KANSAS CITY, MO — The back-of-house at AMIE Bakery in Osterville, MA, features the bakery and foodservice prep areas and an office. There’s also a classroom and a 1,640-square-foot basement, which houses a dough sheeter, walk-in freezer, additional refrigeration and dry goods storage.
“Everyone thought I was insane for moving uptown, but I studied the traffic reports,” said Amie Smith, pastry chef and owner of the bakery. “While it was a calculated risk, I had confidence it would work. We’re doing three to five times the volume here than we were downtown. We were able to expand the menu; switch our point-of-sale system to Toast, which has true front- and back-of-house capabilities; and have more space to move around in.”
Here they grow
The new location also allowed the bakery to expand its from-scratch capabilities to include croissants, something Amie had always wanted.
“At the former location, the infrastructure was terrible, from a lack of electrical capacity, to temperature issues, to space restraints,” she said. “We also lacked skilled labor to laminate dough, so we purchased dough sheets from an external source. I bought a RONDO dough sheeter a couple of years ago, and it has been a game changer. Before, we were using rolling pins for our cookies, pie and biscuits. When Alyssa [Hurlstone] joined us, she upped our croissant game and helped elevate our product lines.”
All of these features have helped the bakery remain relevant as competition has increased in the area as well as on Cape Cod, something Amie takes in stride after more than 10 years in business.
“Although the competition on the Cape and in our area has grown in the past decade, we do different things,” she said. “Competition gives people choices where to buy sandwiches and experience different things. It’s a good thing, and it keeps us on our toes.”
Staying booked and busy
Unlike many businesses on the Cape, AMIE Bakery stays open year-round. The staff numbers around 35 during peak season and eight in the off-season.
“I think it’s important to keep people employed year-round, and to keep things continuous, not only to offer the community a needed service but also to not have to gear up for the season and start over with hiring and training,” Amie said. “Staying open is difficult. The financial cycle of making money in the summer and draining reserves to go in the red during winter is painful. But we’re always strategizing and trying to figure out where and how we can fine tune operations.”
In addition to Amie and Alyssa, the core staff includes front-of-house manager Pam Nasuti, and marketing communications and business operations specialist Jill Doucette. High school and college students, many of whom started with the bakery when they were 15 and return every summer, round out the team.
Still, like so many other bakeries, staff turnover is an ongoing challenge.
“Typically, I hire in the winter to train people to be on board for the summer,” Amie said. “That practice puts a strain on winter reserves, especially if they leave before the season starts.”
To fortify those reserves, the bakery has diversified into other revenue streams, always with intention and always with the community in mind. The grab-and-go case features a variety of sandwiches, entrees, cookie dough and salads. AMIE at Home provides frozen to-go options such as cottage and chicken pot pies, fruit pies, and take-and-bake entrees.
Learning opportunities
In the back-of-house classroom space, the bakery launched AMIE Academie, which offers after-hours baking and cooking classes and special events. Amie often invites trailblazing chefs — Gale Gand and Laura Briscoe, for example — to teach in the space, which can accommodate up to 14 people.
“Our classes have been a valuable addition to the bakery,” she said. “We like to ‘demystify’ baking and, more importantly, demonstrate how we do things here; it offers an insight into and an appreciation for the work that goes into our products. We have a demo mirror and several workstations. Class offerings and scheduling vary, and timing depends on the month. Sometimes they are twice a weekend, other times once or twice a month.”
The Academie is worthwhile financially, but it requires a lot of marketing, planning, prep and setup, so when class isn’t in session, the space does double-duty as a production area for the summer and holiday rushes.
Another revenue-generating feature is the full bar, reminiscent of a true European bakery cafe.
“It took customers a while to get on board with it, but eventually it took off,” Amie said. “When we do events, we can sell alcohol, and it’s a nice add-on for us, revenue-wise.”
AMIE Bakery’s competitive edge comes from knowing its audience and staying true to its roots.
“I’m a foodie, and I like to know what’s trending,” Amie said, “but I’m very much a traditional person, and I like to think of my pastry as eclectic. Our locals are well-traveled, they know quality food, they have well-developed palettes and they are willing to pay for quality. I like to discover new ingredients and find ways to use them to put an interesting twist on something, or make it special, but I don’t get too trendy. I think less is more, and I’m more ‘back to the basics.’”
That four-word description exquisitely captures Amie’s vision for her namesake bakery: to create a cozy and elegant European-style space where bonnes amies can meet and chat over traditional, from-scratch pastries on classic Cape Cod.
This story has been adapted from the September | Q3 2025 Craft to Crumb mini-mag. Read the full story in the digital issue here.
