The video that went viral

On Friday, July 12, Emily Pentecost, a creator, influencer and consultant in the Cleveland area, posted a video on Instagram and TikTok (@thingsivebeeneating) highlighting Val’s Bakery. In the video she describes Val’s as the best bakery in Ohio.

Woodie said she knew Pentecost was visiting the bakery, but she wasn’t expecting her to post an entire reel on Instagram. When the reel was posted, it was Woodie’s daughter’s birthday weekend and she didn’t pay too much attention to it.

“It was a great video,” Woodie said. “I think it showcases our stuff so nicely and I was kind of shocked that she put best bakery in Ohio.”

The reel on Instagram now has 32.2K likes and 20.5K shares. The video on TikTok has 435.5K plays, 26.6K likes and 16.9K shares, as of Monday afternoon.

Increase in demand

On weekends the bakery and coffee shop typically has a line and usually sells out near the end of the day at 2 or 3 p.m. The day after the video was posted, they sold out within two hours. Her team of nine people, including herself, made three times the amount of baked goods and sold out again on Sunday.

The biggest day they’ve had so far was the Wednesday after the video was posted. Woodie said Wednesdays are typically one of their slowest days, but they still sold out after making five times the amount of baked goods.

“It’s been hard,” Woodie admitted.

The bakery continues to sell out within four hours. The first thing that typically goes are their croissant items like the Strawberry Mascarpone’s Pain au Chocolat (strawberry white chocolate and mascarpone cream in a croissant with strawberry glaze and powdered sugar). These are sold out within the first hour or two, which leaves a variety of other baked goods like cookies, brownies, scones and focaccia.

To grapple with the demand, Val’s has limited guests to two pastries per person, per flavor.

Croissants are a two-day process

Woodie said they are maxed out when it comes to how many croissants they can make based on their space, equipment and capabilities.

“We’re not an industrial bakery,” Woodie said. “So that has been the challenge for us being small and producing the volume.”

To make a croissant, someone comes in early in the morning to start mixing the dough. That process alone takes a couple of hours. The dough goes through a rest period and then gets laminated where it is flattened and a butter block is added to it.

“We laminate. We fold it three times, which gives you 55 beautiful layers,” Woodie said. “This is what makes it so special. That process is an all day shift.”

The dough will rest again in sheets and then someone will come in at 1 a.m. the next day to cut and shape it. It then goes into a proofer and by 5 or 6 a.m. they start baking it to be in the case by 7 a.m.

Prior to the video they were making three batches of croissant dough per day. Now, they are making 10 batches per day. One batch, depending on the type of baked goods, makes between 25 to 48 pastries, Woodie said. Val’s Bakery has two full-size ovens that can bake six trays at a time. Since the viral video, they are baking 50 to 80 trays a day.

Hiring more employees

Woodie said she has had to restructure her baking schedule to meet demand. For example, instead of having one early morning shift they now have three with someone coming in at 1, 3 and 5 a.m. to prepare for the day.

Val’s Bakery is looking to hire bakers that can make other items. The bakery will be closed Wednesday, July 31 through Friday, Aug. 2 as her team trains new employees. Woodie said she decided to close because she wanted to make sure all of her employees were on the same page and that they were maintaining their level of quality.

Something she has had to consider when thinking about hiring is whether or not this momentum will die down. She said she doesn’t want to hire too many people and then not have a job for them in a month or so.

She’s hired three additional people so far and wants to hire at least two or three more. Woodie said last week they had an extra baker and the demand seemed more manageable with the sales continuing to be consistent.

Another thing she is considering is, “Do we want to be this big bakery with all of these employees? To handle the demand that we have currently, at least two people would need to be there 24/7, around the clock, to produce the type of food that we make.”

Val’s is more than a bakery

Traffic overall is up 500%, Woodie said. She thinks that last week traffic had died down maybe 5%, but contributed that to people getting out of line once something they came for was sold out.

“We’re such a good coffee shop, as well as a bakery,” Woodie said. “We have a full traditional coffee menu. We have house made chai. We have matcha. We have loose leaf teas, house made syrups, specialty drinks. We have everything.”

She said their current specialty drinks like the Tiramisu Cold Brew, Cinnamon Toast Crunch Latte and Watermelon Matcha Seltzer are popular.

Val’s Bakery will reopen at 9 a.m. Saturday for Art in the City. Woodie said Merchant Row is also having a block party with vendors and food trucks lined up around the block.

As a business owner, Woodie said she is “completely overwhelmed” by the overnight success, but in the midst of chaos she is finding balance and making sure her employees don’t get burnt out.

“Everyone is doing their best,” Woodie said. “The criticism is going to come, but we all know we’re working hard and making a good product.”

MORE DETAILS

Val’s Bakery, located at 25 S. Saint Clair St., is open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. If the bakery sells out of pastries, they do remain open for coffee.

For more information, visit valsbakerydayton.com or the establishment’s Facebook or Instagram pages (@valsdayton).