The Bold Italic’s 2020 Awards
This article is part of The Bold Italic’s 2020 Awards, which celebrate the Bay Area’s small businesses and local residents who have hustled and shown creativity throughout 2020. See all the award winners here.
This year, we all were in need of some comfort food, and lucky for us, there have been a lot of pop-up bakeries vying for our hearts in the Bay Area in 2020. Out of all of them, a newcomer to the scene, Bake Sum, stood out to our readers. And it is the official winner of The Bold Italic’s 2020 award for Best Pop-Up Bakery.
Bake Sum kicked off early in 2020, “just in time for the pandemic,” and has won a loyal fan base, selling out regularly. The kitchen is the product of Bay Area native and accomplished pastry chef Joyce Tang. Featuring mouth-watering pastries such as the matchamisu (green tea tiramisu) and mochi bites, Bake Sum has a sweet, vibrant, and unique assortment of baked goods.
Given that Tang has pursued her pastry career at a later stage than her peers — and fulfilled an externship in Spain while pregnant—tackling yet another challenge didn’t daunt her. Since the very first shutdown, she’s been distributing Bake Sum Boxes that are packed with seasonal, mouth-watering pastries made with a French technique and dreamed up from Asian influence.
Seriously, we can’t get enough. If you haven’t ordered from them yet, please do so now.
After claiming the title as Best Pop-Up Bakery in the Bay, we caught up with Tang to congratulate her and talk about how Bake Sum has weathered the storm of 2020.
Read that interview below — and see which other pop-up bakeries were nominated in this category and also wowed us. We’ll be ordering from them ASAP as well.
TBI: How have you managed to stay afloat this year?
Joyce Teng:
We’ve managed to stay afloat as our business was built during the pandemic. We couldn’t afford to wait until the wholesale pastry business came back, so we went straight to the consumers and now create pre-packed pastry boxes to take away. It minimizes contact and the amount of time that you need to stick around to make a purchase.
How are you holding up now, heading into another month of shelter in place?
Business is weird. It’s no longer cyclical or fully predictable. For example, it got really slow right after Thanksgiving. We are preparing for more of the same after Christmas. It makes staffing, purchasing, and running a business that much more difficult, especially when you’re hoping to see more demand for the holidays.
What are your hopes for 2021?
In 2021, we hope to see some glimmers of normalcy. However, we also hope that we didn’t live this year of Covid in vain. We hope to see folks more actively and intentionally growing the communities around them. We love seeing our Bake Sum regulars, seeing how they’re doing and bringing a smile to their faces with our pastries. We hope that more folks make more sustainable choices for their well-being in their careers and lives in general.
How can people help support your business?
To best support us, consider tipping our team whenever you come see us, and in that vein, make sure you tip whenever you are able to this holiday season. The food and beverage businesses of California are still reeling. Please support all businesses you hold dear. Buy local, buy gift cards, and keep ordering food. Folks were much more engaged and generous during the beginning of the pandemic, but a lot of that has tapered off since the pandemic has dragged on so long.
Other nominees for Best Pop-Up Bakery:
1. Rize Up Sourdough
Quarantine has been the time of learning to make sourdough. But sometimes you’d rather someone else who is much better at it do it for you instead. Enter Rize Up Sourdough, an independent, Black-owned bakery that boasts a rotating menu of fresh and savory sourdough breads. Owner Azikiwee Anderson, a former private chef and former pro-inline skater, says that thanks to their customer base that “loaves their innovative approach” toward sourdough, business has been thriving.
2. Astranda Bakery
Another standout nominee, this pop-up bakery from Eric Chow, a Tartine Bakery alum and pastry chef from Bar Agricole, specializes in decadent pastries like its famous coffee cinnamon rolls. Chow also makes everything from sunflower praline scones to crostatas. We recommend treating yourself to the morning pastry box, full of a bunch of treats you’ll devour. Deliveries are made from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays ($4 delivery fee or free for orders over $40). Preorders open at 8 a.m. on Saturdays, and things have been known to sell out.
3. Tarts de Feybesse
Offering sourdough levain and Parisian flan, tarts, barquettes, and more, Tarts de Feybesse is a contemporary French bakery that launched out of a kitchen in Vallejo back in March that makes home deliveries across all corners of the Bay. Run by a husband and wife power couple, their pastries bring authentic French culture directly to your doorstep. The couple started making only eight breads the first week, “swearing that would be the maximum,” but that operation quickly turned into a full pastry menu that sold out every day, weeks in advance.
4. Little Sky Bakery
What better time to take an online class on how to bake sourdough than now? Little Sky Bakery distributes bread and cakes but also teaches classes on how to braid challah, make pizza dough, and, of course, prepare sourdough. Check out their full menu of pastries and breads available for delivery.
Sign up for The Bold Italic newsletter to get the best of the Bay Area in your inbox every week.
