Project Bakeover
Season 2
An experienced pastry chef and a colorful designer give struggling bakeries menu and store upgrades to boost their businesses and help them towards financial success.
Where to Watch Season 2
10 Episodes
- Cute Doesn't pay the BillsE1
Cute Doesn't pay the BillsHaving immigrated from Japan ten years ago on her own, Keiko is the owner/operator of Kanadell Japanese Bakery in East Vancouver, BC. Roughly translated, kanadell means baking in harmony which is an important philosophy for Keiko and the shop. The other important things for Keiko are staying true to the Japanese palate for the sweets, which comprise only a minor portion of her wares and which are not as sweet as most western pastries, and to make everything as "cute" as possible, which is arguably why her "animal" decorated Japanese sweet buns are her most favorite items and the most popular with her customers. The time consuming nature of making such items reduces her time for other areas of the business, her ability to oversee the work of her employees, and to produce items such as cakes on a regular basis, she only making and selling cakes on Saturdays. Without any family support, she has only herself on who to rely, leading her to working long hours seven days a week without a profit to show for her efforts. Steve likes her baking but knows that he has to get her to streamline her baking to less labor intensive items, and to diversify her menu to have Japanese inspired western baked goods to appeal to a broader market, both which should allow her to make high profit margin cakes as a standard part of her menu every day and not just Saturdays. And Tiffany wants to help Keiko achieve her much desired cuteness to the front of house, Keiko admitting she not having the budget to focus on that aspect of the shop. - Starting from ScratchE3
Starting from ScratchTwenty-four year old self-taught baker Whitney is the owner/operator of Cake Your Way in Woodbridge, ON, the custom cake bricks and mortar shop a progression from making cakes for friends in high school, followed by garnering a loyal following on social media. With no business experience, Whitney quickly discovered the stresses of operating a storefront business in that she has to have food offerings beyond the custom cakes to turn a profit, while the custom cake orders are not sufficient in netting revenue to expand the business to those other items. Steve hands Whitney the tough love that she needs in that much of her product does not taste good, because much of it, from the cakes themselves, to the frostings and fillings, are mostly from a "box" or a "can" and not from scratch, she focusing more on the artistic end of what she sells. Steve wants to teach her and her team how to make a diversity of simple bakery items from scratch that she can jazz up by adding her artistic touches. Beyond the existing pink (Whitney's favorite color), Tiffany wants to reflect Whitney's young and bubbly personality in what is the current drab front of house, the exterior being a bit more a challenge in the shop being located in a proverbial monotone strip mall. - Success for all SeasonsE4
Success for all SeasonsHaving been a summer tourist there herself for many years, Kelly, a proverbial home baker, bought the Little Cove Bakery in Tobermory, ON three years ago, Tobermory largely that summer tourist town with the bakery located on the highway just before entering the national park. Rather than it be what was her original thought of a fun business in a place she loved, it has turned out to be a constant worry in needing to make enough money during the six month tourist season to cover her "year round" bills. As such, she works 24/7 unpaid alongside her sister Denise and her husband Ted, both also unpaid, during that tourist season. With that worry about money, she has not put in the needed upgrades to the business to make it her own. Steve can see that Kelly is more than a good home baker, but she has to make the place her own by building off what she does well - mostly her best selling butter tarts, which Steve considers among the best he's ever had - and ditch what doesn't sell well in Kelly keeping what the previous owners had on offer such as pies and "store bought" doughnuts, and by making it a twelve month out of the year business through marketing it as a destination bakery and fostering a strong a loyal local clientele. Tiffany can help with the latter as she rebrands the business into a bakery/general store. Beyond making the exterior look more like a business and not a house, Tiffany sees the interior as a blank canvass in Kelly not having put much if any thought into how the front of house looks or functions. - Cake it to the limitE5
Cake it to the limitTrained pastry chef Lyra is the owner/operator of Lyra Lou Cakes, a three-year old Filipino custom cake shop and bakery located in the suburban Vancouver municipality of Surrey, BC. Baking celebration cakes is a passion for her in that she hearkens back to her own childhood of a largely absent mother leading to her not having birthday cakes of her own when she was growing up. The shop is the family's only current source of income as her husband Abe got laid off from his office job a year ago and joined her in the shop full time despite he not having a retail or baking background. They have a small but loyal customer base, largely Filipino, which is insufficient to keep the business afloat, which in turn has led to Lyra needing to lay off all other staff, and cut back their retail hours solely to the middle of the day, which results in even less revenue. That issue is only exacerbated by Lyra not featuring her cakes to the passing public despite being located in a busy strip mall with lots of foot traffic. They live the shop 24/7 even when they're not there, which is negatively impacting their personal life as a married couple. Steve can see that Lyra knows how to bake - perhaps the first time he has had only minor quibbles with what he test tastes of their wares - but to help them knows he has to diversify their menu to include Filipino-western fusion items that may appeal to a wider clientele, and to get them to have some standard items including in their custom cakes so that customers know what they can order. Tiffany wants to brighten up the very white space to incorporate west coast motifs, and make the exterior actually look like a bake shop which includes places inside to feature her custom cakes so that they can be seen while peering through the front window. - How the Cookie CrumblesE6
How the Cookie CrumblesFather and daughter Mike and Danika grew up in the family business, Mike's Old Fashioned Bakery, Coffee Shop and Pizzeria, located in the small, tight-knit community of Nashwaaksis in Fredericton, NB. The business opened in 1992 by Mike's mother, he who inherited it from her ten years ago. Close to retirement himself, Mike was initially surprised that Danika wanted to take over the business from him when that time comes, she having quit her full-time, pensionable job to work in the bakery in that goal. While it was once a thriving business, it has lost steam where they are barely breaking even. Mike has yet to relinquish any control, he admitting that he is true to the business name in being old fashioned in many aspects, including still using many of his mother's original recipes, including for their best selling molasses cookies, running the business the way she ran it, and doing things without even knowing their profit margins on an item-by-item basis in focusing on the final products in and of themselves. Danika wants to update everything about the business and Mike wants her to succeed when she takes over, they just not seeing eye-to-eye in the way things should be done. Mike is somewhat caught in a catch-22 in that he wants to pass to her a success but doesn't see what she wants to do as leading to that success while what they are currently doing isn't working. Steve sees that Mike knows how to bake but has to make him buy into his way of doing things both in knowing what is profitable while keeping to the philosophy of the business, and knowing how to make their product more smartly. While Steve has problem with all their product looking literally and proverbially "beige", Tiffany too sees the same problem with the space, her goal to make it look more like a cafe bakery that doesn't actually serve pizza (the business sign which Mike just hasn't seen worthwhile to change) instead of a grocery store that looks like it brings in all its baked products as opposed to having it baked fresh on site. - The Boss of BakeE7
The Boss of BakeElmvale Bakery, located in the town of the same name in Ontario cottage country, is almost as old as the town itself. It has become a family business as current owners Chris and Carol bought the business twenty years ago from Chris' father, who bought it in 1989. Like his father before him, Chris is the baker - currently the sole one - they putting a Bavarian twist in whatever they bake and sell, while Carol, a non-baker, handles everything else. It is largely a seasonal business with the influx of the summer cottagers, business dropping off drastically during the off season, with many of the newer full time local residents stating that didn't even know the bakery existed in being easy to miss. While Carol cannot fill those shoes, Chris needs full time help in the kitchen due to health issues exacerbated by being around the flying flour, but their year 'round revenue, the bakery their only source of income, insufficient for them to hire another baker full time. Steve knows they have to take measures to attract more of that local clientele twelve months out of the year, part of his strategy to introduce new items that stay true to nature of the "Bavarian" twist, and that are simple enough to produce that even Carol could make them and that they could teach to anyone they hire. In Chris and Carol admitting they had no money to deal with front of house, Tiffany has her work cut out for her not only in brightening up both the exterior and interior, the latter which is all wood and wood panel making the place look dark, but that she is dealing with a one hundred year old building which may have some structural issues. - Sweet Serenity NowE8
Sweet Serenity NowBoulangerie Pâtisserie Italia has been in business in Saint-Léonard, a largely Italian section of Montréal, QC, for sixty-five years, it specializing in traditional Italian bakery items. Tania's parents bought it for her to run sixteen years ago - they the fifth owners in the business' history - they mortgaging their house to do so in order to provide Tania and the family a hopefully more prosperous future at the risk of their retirement if the business fails. As such, Tania has placed much pressure on herself in thinking about the business 24/7 in knowing what is at risk, she doing so at the expense of family time with her husband and young daughter. While Tania's two sisters work there part-time, Tania, a trained Cordon Bleu chef, is the boss in the kitchen, but has problem letting go of any control in not being able to delegate in knowing she able to do it better than her sisters. She also has to answer largely to her parents, most specifically her mother Jackie, as the owners. In fearing the business failing - it only breaking even not including paying off the debt - she has not placed her stamp on it in not wanting to alienate the longtime largely older ethnic Italian customers, while in the process is not attracting a new and young clientele. Steve doesn't see the problem of Tania not knowing how to bake, but of her not being able to delegate, of her fear of modernizing which she can do in building off what she already makes, and of the business lacking focus in being part bakery, part café, and part grocery store while not totally succeeding in any of those aspects. Tiffany wants to help with that directed focus, which includes building up the "Italia" brand, as well as truly make one feel like they are in a café bakery in the old country. - Fresh Baked FunE9
Fresh Baked FunFilled with the entrepreneurial spirit passed down to him from his now deceased father, Jonathan, of Mexican-American heritage, is the owner and operator of Monkey Cakes in Fredericton, NB. The bakery specializes in cupcakes - Jonathan wanting this focus to be something fun to match his personality and the business name - but also sells custom cakes and a few other sweet bakery items, such as decorated shortbread and cinnamon buns. Jonathan, however, is caught in a catch-22 situation where he's not making enough money to hire full-time staff, his wife Natalie who has a full-time job of her own but assists "unpaid" whenever she can, yet has insufficient labor to produce enough goods to stock his display cases to make it through the sales day. As such, beyond Natalie's day job, the two live the bakery 24/7 without anything to show for it. Steve can see that Jonathan knows how to bake and has passion not only for the work but life in general, but that he isn't taking full advantage both of his time or his background. Steve wants to introduce new items that reflect the fun that Jonathan is trying to achieve, reflect Jonathan's Mexican heritage, and will streamline the labor required, all the while allowing Jonathan to make whatever needs to be made fresh and from scratch everyday. Tiffany wants to bring fun yet practicality into the space, the former which Jonathan admits is currently missing. - Perfecting the PatisserieE10
Perfecting the PatisserieHusband and wife Joe and Loloah own and operate Boulangerie Mr. Pinchot in the Plateau Mont-Royal neighborhood of Montréal, QC. The business was originally Loloah's mother's, and after she passed away, they leased it out. When that venture didn't last, they decided to operate the business themselves to honor Loloah's mother's memory. Their fare is half traditional French pastries, such as croissants, and half traditional Lebanese pastries from their ethnic heritage. Without any additional staff, Joe, self-taught, does most of the baking, while Loloah, who works there part-time as she completes her Ph.D., primarily works front of house and does what she considers manageable kitchen duties. They are close to closing in the business as is not being financially viable. They lost many of Loloah's mother's original customers in those customers not having made the transition from owner to owner to owner, they have to compete against the plethora of other bakeries in the neighborhood, and they have the problem of not much pass-by foot traffic in being on a residential side street, the plain façade making it look like just another residential building. Steve can see that Joe is a talented baker, especially for being self-taught, but is arguably too much of a perfectionist in throwing out whatever he doesn't consider that perfection. In addition to teaching them means to bake more efficiently in a professional setting, Steve wants them to truly blend the French and the Lebanese in their product line to make them stand out from the crowd in the bakery rich neighborhood. Through it all, Steve needs to ensure that Loloah is managing, especially with the changes, in juggling the two hectic halves of her life. On the design side, they all have an additional problem of Tiffany not being able to make it to Montréal due to inclement weather snowing her "out". Having to do the consultation virtually, Tiffany has on-site assistance from her friend Heidi, who will realize Tiffany's vision of turning the space into a true boulangerie, including upping the curb appeal to make it look like a commercial business.