DAYTON, Ohio -- A prominent window encourages shoppers on the sidewalk to take a look in the bakery at the new Dorothy Lane Market here. Once inside, they find themselves in a world of European pastries and upscale desserts.
And shoppers find other reasons to visit the bakery, which is first in the shopping footprint in this store, part of a new shopping center in suburban Springboro, a boom town of new homes, dual-income families and golf courses. In addition to the artisan breads and Dorothy Lane's trademarked Killer Brownies, the bakery features an all-new, European-inspired pastry shop with a state-of-the-art, refrigerated pastry case, topped by a marble slab and a sneeze guard in front. It's the showcase for a new line of 20 pastries made entirely from scratch at this store by a four-member pastry team, who also supplies Dorothy Lane's two other stores with some of the 20 varieties.
Improving the pastry program was one of Scott Fox's goals in designing the bakery for the new store, the largest of Dorothy Lane's three units. Until now, Dorothy Lane had outsourced pastries from local bakeries, said Fox, the retailer's director of bakery operations.
"One area we've been weak in is the pastry department," Fox told SN.
As the retailer made plans for the new store, a group of officials traveled to Italy and France in the spring of 2000 on a scouting mission to see what top-notch retailers abroad had to offer. Fox was impressed with what he saw at bakeries in Paris.
Their travels also took them to "the hottest stores in this country," he said. "We tried to find the best of the best and do things we thought would make us special."
They visited the new Lunds supermarket in Plymouth, Minn., which opened in July 2001 in a Minneapolis suburb. Lunds and Byerly's have a relationship with Dorothy Lane -- the Minnesota retailer is a licensee of Dorothy Lane's signature brownies. At the Lunds store, Fox noticed the custom-designed, European-style pastry case. The pastry case in the Dorothy Lane store was modeled after that one, Fox said.
To staff the pastry department, Fox didn't have to look far. He brought in Ghyslain Maurais, a local chocolatier and European-trained chef, as a consultant, and hired Stacey Hastings, a graduate of the local culinary arts program, to be the pastry shop manager. Maurais provides training to employees. He's no newcomer to Dorothy Lane. Maurais supplies Dorothy Lane's bakeries with hand-painted chocolates, made at Maurais' home-based chocolate factory in Union City, Ind. [see "Dorothy Lane Showcases Chocolate Handiwork", SN, March 5, 2001].
The pastry menu, featuring the French names with translations in English, includes fruit tarts, apple galette, chocolate mousse and creme brulee. Many items are sold in single-serve sizes, including miniature versions and slices, Fox said. There's a 9-inch apple galette, as well as a 3 1/2-inch single-serve version. Black Forest cake is sold by the slice. Creme brulee with vanilla bean is sold in a 5-ounce glass dish.
Pastries sized for one sell for $2.99 to $3.99 apiece, while whole cakes range in price from $22.50 to $40, Fox said.
Generating strong sales for the department are old favorites, like the brownies and artisan breads, Fox said. Brownies are available in seven flavors, sold individually and in 12-inch trays. The artisan breads include such favorites as baguettes, French boules, and a new Jewish rye bread.
Fox is more than pleased with the early sales in the new bakery -- it has outperformed the bakeries at Dorothy Lane's other stores.
"We started out running," he said. "Last week was our slowest, and we did 10.5% of [total] store sales. We didn't expect it to be that busy."
Other, busier weeks have seen bakery sales reach 12%, he said. That compares to the Centerville store bakery -- 8.5% to 9 % of overall store sales -- and the Oakwood store bakery's 6% to 6.5% of overall sales.
"We think it'll level out at 10% of sales," Fox said.
The bakery's location, at the front of the store, makes it particularly convenient for shoppers seeking breakfast items, but at the same time creates congestion around the front door, one local observer told SN.
While some retailers might pause before rolling out a new upscale supermarket with a fancy bakery, especially when the economy is less than robust, Dorothy Lane didn't go out on a limb because the retailer already has a "well-crafted reputation in the market," said Howard Solganik, president, Solganik & Associates, based here. "They're a good retailer."
