Editor's Note: The Eastern Echo staff is meeting regularly with interesting people both on and off campus. Engage in those conversations with us through our weekly Q&A report. This week, we talked with Cat Spencer, the owner of Ypsilanti bakery Beara Bakes.
Just five minutes from Eastern Michigan University's campus, in a downtown Ypsilanti brick building, a new bakery operates on North Washington Street. Take a deep dive into the creation of the bakery with owner Cat Spencer in this week's Q&A. Spencer talks about being an EMU alumna and the inspiration behind the bakery.
Q: When did you first open?
A: I started this business four years ago. However, we just opened this storefront in September.
Q: How many locations do you have?
A: This is our only location. We were doing preorder bake sales and pop ups at different events. We did DIYpsy (an Ypsilanti arts and crafts show) last year, which was really cool, and we were doing wholesale to a couple different coffee shops. We were working out of an incubator kitchen while we were doing all of that for the past three and a half years. Then we finally found this space, saw it was up for rent, and just jumped at the chance.
Q: What was the inspiration for your business?
A: I graduated from Eastern in 2014-2015. So, I graduated college and wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with my life and kind of fell into working in the service industry, which I had done throughout college... Then I kind of realized that restaurant jobs and working with food brought me so much community and connections to people I wouldn't have normally met or had connections to. I was very grateful and decided that I wanted to continue with that. That was what brought me the most happiness, joy, and made me feel most content. So I decided that I was going to work as a chef. I did that, I went to culinary school, and here we are.
Q: What’s your most popular dish?
A: I would say our most popular thing that we sell is our biscuits. It's something that we’re very well known for. They’re almost like a laminated biscuit. They are very flaky and buttery. It’s a recipe that I personally learned while working as a chef at a restaurant called Spencer in Ann Arbor. Then I kind of took that and modified it for my own purposes. Now we cannot keep them on the shelf. Every holiday we sell frozen biscuits so people can just take and bake.
Q: Do you serve any gluten-free or vegan options?
A: I'm open to doing more vegan options. Because of the size of our space and proper procedures for making gluten-free stuff, I’m hesitant to make anything gluten-free. There’s flour in the air. It’s impossible to find a surface that doesn’t have flour on it in this bakery. Gluten-free stuff would be very challenging for us. It's more about not wanting to get anyone sick by advertising them. However, I am dabbling in some vegan options. We just had a vegan donut on the menu. It was amazing.
Q: How would you describe the atmosphere in the bakery?
A: The vision I had for opening this space was one that was welcoming and hospitable. Those are two very important things to me. Something that I was kind of envisioning also when I was designing the dining space and the counters was I wanted people to walk in and feel like they had just walked into their grandmother’s house or their weird kooky aunt's house. Someone who would always have chocolate cookies or buttermilk biscuits with some fun, weird music playing. Bright, welcoming and inviting. I really want to make it clear to the community that we are here to serve you, and you are all welcome here. Everybody is welcome here.
Q: How do you think your business affects the community?
A: I’m not 100% sure yet. My hope is that we have a positive influence on the community. I kind of view it as that I’m here to serve the needs of Ypsilanti. Whatever Ypsilanti is needing right now, that's kind of what we’re hoping to fulfill, within reason, obviously.
Q: What do you want readers to know about your bakery?
A: If I want them to know one thing, it would be that everybody is welcome here. I really just want people to come and experience our baked goods, have a conversation, and see how they like our stuff.
Beara Bakes is in Suite 104 on 10 N. Washington Street in Ypsilanti. The bakery is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. The bakery's goods are also available Tuesday's and Thursday's at RoosRoast and Lowertown Bar and Cafe; on Thursday's and Saturday's at Lab Ann Arbor; and Saturday's at Argus Cafe on Packard.
