Bakery Research

A couple of weekends ago, my sister and I went out to Joan's on Third for some bakery research. She had read a little story about them in Los Angeles Magazine and said that it seemed similar to what I was thinking of starting.



It's a family run marketplace, cafe, and catering company and it's extremely popular. When we got there, there was a line of people waiting to get a table, as well as long lines inside! We wandered around the store, taking in as much as we could while not stepping on people who were actually planning on eating there.

The marketplace aspect was most interesting to my sister, who has dreams of opening her own gourmet food store one day. They had everything you would need to make a picnic, bake some cookies, or have a low-effort meal at home. There was a refrigerator case that had soups and sauces on one side and handmade appetizers on the other. You could get fancy olives, oils, and vinegars as well as four kinds of Fleur de Sel and a bunch of different peppers and spices.



There were shelves and shelves of packaged candy, cookies, pretzels, and other snacks. We checked out the labels to see where they had been packaged, and they all said "Packaged by Joan's on Third" - perhaps indicating that they had bought in bulk and then divided everything into more manageable amounts. Not a bad idea.


We ended up buying about $40 of sweets to take home to share with our husbands. We tried the Chocolate Coconut Cupcake, Rosemary Shortbread, Bacon and Gruyere (I think) Pretzel Bread, and Peanut Butter and Jelly Bar. We also tried the Bacon Truffle Caramel Popcorn and the Orange Chipotle Caramel Popcorn by Chef Cordelia, which was delicious.


Even though we both felt there was a little too much going on - on top of all of the stuff we did look at, there was also a cheese counter and prepared food counter (salads and sandwiches, and possibly some breakfast foods) that we couldn't get to because of the line - I think it was a pretty successful research trip. I certainly understand why they're so popular - I think they do everything they do at a high enough quality that people see them as a one-stop shop. They also have a very clean design that I really liked (a lot of glass and black and white, and nothing too fussy). All things to keep in mind as I continue thinking up ideas for my own place!