To Build a Bakery is an ongoing series from Craft to Crumb featuring stories of growth for bakeries of all scales. From establishing a first brick-and-mortar location to multiple shops and beyond, the series connects with bakers from across the country about how they’re scaling up their businesses. If you would like your bakery’s story to be considered for the series, please email Annie Hollon at annie@avantfoodmedia.com.
PHILADELPHIA — When Noelle Blizzard made her first list all of the baked goods she wanted to learn how to bake, she never could have imagined that within five years, scratching off each item would lead to opening the doors of a brick-and-mortar bakery.
New June Bakery may be a novel addition to Philadelphia’s Brewerytown neighborhood, but the bakery’s been providing bespoke cakes, cookies, pies and tarts to customers since 2021. And in just a short time, it’s made a name for itself, gaining recognition from major publications such as The New York Times and Architectural Digest and being named the “Best of Philly” in 2023 by Philadelphia Magazine.
Baking a new path
When the pandemic hit in early 2020, Noelle, who was working as a marketing professional at the time, was one of many who found themselves immersed in baking, using the craft as a curative activity. While she was no stranger to a kitchen, baking was uncharted water.
“I went into cooking and baking as a form of therapy,” she shared. “I started doing it once a week, then every other day and then every day. I got into online baking content and became really obsessed with cookbooks. Before the pandemic, I didn’t really have time to get into it, so it became my retreat.”
At the time, she had no intention of opening a bakery or turning her baking into anything other than a hobby. Yet, nine months in, she hit a turning point, eyeing an opportunity to turn baking from a personal pastime to a possible profession.
She made the decision to go all-in on baking. Her self-taught curriculum began with a list of everything she would want on her hypothetical bakery menu and plenty of YouTube tutorials. Noelle ticked off each item, working on mastering an assortment of baked goods.
“I spent months being completely obsessed with it, and I started with what I thought was hardest, which was laminated pastry and bread, and spent weeks — even months — trying to get the perfect croissant,” she shared, “In between my frustration, I would work on cookies and easier things.”
Noelle flexed more than 15 years of marketing know-how to design the logo and branding for New June, which she made distinguishable by its bright pink and cobalt hues.
The bakery business officially launched in spring 2021.
She dove into the local food scene from there, and Philly residents had New June on their radar almost instantaneously. The bakery blossomed, gaining traction in the area through pop-ups, and Noelle was even able to hire her first employee.
When the New June team moved into a shared commissary in winter 2021, it became apparent that the space was not a permanent option for the bakery.
“The initial vision was to find sort of something similar, basically our own commissary,” she said, “Something that could just be a production space, but slightly more convenient to Center City, where people could easily pick up their orders.”
Having a more centralized location and space that better suited the cake shop’s needs were a must. Noelle’s answer to her problem came just three blocks from her own house.
A stone’s throw from home
Noelle connected with a neighbor who owned an ice cream shop on Girard Avenue and discovered he was closing up shop.
The shop owner granted New June the opportunity to begin construction while he still occupied the space.
“Two months before our lease officially began, we started work, and that was a godsend,” she shared.
Because the storefront had been a food-related business, the transformation was mostly cosmetic.
While some businesses benefit from not operating while building out their brick-and-mortar locations, New June was three years into the business and facing prime wedding season.
“I realized that when we were ready to open our doors, we would either be in the middle of our wedding season or the middle of the holidays,” Noelle said.
The team worked fast, racing to not only keep up with wedding cake orders but also wrap up construction ahead of the holiday season, all while paying rent for both the commissary and bakery. They finished the remodel in five weeks.
After passing the health inspection, New June hosted a soft opening on Thanksgiving and its grand opening on Dec. 7.
“I took the risk and made the investment to shape our front retail space,” she shared. “I initially thought this business would just be a production space, and people would just pick up from us, but I had the hope that I could turn it into a real bakery, evolve beyond cake and get back to where I started my baking journey.”
A slice of something new
At first, New June’s menu focused on baked goods such as cookies, cinnamon rolls and pastries. A few months into the business, however, customers started requesting cakes.
The problem? Cake wasn’t her thing.
“People started asking for cakes, and I hadn’t made cakes yet — actually, I don’t really like cake,” she shared, noting a preference for breads and pastries. “I realized that would be great, but I had to develop recipes for cakes that I would actually eat.”
And that’s exactly what she did.
Through months of R&D, she eventually locked in the formulas for various cakes — including yellow and chocolate — and finalized a type of Swiss meringue buttercream frosting that imparts a delicate balance of butter, sugar and meringue.
From a flavor standpoint, Noelle draws inspiration from other baked goods she enjoys in addition to complex, specialty desserts found at restaurants. This resulted in flavors such as brown butter fennel cake with blueberry jam, spiced carrot cake with pear and lemon marmalade and cardamom pistachio cream. Sticking to her preferences eventually helped get the business off the ground, and she uses that first-hand knowledge to provide insights to other aspiring bakery owners.
“So much of starting this business and building a brand, aesthetic and flavor profile was just following my tastebuds and doing what I like, and fortunately that resonated with people,” she said.
Once Noelle locked in the New June cake formulas, she tackled decor. Initially, she topped cakes with flowers from farmers markets. While they served as a good foundation, the challenges of working with fresh flora caused her to look for a new way to decorate cakes that ensured more quality control.
“I came across vintage cake accounts and thought, ‘This is not for me,’ I was not into it,” she recalled. “Once I figured out the techniques, and I began having so much fun and feeling empowered that I could, in fact, do that kind of highly skilled artistic work.”
She began experimenting with colors and shapes from there, bringing the Victorian, Lambeth-style to sheet cakes sold at pop-up events. Rather than transporting intricate tiered cakes to display, she chose to flex her decorating skills on the sheet cakes, and consumers ate it up.
“My model as a small business has always been to not sell anything out of my kitchen for under 100 bucks,” she shared. “That’s how I worked on my own and kept a healthy margin … I didn’t spend time on really small orders. Pop-ups were a way for people to try the cakes without making an investment.”
A sweet hub for community
There’s no shortage of bakeries in Philadelphia, and in sticking to her preferences and vision for what cake can be, Noelle has cemented a place for New June and found a niche in the local bakery scene.
“In a city where there is so much cake, pastry and amazing food, I can’t just be out here doing what everyone else is doing,” she said. “I have to create my own brand and my own individual, different thing that someone would want to buy so I’m competing with other businesses. I think that creates a special way that we all support each other, knowing that everyone has their different cake and designs that they sell.”
New June has come a long way since Noelle first dreamed up the name in 2021, and she’s making a new list to outline the future of her brick-and-mortar bakery. She has set her sights on creating a local hub for the community. This includes offering cake decorating classes, hosting events and refreshing New June’s menu weekly.
“Being well known for the breadth and depth of our menu and having a stellar cake and pastry program is the dream,” Noelle shared, “and I look forward to seeing how that evolves over the years.”
