Unique coffee shop, bakery will give aspiring Wichita-area bakers a place to get started
A unique new bakery and coffee shop with a setup unlike the Wichita area has seen is set to open early next year in Derby and will be designed to help aspiring bakers afford to get a foothold in the restaurant business.
Brant Dumford and his wife, Nicole, are planning to open The Coop in a spot at 104 N. Baltimore in Derby that was once home to a gas station. They’re in the process of remodeling it now.
The business will be a co-op bakery and coffee shop that will allow up to 50 area bakers a chance to rent small chunks of retail space to sell their products. So far, they’ve signed up 12 participants, including Haylee Lamoree of Sweet Crumbs Bakery, Frances Gayer of The Bakery Table and more. He’s in negotiations now with a known Wichita coffee purveyor to run the coffee shop side of the business.
The idea is to give small bakeries and aspiring business people a space to offer their products and gain a following, Dumford said, and he’s hoping to find a place to open one in Andover, too.
“It’s going to be a cool concept,” he said.
Dumford, who is the CEO of Delano Bakery, the business his father, Kelly, founded in 1987, said he’s seen first hand how difficult it can be to launch new products. Delano Bakery now has outlets in 150 Kroger stores, but it wasn’t easy for his father to get there.
“The reason that I did this is because it was so hard, even with my dad being one of the largest wholesale bakers, to even get into retail space,” he said. “Major retailers will not allow you to come in unless you’ve had proven track record and history of being in another retail space. We’re giving them an interim platform.”
Dumford said he imagines members of the co-op being a mixture of established Wichita businesses who want a Derby presence, home bakers who want a storefront, and talented home bakers who want to spread their wings into retail. He also wants to attract farmers market vendors who need a place to sell their goods year round.
Rent will be $50 to $200 a month, and the shop will have both refrigerated and not refrigerated retail space. Most of the co-op members will sell their goods pre-packaged, he said, but he’ll also have a kitchen in the shop that any member can use. The shop will have fresh baked goods on hand every day, too.
Dumford said the bakery will have seating for about 15 to 20. He also plans an outdoor eating space with picnic tables covered by pergolas.
He envisions The Coop as a place for live music and a spot where groups could put on community-focused meetings and seminars on issues like mental health and suicide prevention, two causes close to his heart.
I’ll keep you posted on The Coop’s progress.
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 9:33 AM.
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