible, although reporting inaccuracies can occur. Consequently, readers using this information do so at their own risk. Craft to Crumb is distributed with the understanding that the publisher is not liable for errors and omissions. Although persons and companies mentioned herein are believed to be reputable, neither Avant Food Media nor any of its employees accept any responsibility for their activities. The Craft to Crumb mini-mag is produced in the USA and all rights are reserved.
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Craft to Crumb
A Note From The Editor
JOANIE SPENCER
Editor-in-Chief
joanie@avantfoodmedia.com
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
I’ve been covering the baking industry for nearly 20 years, and I’ve learned that, like all smallbusiness owners, bakers don’t always get the luxury of taking a vacation. They’re always on, they’re always in the shop, and if by chance they’re not either of those … they’re certainly always on call.
When bakers travel, they see cities through a different lens and often stop into as many bake shops as they can, seeking inspiration for new ideas. That was a big motivation behind our new special edition: the Craft to Crumb Roadshow.
For this endeavor, our editorial team explores cities with a high concentration of retail bakeries to discover the latest trends shaping best product development and business practices. In this first edition, Craft to Crumb editors Annie Hollon and Maddie Lambert bring a bakery mecca — New York City — right to your bench.
If you ever wondered how icons like Dominique Ansel can entice people to line up for blocks just to taste the next Cronut variety, what the next hot flavor is or how ambience can accentuate an eating experience, then get ready to devour every page of this issue. From bakery profiles to trendspotting, this Roadshow edition lets you tour the Big Apple … without missing a beat of your production schedule.
Check out what’s happening in one of the best bakery towns in the country. And find some New York-style inspiration.
Craft to Crumb
Traits
TOP TRAITS
Manhattan is alive, bursting with inspiration on every block. From wild color combos to baked-in experiences, here are the traits defining NYC bakes.
Photo
Photo courtesy of Magnolia Bakery
Photo courtesy of Dominique Ansel Bakery
Photo courtesy of Levain Bakery
Craft to Crumb
Roadshow Introduction
ROADSHOW: NEW YORK EDITION
BY ANNIE HOLLON AND MADDIE LAMBERT
The Big Apple is a hub for innovation. Many trends take root here and spread across the country. The Craft to Crumb editorial team visited Manhattan to see how these industry trendsetters — legacy businesses and up-and-comers alike — beget brand devotees.
Ess-a-Bagel, for instance, still hand-rolls many of its bagels for six shops and nationwide distribution. At Levain Bakery, oversized cookies satiate permissible indulgence. And Magnolia Bakery thrives off its nostalgia-fueled menu.
WATCH NOW
Dominique Ansel Bakery and Janie’s Life-Changing Baked Goods have also cultivated a loyal following; the former for its Cronut, the latter for its Pie Crust Cookies, both created by their respective founders.
Empire Cake wows passersby with artful window displays of its namesake. Lady Wong Patisserie and Supermoon Bakehouse, boasting vibrant patisserie with equally attractive flavor combos, also draw dessert seekers.
Dive in and get a taste of the action. Welcome to the New York edition of Craft to Crumb ’s inaugural Roadshow.
From uptown Manhattan to the Lower East Side, bakeries across NYC pioneer trends. See the proof behind these eight.
JANIE’S LIFE-CHANGING BAKED GOODS
MAGNOLIA BAKERY
ESS-A-BAGEL
EMPIRE CAKE
LEVAIN BAKERY
LADY WONG PATISSERIE
SUPERMOON BAKEHOUSE
DOMINIQUE ANSEL BAKERY
Craft to Crumb
Roadshow Featured Bakery | Ess-a-Bagel
ESS-A-BAGEL
THE GIST
LOCATIONS: ESTABLISHED: Six 1976
CEO: S PECIALTY: Melanie Frost Bagels
Photos by Avant Food Media
BY ANNIE HOLLON
Assembling the perfect bagel order is a rite of passage for New Yorkers, picking out just the right mix of toppings to pair with their bagel of choice. Ess-a-Bagel is one of the institutions that feeds into this piece of the Big Apple’s culinary culture.
“The Ess-a-Bagel experience starts long before the first bite, from the aroma of freshly baked bagels to the visual of our signature oversized, hand-rolled shape,” said Melanie Frost, CEO of Ess-a-Bagel. “We design our menu and service to tap into nostalgia and connection: that feeling of comfort and community that a great New York bagel brings. Whether it’s the sound of bagels being sliced behind the counter or the energy of the shop itself, we want every visit to feel like a moment worth savoring.”
This is what spurs innovation with a nod to nostalgia at the family-owned business. Customer feedback and food trends inspire prospective menu additions at Ess-a-Bagel. Limited runs of new bagel flavors and colors, schmears, and sandwiches offer the bakery a way to test the waters before cementing a new menu item.
“We cater to what consumers want and try to come up with ideas that match,” said Nathan Turtledove, strategy and operations lead at Ess-a-Bagel. “At the end of the day, the customers dictate what we do.”
Some experimental varieties have become cult favorites, such as the all-green St. Paddy’s Day bagel that sells out year after year.
Stepping into Ess-a-Bagel’s West 32nd Street location offers a glimpse of why the bakery has remained popular since its founding 50 years ago. While a case piled high with schmears catches customers’ eyes right away, the magic truly happens in the back-of-house. A business of this scale could opt for additional automation, yet Ess-a-Bagel employees still hand-roll its bagels at several of its brick-and-mortar storefronts. With customers seeking an artisan touch from their baked goods, this manual task is part of what keeps foot traffic steady.
THE BESTSELLER
Ess-a-Bagel’s top-selling bagel flavor is Everything, followed closely by Plain and Sesame. The certified kosher bagels are kettle-boiled and baked in store daily and made without additives or preservatives.
“We design our menu and service to tap into nostalgia and connection: that feeling of comfort and community that a great New York bagel brings.”
Melanie Frost | CEO | Ess-a-Bagel
Photo courtesy of Ess-a-Bagel
Craft to Crumb Ess-a-Bagel
“Customers return for the authenticity, that perfect blend of chewy on the inside and crunchy on the outside that defines a true New York bagel,” Melanie said. “But just as importantly, they come back for the experience: the friendly staff, the smell of freshly baked bagels, the sense of community that’s been part of Ess-a-Bagel since 1976.”
Throughout the day, bakers prep eye-catching catering trays with lox rosettes and tomato and cucumber slices while more employees assemble orders for the queue of regulars and newcomers, whether they’re ordering a classic sandwich like a bacon, egg and cheese on an everything bagel or a more unconventional option such as a rainbow bagel with OREO schmear.
Ess-a-Bagel has perfected its process, and, in turn, has seen major growth. Today, the shop has six brick-and-mortar locations across NYC and New Jersey, as well as par-baked and wholesale programs that created a national footprint. It’s also earned several industry nods, such as the Best of the Boroughs win at BagelFest 2025. Setting forth into its next era, the bagel shop’s commitment to authenticity persists.
“As we grow and reach new audiences, our goal remains the same,” Melanie said. “To share that authentic New York bagel experience with as many people as possible, without ever losing the warmth and personality that make Ess-a-Bagel truly special.”
Photos by Avant Food Media
n Short product path, gentle processing of product
n Intact inclusions – even blueberries!
n Easy to disassemble, clean, and assemble
n No divider oil needed
n Graphic touch display in multiple languages
n Programmable recipes – repeatable quality
n Favorable financing
n Arrange a test today!
Craft to Crumb
LADY WONG PATISSERIE
THE GIST
LOCATION: ESTABLISHED: 332 E. 9th St. 2022
FOUNDERS: S PECIALTY: Seleste Tan and Asian-inspired Mogan Anthony French pastries
Roadshow Featured Bakery | Lady Wong Patisserie
BY MADDIE LAMBERT
Standing in line for a chance to order from the Lady Wong Patisserie case is a shared hobby among New Yorkers. Is it because each cake is made as if it has its own backstory? Or because each treat is a color-shrouded portal to Southeast Asian culture? Maybe it’s a combination of both.
Founded by husband-and-wife duo Seleste Tan and Mogan Anthony, the business began as a “pandemic pop-up” before becoming a storefront in the East Village in 2022. With a shared passion for crafting desserts inspired by their Malaysian heritage, Seleste and Mogan have capitalized on the modern trend for accessible, authentic global flavors.
But they don’t stop there. They weave in an extra touch by taking classic French pastries and desserts — mousses, entremets, choux, mille crepes — and layering them with tropical flavors such as coconut, calamansi, durian and guava.
Notice another trend here: “newstalgia.”
Today, customers seek both nostalgia and novelty. As a powerhouse pair with combined culinary backgrounds at Michelin-starred restaurants, Seleste and Mogan have a deep understanding of how to cultivate an environment that invites people from all walks of life to experience dessert in an entirely new way.
This has established Lady Wong as an institution in the Northeastern food scene, earning the patisserie recognition from prestigious publications such as The New York Times , Forbes and Food & Wine. In fact, in 2022, Lady Wong was named “Best Bakery” by Eater NY. And the buzz extends beyond publications, as residents and tourists flock to get a glimpse of Lady Wong’s latest creations.
Take its Pandan Matcha Tart, Calamansi Passion Fruit Cake, and Ube Blackberry and Black Sesame Mousse Cake, for example. All of these flavors are trending, but they’re reimagined in a way that’s unique to the Lady Wong name.
“You can’t find these at a typical bakery,” Seleste said. “Customers today want flavor that means something, not
“Customers today want flavor that means something, not just something that looks pretty in a photo.”
Seleste Tan | pastry chef and founder | Lady Wong Patisserie
Craft to Crumb Lady Wong Patisserie
just something that looks pretty in a photo. We design pastries that not only look refined and modern but also trigger emotion or nostalgia. We want [our products] to taste vibrant and unexpected.”
Seleste and Mogan keep their fingers on the pulse of pastry culture, knowing what the next ‘big thing’ is before it arrives. This innate knowledge has boosted the bakery’s customer reach — and bottom line.
“We constantly watch how people feel about food, not just what they buy,” Seleste said. “We travel, study global pastry trends, pay attention to social media conversations and listen to our customers. We’re driven by curiosity; if a flavor sparks nostalgia or emotion, we explore it.”
The couple is determined to impress even the pickiest New Yorkers with their flavor mashups … and the proof is in the recipes. The Strawberry Guava Entremet blends guava marmalade, strawberry compote and Madagascar vanilla cheesecake mousse. The Brown Butter Carrot Cake layers sponge cake with orange-salted caramel and salted cream cheese, wrapped in German buttercream and gold-dusted walnuts. And, perhaps the most popular, the rainbow-colored, bite-sized Kuih, known for its tropical flavors and iconic chewy texture.
What started as a passion project for heritage flavors has become
a stage for endless creation. Since its founding, the business has grown into a three-location operation across New York and Connecticut. This growth is undoubtedly attributed to its menu … a tapestry of global touches, bright colors and inventive textures.
If NYC’s food scene is a ladder to the city’s overall economic health, cultural influence and historical identity, then Lady Wong Patisserie sits on one of its strongest rungs.
Photo courtesy of Lady Wong Patisserie
LEVAIN BAKERY
LOCATIONS: ESTABLISHED: 19 stores across 1995 six states and Washington, DC
FOUNDERS: SPECIALTY: Pam Weekes Cookies and Connie McDonald and breads
by
Craft to Crumb
Roadshow Featured Bakery | Levain Bakery
Photos
Avant Food Media
BY ANNIE HOLLON
Trends come and go, neighborhoods evolve and consumer preferences waver. But even so, there are some establishments New Yorkers rely on, that they return to time and time again. For the past 30 years, Levain Bakery has been a pillar for people from all walks of life. Either as regulars or tourists, customers swarm to the storefronts for the quality baked goods, no matter the occasion.
Menu consistency and intentional innovation have made the bakery a reliable destination for customers. Each item on the menu, which ranges from hearty cookies and loaf slices to artisan-style crusty breads, offers something for everyone. Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald, Levain co-founders, carefully craft each menu item to serve the customers who queue out the door daily.
“We don’t try to compete with what’s trending; we focus on our unique and simple approach,” Pam said. “We only make things we truly love ourselves. We’re intentional with each new flavor we create and value classic recipes with ingredients you can see and smell in our bakeries.”
The bakery has come a long way since its first shop opened in 1995. What started as a small wholesale bread bakery is now a legacy brand with a presence across six states and Washington, DC. That longevity is notable within the walls of the Flatiron location, one of Levain’s nine NYC shops.
For Levain, trends don’t dictate which innovations hit display cases. Seasonal specials and new cookie flavors such as White Chocolate Macadamia and Coffee Toffee share space with Levain’s signature product, the Chocolate Chip Walnut cookie. Part of the bakery’s menu since its inception, this classic is rivaled in popularity only by the Two-Chip Chocolate Chip variety, a nut-free alternative.
“The menu has evolved thoughtfully over the years after a wholesale bread bakery,” Pam said. “We’ve added new cookie flavors, seasonal specials and even ice cream partners, but our original cookies remain our North Star. Every addition reflects the same craveable texture, simple ingredients and warm, handmade feel for the ultimate experience.”
THE BESTSELLER
Step into any Levain Bakery location and behold a case stocked with its signature 6-ounce cookies. Of all the varieties available, the reigning bestseller is also the bakery’s OG cookie flavor. With a crispy exterior and soft center, the Chocolate Chip Walnut cookie has stood the test of time.
“Every bite is packed with semisweet chocolate chips and chunks of walnuts, which add texture and balance,” said Connie McDonald, co-founder of Levain Bakery.
Photo courtesy of Levain
Bakery
Craft to Crumb Levain Bakery
Having an array of baked goods in the cases is key for serving customers who stop in from all over the globe. Word of mouth, it seems, is a key ingredient in the bakery’s decades of success. Visitors from France, Brazil and Germany vie with native New Yorkers to see what Levain is all about. Even when many are tightening purse strings, there’s always a little wiggle room for customers to incorporate a small sweet into their day-to-day.
“We’ve seen that consumers are still prioritizing small indulgences, even as spending habits shift,” Connie said. “The desire to treat yourself or someone else — whether for a celebration, a pick-me-up, or just because — remains strong. Customers like going back to what they know is going to be truly delicious and classic.”
The business and its operators don’t take the role they play in people’s lives for granted.
“We’re proud to be a New York institution and remain a neighborhood bakery, something that is top of mind as we grow,” Pam concluded. “The most important thing to us is the quality of our food and the experience for our customers and our teams.”
JANIE’S LIFECHANGING BAKED GOODS
THE GIST
LOCATION: ESTABLISHED: 212 W 80th St. 2015
FOUNDER:
Photo by Avant Food Media
Photo courtesy of Janie’s Life-Changing Baked Goods
Photo by Avant Food Media
BY MADDIE LAMBERT
Finding a niche as a business owner can be challenging. Finding two within one operation is almost unheard of. But Janie Deegan, founder of Janie’s Life-Changing Baked Goods, has done just that, making this bakery a New York City outlier.
Janie’s Pie Crust Cookie — an invention of hers inspired by the idea of a perfectly proportioned bite of pie — put her on the map, building the foundation for her multi-million- dollar company. The signature cookie features a flaky pie crust bottom, a gooey middle layer and a buttery streusel topping.
A typical week at the bakery means selling more than 1,000 Pie Crust Cookies across its three storefronts.
“It was ahead of the curve,” said Tera Picente, head of people at Janie’s Life-Changing Baked Goods. “We have our four constant flavors — Chocolate, Apple, Pecan and Triple Berry — and then we have four rotating flavors that we change in response to trending flavor combinations.”
The bakery uses its social media presence (42,000 Instagram followers and counting) to introduce new flavors; it’s how the bakery team receives real-time feedback. Recently, Dubai Chocolate, Ferrero Rocher, PB&J, S’mores and Passion Fruit Custard varieties have been popular among the masses.
“We’ve definitely been influenced by the immediate TikTok trends and aesthetic push of things,” Tera said. “But thankfully, we have this great foundation already set for when we try new things. We have the luxury of switching our menu up.”
The bakery’s trend-forward, nimble menu doesn’t stop at Pie Crust Cookies, though; Janie’s “Half-Baked” and “Really Delicious” cookie lines offer a gourmet take on the traditional baked good. These are especially popular among city dwellers.
And, speaking of popular, Janie’s partnership with Pabade Bakery, another New York-based business, offered customers a new way to experience its gooey cookie line: the “Half Baked Crookie.” Pairing Pabade’s croissants with Janie’s signature chocolate chip cookie dough, this treat took social media platforms by storm.
THE BESTSELLER
The thing that started it all: the Pie Crust Cookie. Featuring a flaky pie crust bottom, a gooey middle layer and a buttery streusel topping, this hybrid treat offers customers a unique, multi-textural eating experience. Across three storefronts, the bakery sells more than 1,000 each week.
Photo by
Craft to Crumb Janie’s Life-Changing Baked Goods
“It was at the precipice of the ‘crookie’ trend; the partnership couldn’t have been timelier,” Tera recalled. “We eventually had to move all sales to pre-orders because they would sell out so fast. We phased it out for a while, but we slowly brought it back because of customer demand.”
The timeliness certainly helped the cross-brand collaboration be impactful, but it wasn’t the only reason. Teaming up with a fellow NYC bakery offered a way to boost and diversify Janie’s revenue stream. The joint promotion
enabled both bakeries to tap into each other’s markets and introduce themselves to new faces without compromising the foundations of either business.
Now, about that aforementioned second niche.
Janie’s business model was built on the Pie Crust Cookie, but she has sustained the bakery’s growth with an army of support from her employees … some of whom are outside the traditional employee pool. Janie’s steadfast commitment to open and second-chance
hiring provides job opportunities for formerly incarcerated and unhoused individuals, as well as those with little to no prior experience at the bench.
With three retail locations, a fourth on the way and nationwide shipping capabilities, this bakery has solidified its residence across the concrete jungle. From providing sweet treats baked by a team of dedicated hands to offering stable employment for everyone, this bakery lives up to its name … with “life-changing” rightfully located smack dab in the middle.
Photo courtesy of Janie’s Life-Changing Baked Goods
DOMINIQUE ANSEL BAKERY
THE GIST
LOCATION: ESTABLISHED: 189 Spring St. 2011
FOUNDER: SPECIALTY: Dominique Cronut and Ansel kouign-amann
Craft to Crumb
Roadshow Featured Bakery | Dominique Ansel Bakery
Photos by Avant Food Media
BY ANNIE HOLLON
People know what they expect from a baked good: satisfying texture, thrilling flavors and just the right balance of sweet or savory. They want all this — in addition to the unexpected — when they drop by Dominique Ansel Bakery, the 15-yearold eponymous storefront of the James Beard Awardwinning French pastry chef.
In the baking space, Dominique is best known for inventing the Cronut in 2013, and he consistently brings unique flavor and texture experiences to his SoHo storefront. Where else can someone purchase made-to-order mini madeleines, perfectly honeycombed croissants and a frozen s’more torched tableside all in one stop?
“I always tell our team that our pastries are almost like silent movie stars,” Dominique said. “They don’t have a voice, but they speak in a way that is easy to understand. After all, you eat with your eyes first, so while a pastry does have to look beautiful upon first glance, it also has to tell a story and be simple to understand, and of course, taste delicious.”
It’s hard to narrow the scope of the bakery’s innovations. The Dominque Ansel lineup is vast, carrying everything from macarons and Dominique’s Kouign-Amann (also known as the DKA) to tarts and pavlova. The chef shared that to keep things fresh, he rotates the menu every six to eight weeks, integrating holiday-inspired offerings with standard fare while crafting specialty products with in-season ingredients.
This cadence excludes the Cronut; the bakery’s staple debuts a new flavor each month. In fact, the flavors intrigue some customers so much that they return frequently — part of what’s dubbed the Cronut Club — just to taste what’s next from Dominique Ansel.
“It’s important for us to keep evolving,” Dominique said. “When the Cronut came out, and there were hundreds of people in line every day, a lot of people told me I should just replicate dozens of Cronut shops everywhere, and it’d be the easy way out. That has never been our intention. We decided early on to change the flavor every month, never repeating, in each of our shops. We’ve created hundreds and hundreds of flavors around the world.”
MEET THE BAKER
Chef Dominique Ansel has spent decades perfecting his craft. While best known for the DKA and Cronut, his creativity with format and flavor extends to other aspects of his work, such as Asian-inspired breads at Papa d’Amour in NYC and crepes at Dominique Ansel Marche in Las Vegas.
Photo courtesy of Dominique Ansel
Craft to Crumb
Dominique Ansel Bakery
Innovation here isn’t spurred by the latest sensation gaining traction on social media. Rather, Dominique Ansel Bakery prioritizes its original ideas when it comes to bringing new products to customers from all walks of life.
“First and foremost, it’s about creating something unique and something that connects with people,” Dominique said. “We don’t look at what trends are out there and then try to follow them. For us, it’s about our own original ideas, not striving to make something ‘go viral.’”
Dominique’s commitment to creating unique products shows in the detail that goes into making each baked good. The Cronut, for instance, requires a three-day production process, with hundreds being glazed and filled by hand before the storefront opens.
While plenty of customers take their baked goods to go in vibrant yellow boxes, many also sit down in the shop’s covered patio to indulge in an artfully layered croissant or sip and crunch on a Cookie Shot. In such a grab-and-go culture, this bakery entices people to pause for a multi-sensory food experience.
“Dessert is such a nostalgic and personal thing for many people,” Dominique concluded. “It brings people back to a moment in time. When we see our guests take a bite of one of our pastries and smile, that makes it all worth it.”
Photos by Avant Food Media
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EMPIRE CAKE
THE GIST
LOCATION: ESTABLISHED: 450 6th Ave. 2010
FOUNDERS: SPECIALTY: Jim Genovese Custom cakes and Eric Setliff
Craft to Crumb Roadshow Featured Bakery | Empire Cake
Photo by Avant Food Media
Photo by Avant Food Media
Photo courtesy of Empire Cake
BY MADDIE LAMBERT
When New Yorkers walk down 6th Avenue, they can’t miss the extravagantly decorated, multi-tiered cakes on display in the window of Empire Cake. This bakery has captured the attention — and dollars — of customers far and wide.
With 150 custom-decorated cakes sold each week, in addition to the 250 pre-decorated ones sold alongside them, business is flourishing for this mom-and-pop bakery. Vintage Lambeth-style and photorealistic fare — life-sized shoes, wine bottles and even human faces — are two examples of the unconventional cake designs Empire offers.
There’s no request that the bakery’s specialized cake consultants and artists won’t try. For each creation assembled on the bench, taste is paramount, and bursting flavor is nonnegotiable.
“Cake is cake, but if you use the right ingredients and take the care and time to make it correctly, it becomes so much more,” said Jim Genovese, co-owner of Empire Cake. “We’ve created a model where we cater to the customer, no matter how intricate the design.”
The elaborate cakes in the window get the customers in the door, but the retro ambience and glowing bakery case make them kick their feet up and stay a while.
The case is filled with gourmet versions of nostalgic American treats. These classic snacks — Twinkies, Snoballs, Swiss Rolls, Twix Bars — are reimagined with a sophisticated yet homemade feel.
One in particular has generated major appeal: an elevated spin on a New York classic, the black and white cookie. The recipe features a thick, cakey cookie hand-dipped in half white, half bittersweet Belgian couverture chocolate.
“People buy our black and white cookies by the hundreds,” said Jessica Bone, head pastry chef at Empire Cake. “We need to have at least 2,000 on hand for the week.”
I n the era of ultimate influence, the average trend lifecycle is significantly shorter than it was before social media existed.
“Cake is cake, but if you use the right ingredients and take the care and time to make it correctly, it becomes so much more.”
Jim Genovese | co-owner | Empire Cake
Craft to Crumb Empire Cake
Bakers have to hop on the incoming trend train at a moment’s notice. From fashion and color palettes to popular music and TV shows, the team at Empire keeps a close eye on pop culture to identify trends they anticipate shifting from micro to macro and discern which will impact cake culture.
But then again, sometimes looking back can be as impactful as predicting the future. Drew Fauser, event and wedding consultant at Empire Cake, said requests for vibrant blends of sophistication and nostalgia are gaining momentum with customers.
“Customers are gravitating toward deeper, richer color palettes instead of bright, primary colors,” Drew said. “We’re also seeing a lot of requests for playful shapes, such as hearts and extra-long sheet cakes.”
The bakery excels at breathing life into whatever a customer can imagine. Long gone are the days when a simple sheet cake sufficed. Today, customers want an experience as much as flavor, and they seek desserts that can traverse the past and present.
“The ’90s and 2000s are having a major moment,” Drew said. “There’s a strong demand for cake designs that look back on those decades. And in terms of nostalgic flavors, we’ve never had so many requests for childhood favorites like confetti cake.”
Customer demand is the pinnacle of modern influence, and Empire Cake listens closely to what customers want.
“Right now, there’s a big emphasis on sugar cookies with intricate piping and decorations,” Jessica said. “We keep everything aesthetically pleasing and make sure everything looks and tastes great. It’s all about finding the perfect balance between design and flavor.”
Backed by a team of enthusiastic bakers and innovation-driven business owners, Empire Cake has found the ultimate sweet spot that blurs the line between retail baking and modern art. Bakers, take notes: This is one trendsetter to watch.
Photo courtesy of Empire Cake
SUPERMOON BAKEHOUSE
LOCATION: ESTABLISHED: 120 Rivington St. 2017
Photo by Avant Food Media
Photo courtesy of Supermoon Bakehouse
Photo by Avant Food Media
Photo by Avant Food Media
BY MADDIE LAMBERT
Tucked away in New York City’s Lower East Side, Supermoon Bakehouse greets guests with a single upside-down neon smiley face hanging in the window. If there was any question about what lay inside, some would almost walk right past it, but the line wrapped around the building makes it hard to ignore … and the excited buzzing from customer to customer makes it even harder to not join the queue.
Once those doors open, the eye immediately goes to the front-of-house’s sleek gray steel counter, on which sit fluffy croissants with swirls of two-toned color, cruffins topped with dollops of fig jam and crystallized chunks of honeycomb, and ube-filled eclairs iced with fudge and adorned with meringue drops.
This visual menu showcases the creativity at Supermoon Bakehouse, and its “Instagrammable” aesthetic draws — and keeps — the crowd. It’s not uncommon to find customers waiting in line, phones in hand, ready to snap a quick pic of what’s currently on display. In today’s digital landscape, this bakery’s post-worthy content drives repeat visits.
“Our core focus is simple: We exist to make playful, unexpected and unforgettable things,” said Aron Tzimas, founder of Supermoon. “We’re not here to make only regular pastries; we want people to walk in excited and walk out obsessed.”
Beyond the photo-worthy pastry counter, a translucent red curtain separates the front-of-house from the backof-house. Look here to find Supermoon’s team of bakers mastering lamination and ideating ways to modernize traditional pastries.
“We’re incredibly lucky because our team isn’t just looking for a job; they’re drawn to what Supermoon stands for,” Aron said. “They want a stage where they can get a little weird, loud and experimental.”
Antonia Tsielepas, Supermoon’s head chef, encourages each baker to bring their own diverse background and current obsessions to the bench, and any idea that might seem “too much” at first should always be pitched. It’s this space, full of
THE BESTSELLER
Known for being “Instagrammable,” Supermoon Bakehouse’s twicebaked croissants feature vibrant lamination with pops of color. The bakery team gets creative with diverse fillings, flavors and textures to entice repeat visits.
Photo courtesy of Supermoon
Bakehouse
Craft to Crumb Supermoon Bakehouse
collaborative energy and a shared willingness to push the boundaries of what should exist in a bakery, that makes Supermoon bakers a secret weapon.
“We have a wildly diverse team, and we love mining their childhood memories, the things they grew up eating and the flavors we discover when we travel,” Antonia said. “But we have a strict ‘no gimmicks’ rule. If an idea doesn’t make the food or the experience undeniably better, it doesn’t belong.”
It could be said that this thirst for experimentation trickles down from Aron’s roots as an entrepre -
neur. Before opening Supermoon Bakehouse in 2017, he owned a bakery in San Francisco, where he made a name for himself with twice-baked, bi-color croissants and other decadent treats.
When he left the West Coast, Aron brought his love of unconventional baking to the East Coast business, and ever since, Antonia and the team of determined bakers have worked hard to perfect the latest Supermoon culinary creation.
The bakery has built a reputation for its skill with laminated dough and ability to manipulate it into something never before seen. On
a typical weekend, Supermoon makes between 600 and 700 cruffins, donuts, eclairs and more. Each pastry shows a level of dedication and creativity that is only possible at the hands of a team willing to venture into unknown territory.
“Innovation is in our DNA and evolution is non-negotiable,” Aron concluded. “By staying curious and exploring ideas we genuinely love, we end up creating things that could trend. It’s a natural by-product of how we operate. You make your own luck when you focus on authenticity over algorithms.”
FOUNDERS: SPECIALTY: Jennifer Appel Icebox desserts and Allysa Torey and cake
Craft to Crumb
Roadshow Featured Bakery | Magnolia Bakery
Photo by Avant Food Media
Photo by Avant Food Media
Photo courtesy of Magnolia Bakery
BY ANNIE HOLLON
Since its early days as a 600-square-foot brick-and-mortar bake shop with a small menu, Magnolia Bakery has leveled up time and again, broadening its menu to nearly every area of the baking discipline. Its experiential nature keeps customers coming back for more.
“Being 30 years old means that we’re generational,” said Bobbie Lloyd, the company’s chief brand officer and chief baking officer. “We have people coming in who came with their parents when they were kids and are now bringing their children. They want their kids to have the same experience they had when they were four, five, six years old.”
Since its founding in 1996, demand for Magnolia Bakery has persisted, evident by the line of eager customers snaking through the bakery’s cozy storefront, musing at the cakes, cupcakes and cookies filling the case. Behind the counter, employees garnish — and package — everything from slices of chocolate cake to single-serve cheesecakes to pints of banana pudding.
Even with an ever-growing footprint, Magnolia Bakery finds new ways to connect with customers outside the bakery. One way is through partnerships in and out of the food space. Teaming up with other brands such as Ess-a-Bagel and Glossier allows the bakery to expand on its mission — “Make today sweeter than yesterday” — and offers more ways for people to engage with Magnolia Bakery. This can be everything from apparel and accessories to exclusive baked good creations.
“I don’t want to do a collaboration just to do it,” Bobbie said. “It’s got to be something that we care about and matches our ethos as a brand.”
This approach extends into its CPG ventures. In addition to debuting Banana Pudding Cookies in grocery chains nationwide in 2024, the bakery made waves with its Frozen-toThaw Banana Pudding, which took three years of R&D work.
Two storefronts are supported by a commissary in Long Island City, NY, however, many baked goods are created on-site at its various shops, such as the Rockefeller location.
“It’s experiential: [employees] are icing cupcakes and cakes in the front window where people can watch and see the product we’re making.”
While Magnolia Bakery may be best known for its banana pudding and cupcakes, the offering that makes the New York brand stand apart is its icebox desserts. Featuring layers of cookies and whipped cream with an assortment of inclusions, the treat has been a mainstay on the menu for 30 years, providing customers with a cool, multitextural eating experience.
Photo courtesy of Magnolia Bakery
Craft to
Crumb
Magnolia Bakery
“One of the cool things about the way we bake is we don’t need big kitchens,” she said. “We have a prep kitchen downstairs and a three-compartment sink here, and then we have stations out front. It’s experiential: Employees are icing cupcakes and cakes in the front window where people can watch and see the product we’re making.”
The bakery is taking this experience one step further. Magnolia Bakery is incorporating buildyour-own banana pudding bars, which first debuted in 2025, in select stores. Interactive, personalized options such as this grant people the power to create an individualized flavor experience at their respective visit. Each menu
evolution emphasizes Magnolia Bakery’s commitment to meeting the interests of its customers.
“We’ve expanded our cupcake offerings to be much broader and more expansive, doing all different kinds of cakes and buttercream,” Bobbie noted. “We’ve also expanded into better quality ingredients because the consumer profile has changed.”
To meet growing demand beyond NYC, the company recently established its franchising program, which brings the Magnolia Bakery experience to cities across the US, including Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Louisville, KY.
“Part of our reason for going into franchising is kind of like why we started shipping e-commerce nationwide or why we ended up in grocery: It’s meeting consumers where they are,” Bobbie explained. “The continual request is, ‘How come you’re not in this town?’ We don’t have the bandwidth to open all these company-owned stores, but franchising means that we can bring our brand to more customers.”
By balancing its origins with what its customers seek, Magnolia Bakery creates an evergreen nostalgic experience, one swirled cupcake at a time. .
Photo courtesy of Magnolia Bakery
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BAKERS KNOW BAKERS
Who better to offer bakery recommendations than those who know the industry inside and out? Bakers from the Roadshow shared their favorite go-to spots (besides their own).
AUX MERVEILLEUX DE FRED
“THEY MAKE LE MERVEILLEUX, WHICH ARE MERINGUE WITH A CHANTILLY CREAM FILLING ROLLED IN DIFFERENT THINGS. THEY’RE INCREDIBLE.”
BÁNH BY LAUREN
“IT’S SO LOVELY. [LAUREN TRAN, FOUNDER] CREATES VIETNAMESE CHIFFON CAKES.”
Jessica Cheng | PR director | Dominique Ansel
MOE’S DOUGHS
“THEY SERVE THE ABSOLUTE BEST GLAZED OLD-FASHIONED DONUTS AND APPLE FRITTERS IN THE CITY.”
