We are beyond thrilled to share that Bake Sum officially has a new home in Oakland at 3249 Grand Ave. at the former Wild Rabbit Bakery. Here is a photo of us outside our brand new bakery. I'm going to say it again, our Brand new bakery! WOW! It's going to be 800 sq. ft of Bake Sum!
Real estate in the Bay Area is scarce when it comes to residential, but also very scarce for bakeries as well. (Despite what you have heard about restaurants and other businesses closing) We've been looking for a home ever since we started Bake Sum in almost October and finally came across this gem about 3 months ago. This is a space that I had inquired about nearly three years ago for La Chinoiserie and never heard back, but when the current owners were looking to sell, they went back into the records of folks that were interested and came upon me. There was a lot to learn about bidding for real estate and I won't get into that now, but if folks need help and advice, feel free to send me a message bakesumpastries@gmail.com and I will do my best to help from my limited experience. No one teaches you this stuff and it really is the school of hard knocks when going through all these crazy arcane processes. I ended up hiring the seller's agent and that gave me a leg up against the other folks that wanted the space. (Sorry if any of the bidders are reading this!) Financing this whole project was also equally eye opening but also another story for another time!
We started our due diligence process and then escrow. I've learned more than I ever want to know about plumbing, electrical, hvac and more in these last several months. Now we actually get to build the bakery which is going to be far more difficult in reality than in conception.
This last year has not been without its trials and tribulations and not everything has been easy - far from it. But baking for our community has been so rewarding and fulfilling. Not only that, but the type of excitement and enthusiasm that we receive from everyone picking up pastries all around the Bay Area has left such a mark on the whole team. Seeing the same familiar faces week in and week out and hearing all your stories of sharing pastries with friends, families and your pandemic experiences has been extremely meaningful (especially as we sleepily hit the snooze button for our 4AM bake times!) From Tom who flew an Ube bun down to Mexico so his brother could experience the flavors to the folks coming all the way from Sacramento and Mill Valley to visit our tiny pop ups - the stories have been amazing.
Here's a drawing of what we hope the store to look like when we are done, there's still lots to do, but we are on our way! (Special thanks to Mike Sun and Francesco Fogu for putting together the designs and interiors <3)
See what SF Chronicle's Janelle Bitker had to say about our news about the new bakery too! We are hoping to be open sometime in August and will share open dates as we veer closer and closer to completion of this project. Thank you for all your support and we cannot wait to have you visit our home.