Butter&

San Francisco-Based Custom Cake Bakery Butter& to Open Storefront in the Dogpatch This Summer | Eater SF

"Picking up cakes from Butter&'s commercial kitchen was less than stellar for customers and employees, as owner Amanda Nguyen admits: customers pulled up curbside at an industrial building to an indiscreet door and texted the business of their arrival while employees fielded texts and trekked down from the third floor via an unreliable freight elevator carrying cake — an exhausting process when the bakery was receiving 100 orders a day, which Nguyen jokingly said felt "a little closer to a drug pickup." After launching from her South Potrero Hill home and then operating out of that commercial kitchen, Nguyen has finally secured the former Kin Khao spot at 690 Indiana Street in the Dogpatch so Butter& can be on the first floor and create an on-brand experience for its caring customers. The new storefront will retain the same look and feel as previous iterations but will focus on outfitting the kitchen with upgraded ovens and mixers, take advance orders for pickup while offering a limited number of cakes on display for same-day pickup at first, and is experimenting with a single-serving cake that Nguyen says is "not a cupcake, but a cake in a format that is very in line with the Butter& aesthetic." They won't launch a coffee program but are considering a tea service, and the space will be an open production pastry kitchen where customers can watch the team at work. Nguyen emphasizes Butter&'s people-centric mission and commitment to being the best employer in the food industry — team ownership stakes, stock options for full-time salaried staff, 100% company contributions to health care plans, and three months of company-sponsored mental health therapy — and she hopes this is store one with plans to open a second location in LA next year." - Dianne de Guzman